However, to be successful a website must get many vistors. This is possible if the site comes up in the top search results of search engines like Google when a potential visitor types in keywords related to the website's content. To get this end result sites need to be built, content needs to be written and website promotion needs to be done keeping the search engines in mind.
Below is a snapshot view of the components of a successful website.
Step 1: Determine the Website's Niche
Before beginning to build your website you should be clear about which niche you are in. This is the most important step. Find a need that your website will provide a solution for. Determine how you will provide a solution for this need through your website.
Conduct a thorough market research to determine:
- If there is indeed a market for it?
- Is there enough demand?
- Is it a profitable niche?
- Is it something you can generate quality content for on an ongoing basis?
You can begin by brainstorming and shortlisting 3 niches and evaluating each against the 4 points above. Pick the best niche and you're ready to get started.
There are various tools available to help you with your research. These include keyword research tools and tools to help you determine the monetization potential of your niche.
Step 2 - Choose Website Building Tools
It is a good idea to decide on the tools you will use to build your website early on. This will help you make other technical decisions along the way.
To decide which tools/ software are the best to use for your website ask yourself some of these questions:
- Is it a blog?
- Will it have a lot of articles? Would a content management system (CMS) be a good option?
- Do I need to have complete control on every aspect of my site?
- Do I need any functionality built into the site?
If you want to build a blog you can do so using WordPress which is a free blog software. Check out my blog for an example of a Wordpress blog. Also my recipes section .
Joomla is a free content management system which you can also use to build your website. Check out the Joomla version of my recipes site for an example of a Joomla website. Joomla also has many extensions that you can easily install to exapand its functionalities.
Both Wordpress and Joomla can be easily installed via Fantastico (literally with the click of a button!) which is available when you sign up with a web host like Hostgator (which is what I use). Then it is simply a matter of putting in your content. For more details on installing them, refer to the links in the related resources section below.
If you need to have complete control over your site, using an HTML editor coupled with a graphic editor would be the best option.
Step 3: Hosting Server - decide on where you are going to host the site
Some decisions you will need to make while selecting hosting are:
- Free or paid?
- Windows or UNIX?
- Fantastico or other automatic installation tools
- Server space and bandwidth considerations
- Does it support the Site Builder used to build the site?
- How many sites do you plan to build?
1. Free or paid?
There are free hosting servers available, however most of them show their ads on your website or are unreliable.
2. Windows or UNIX?
In case you wish to install some scripts e.g. form, forum , guestbooks etc. you will need to ensure that the server is compatible with the script you wish to use. For example, php with MYSQL is usually on UNIX servers, so if you want to install the Open source CMS Joomla or Wordpress blog you would probably choose a UNIX server with the required version of php and MYSQL. However if you plan to use an ASP script you would probably choose Windows hosting.Hostgator offers Linux hosting and I use it to host all my websites.
3. Fantastico or Automatic Installation Tools
Some hosting servers offer Fantastico which allows you to easily install various open source products like Joomla, Moodle, WordPress blog etc. If you intend to install Joomla for example it might be a good idea to go for a hosting server that provides this service e.g. Hostgator
4. Server Space and Bandwidth Considerations
Depending on the file size of your website and expected traffic to your website you would need to select a hosting plan that offers you what you need. For example, if you have many video files you would probably require a larger amount of space. If you are expecting a large number of visitors you would probably prefer a hosting service that provide larger bandwidth usage.
5. Does it support the Site Builder used to build the site?
How do you plan to build the site? Which site building tools/ software will you use?
In some cases you might choose to use a free and easy site builder like Blue Voda in which case you would have to sign up with the specified hosting service provider - in this case VodaHost.
Site Build It has its own site builder and includes hosting too. It also includes all the tools, know how and basically all you need to build a successful online business in one complete package.
Some hosting providers provide inbuilt site builders as well eg. HostGater.
If you plan to have an online store it would be wise to go in for something like Yahoo! Small Business which provides everything you need for an ecommerce business.
