Make Your Own Website

Home - Sevice Contract - Subcontractors - Hosting and Design Packages Here is a general overview of the process and a collection of programs, files and websites that I've found most useful! Overview Programs and Files   Overview So you want a website? 1. Site Name You need a website name or URL e.g., www.company.com.  Go to a domain name registrar like Godaddy.com and buy a name which will cost under $15 a year.  Make the name easy and avoid long names and dashes.  You will need to setup an account with your registrar and they will provide you with a control panel to configure your domain name.  The only setting you really need to change will be the nameservers; see below.   We can acquire and setup your URL for you.  We provide the URL to local non-profit organizations at no cost.  The URL is yours and we will gladly transfer it to any domain registrar you want in the future.  See our service contract for details. 2. Web Server You need a web server or web folder.  Many domain registrats also provide free or low cost web space, emails and other services.   We have a resellers account at Advanced Networking and we provide full services packages to meet your needs.  Our packages include a control panel, emails, webmail, domain and email forwarding, web site stats, scripts, and more.  We provide web servers to local non-profit organizations at no cost.  See our service contract for details. Regardless of where your registered your domain name, specify your webserver's "nameservers" in the control panel of your domain registrar.   There are usually two nameservers and the nameservers for accounts at www.veneziale.net are NS.SECUREDNSHOST.COM and NS1.SECUREDNSHOST.COM.   How to Change Nameservers in Godaddy (Click Image to Enlarge)   Step 1 1. Click on Domains 2. Click on Domain Manager Step 2 Select the Domain to Change    Step 3 Click on First Nameserver Step 4 Set "Custom Nameservers" and Enter Nameservers as NS.SECUREDNSHOST.COM NS1.SECUREDNSHOST.COM   It can take up to 24 hours to set the internet pointers or for your URL to find your nameservers.  We rcommend putting an dummy index.htm file on your webserver to test when its active.  Make a text file containing the word "Test", name it index.htm and upload it to your server.  See instructions below for publishing your site. Your site is active when you enter your web address into your browser and get "Test" on your screen. 3.  Create Webpages You need software to make your webpages.  We use KompoZer which is freeware and fully featured.  It has tabs for Normal, HTML Tags, Source, Preview to allow you to see your webpage in different modes.  The Normal mode is what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) and very much like using any word processor.   Create the folders "www" and "www/images" on your computer under My Documents or elsewhere. Create a new page in KompoZer and save it to your www folder as index.htm (or html).  This is your home page and must have this name.  All other webpages can have any filename as long as they are .htm or .html.   To link your home page to another page on your site, just enter its name on your home page, highlight it and select the "link" icon (shaped like a chain) and browse to it.  Be sure to check "URL is relative to page location" if the file if on your site.  Otherwise it will have the address location to your computer C:\My Documents.. and will not work from  the web.  You can also enter another full web address e.g., http://www.anothersite.com. We recommend inserting a table and centering it on the page.  Use Table - Table Properties from the menu to set it to 600 wide as many users still have thier screen resolution set at 640x480.  Then enter your webpage text into the table or making subtables within the main table for two columns, etc.  This keeps the text of your site in the middle of the page in user's browser. Use jpg files for images or logos on your webpages.  Save them in sizes under 600 wide and in your images folder.  The file size should also be under 200kb.  We use Adobe Photoshop Elements ($80) to edit images and make logos, etc. 4. Publish Your Site You  need to FTP or upload your webpages to your webserver.  FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and this process is also called publishing your website.  We use FTP Commander Deluxe but KompoZer can also publish your site.  In FTP Commander, select "New Server" and enter the info.  For web servers on www.veneziale.net the information is as follows: Name: first 8 characters of your web address FTP Server: your web address e.g., company.com (no www) Port: 21 UserID: name (first 8 characters)@webaddress.com Password: Provided to you. Your computer directories will be shown in one panel and the web server in the other panel.  Go to your "www" folder on your computer and also on your web server.  Copy files and subfolders from your computer to the web server.  Do not delete the cgi-bin folder on your webserver.  This is for cgi scripts which can run programs on your website. 5. Submit to Search Engines You will want to enter your site into search engines and optimize it to improve your index score or ranking on them.  People need to find you.   We use several Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to get you the best ranking. The most common techniques include page titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords, site map html page, google site maps (xml), image alt text and carefully worded text and pharses on your site.  We reverse engineer the process to figure out what works best.   We also use Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo Site Explorer to submit and optimize our sites.  Our clients with gmail accounts can also access our google webmaster dashboard so they can see thier website usage in real time.  Our  web server control panel also has full featured trending analysis. Done! That will pretty much get your started.      Useful Programs and Files, Etc.   Advanced Networking Tons of web space with all the features - CGI, blogs, photo albums, unlimited emails, etc. for less than $15/mo! I have a reseller account and can setup actual physical domains.  I also have some URLs as subdomains of www.veneziale.net and autoforward them to the phyical subdomain e.g., poconounity.org forwards to mcac.veneziale.net.     Godaddy.com Domain names for under $10/year. Also web hosting and other features.     FTP Commander Deluxe Freeware Great full featured FTP program to upload your files from your computer to your web server. Note that the first file that automatically loads when users go to your site is "index.htm" or "index.html". Thefore, this must be the name of your home page. KompoZer Freeware KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. This editor is also recommended because it has a built-in FTP publisher to up/download your files.     Site Map Builder.NET Freeware Site Map Builder allows you to create the Google SiteMaps XML (Google SiteMaps ) needed within your website root directory to provide information about your site to Google. This XML must have some syntax that Site Map Builder will generate for you. Place the generated file on your site root directory, then register your map at  www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps. Google Webmaster Tools Free On-line Statistics, diagnostics and management of Google's indexing of your website, including Sitemap submission and reporting.  Must have or sign up for a gmail account.     Yahoo Site Explorer Free On-line Site Explorer allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search. View the most popular pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and find pages that link to that site or any page.  Use it to monitor your own websites.     Favicon CC Free On-Line A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon or bookmark icon is a 16x16 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage.  They appear next to the web address in the navition bar of your browser.  See here for more information. Use this free on-line favicon creator.  It allows you to import images, shows how they appear on the navigation bar and allows you to edit them.  Put the favicon.ico in the same folder as your website's home page and add this html code to your index.html page- <link REL="SHORTCUT ICON"  HREF="http://yoursite.com/favicon.ico"> Here's how they appear: Favicon for www.veneziale.net     PageBreeze PageBreeze Free HTML Editor is an award-winning HTML Editor which has both visual (WYSIWYG) and HTML tag/source modes. PageBreeze Free HTML Editor's design emphasizes simplicity and ease-of-use. You'll find that you'll be creating great looking websites almost instantly--with virtually no learning curve! PageBreeze Free HTML Editor is a completely free download for personal use and will never expire. Quick Tip: Save other people's web pages to your hard drive (IE-File-Save As) then open the page in your editor to see the codes used, etc. SafEEditor.zip Freeware SafEEditor Version 1.0 is a barebones plain text editor for use with perl and other CGI scripts. Website     HTML Help Links Cheat Sheet AMGY.com Color Chart 1 Color Chart 2     PDF reDirect Freeware Full featured print to PDF driver. Allows appending subsequent prints to an exisiting PDF file. Absolutely FREE - Dialog box opens to revert to older version once evaluation period has ended.     PrimoPDF Freeware Convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF printer - it couldn't be easier! Create high-quality PDFs by converting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and virtually any other printable file type. Absolutely FREE.     PDF995 Freeware The pdf995 suite of products is a complete solution for your document publishing needs. It does much more than just write PDF files - and all at no cost to you.     WebPage Freeware Trellian WebPage allows you to create your own web pages without having to learn complex scripting languages. WebPage's WYSIWYG interface makes editing pages as easy as using your favorite word processor.     Amaya Freeware Amaya is a Web editor, i.e. a tool used to create and update documents directly on the Web. Its WYSIWYG - No need to no the HTML codes.     Ad-Aware Freeware Ad-Aware is THE award winning, multi-trackware detection and removal utility that will comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known Datamining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. Ad-aware provides you the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that your privacy will remain intact.     SpyBot Freeware Spybot - Search & Destroy has been in the antispyware game for a long time offering features we've come to expect in the best apps in the category, but its bugginess makes it difficult to recommend. The program checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders.     Hijack This Freeware A great tool for detecting and removing browser Hijacks. A browser hijack is when spyware takes over your internet settings, often redirecting your internet searches and stealing your default home page. Tutorial More Info Main Site     Trojan Remover Free full featured 30-day trial period. Trojan Remover was written to aid in the removal of Trojan Horses and Internet Worms when standard anti-virus software has either failed to detect the problem or is unable to effectively eliminate it. The majority of Virus and Trojan Scanners are well able to detect malicious Trojan Horses and Internet Worms but are not always very efficient in removing them once they have been triggered. Trojan Remover was written specifically to carry out such a removal without the user having to manually edit system files, including the Registry.     AVG Virus Scanner Freeware A full featured virus scanner. Recommended over many McAfee, Norton, and other common scanners.     Zone Alarm Freeware Stops hackers from getting into your PC ZoneAlarm is free for individual and not-for-profit charitable entity use (exluding governmental entities and educational institutions).     W3C Validator Freeware This is the W3C Markup Validation Service, a free service that checks Web documents in formats like HTML and XHTML for conformance to W3C Recommendations and other standards.     FreeFind Freeware Advanced site search and navigation technology can be added to your website in minutes. There's nothing to download or install. It's free and easy.     High Aspirations High Aspirations, Inc. offers you experience by successfully providing professional, high quality, low cost, web site designs and maintenance for personal and commercial applications. Since 1999, we have been designing web sites from scratch, redesigning sites, and maintaining existing sites. We have designed and/or maintained over 30 sites. We have both local and long distance customers. Our clients range from college professors and part-time musicians to million dollar corporations. Best of all, they have a local office in Shohola, PA.     Kaufman Web Design As a full-service web solution provider, Kaufman Web Design™ can help you with all aspects of web site design, search engine marketing, hosting, content, and training. We specialize in small to medium sized businesses that need professional results at a reasonable cost. You also need high search engine rankings, and we have helped countless companies appear on the first page of results for Google, Yahoo, and others. Main Menu