6. How many sites do you plan to build?
Most likely you will want to build another site once you finish the first one. If so, it may be wise to sign up with a host that allows you to host multiple domains on the same server. E.g Hostgator's most popular plan allows you to host multiple domains so you save in the long run if you sign up for this plan.
Step 4: Buy domain name
Some decisions you will need to make while buying a domain name are:
- Does it communicate the main focus of your website?
- Is it attractive to the target audience?
- Is it easy to remember and type correctly?
- Should it be .com, .net, .org etc?
- If your website represents an organization , does the domain name well represent the organization name?
- Is the domain name available for purchase?
- Does it contain the main keywords of your site?
You can buy a domain name from various sites like Dotster.com 
Step 5 - Plan the Site
Now you'd ready to start working on your website. To begin with you will need to design what you want on your website. Sketch it out on paper in a flowchart. Usually there will be a 'home' page, a 'contact' page, an 'about us' page and other content pages. Do you want to incorporate any additional features like forums, guestbooks, blogs etc?
Another way of designing your flowchart is by using post-it notes. Every time you think of something you want to incorporate into your site, note it down on a post-it. Once you're done, find a wall or large surface and arrange each item in a logical and intuitive flow. Keep rearranging till you're satisfied.
Determine a site plan that will be easy to navigate and will allow visitors to find what they need quickly and easily.
Step 6 - Design the Layout
Once you know what your site will contain you can begin the layout design process. This is basically the look and feel of your website. During this phase you will finalize on the layout of the pages.
If there is a separate layout for a different kind of page e.g. home page, you will need to design the layout for that page too. Keep in mind some basic website usability principles as you design the layout. Also visit other sites and notice elements that make the site attractive, intuitive and professional. Some of the elements of the layout include:
- the masthead and logo
- graphics, colors and artistic style
- site navigation - menu items/ sub menu items, breadcrumbs, 'you are here'
- font, size and color of the headings, subheadings and normal content
- area for page content
- footer and copyright information
- search box it any
- any other common elements of the pages
If you want to be able to create your own unique layout, the first step is to analyse the requirements for your layout design.
f you don't already have a logo you will need to design that first.
You can use software like Fireworks, Photoshop or Flash to create the logo and layout.
Alternatively you can buy premade layouts and logo templates and customize them.
Some hosting servers provide free templates for you to use e.g. HostGater and Site Build It! along with their site builders, so you don't need to learn how to use professional web designing software like Fireworks or Photoshop. You can easily upload your own photos and text to customize these templates to your website requirements. You can also use free and low cost stock images to customize the look to better refect your sites's purpose.
Step 7: Convert the layout into an html template
Once you have finalized the layout you can convert it into an HTML template. This will be your template on which you will built your entire site.
To create an HTML template follow these steps:
- Slice images that have to stay as images even on the final site. Optimize them to load quickly on the web and yet look good. Usually images with flat colors are better optimized as .gif files and photos or those with large span of colors are better optimized as .jpg files. Depending on which graphics editor you used to design your layout you can use Fireworks or Photoshop for this.
- Using a WYSIWYG HTML editor like Dreamweaver, create a css style sheet for elements of the layout that can be recreated in html e.g. heading, subheading and content font styles and colors, background colors etc.
- Using Dreamweaver, create the HTML page of the overall layout and insert the images, create the menus and apply the stylesheet.
- Convert this to a template in Dreamweaver. This is a special (.dwt) file that can be used as a basis to create the pages of your website.
Check out our Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Tutorial for detailed instructions on how to create a site in Dreamweaver.
Professionally designed, premade HTML layouts, Joomla templates and Wordpress themes are also available for purchase. These can be customized to represent your website's identity.
Step 8: Create the pages as per the site plan
Depending on the site builder you are using, it is time now to create the individual pages that make up your website. The content of your site is what will draw visitors to your site. Articles are a great way to get targetted visitors to your site. Make sure your write highly targetted content. There are various tools to help you do this.
Once you create the pages you will need to insert the following into each page:
- page heading
- textual content
- images and other media assets, if any
- meta data - page titles, keywords and descriptions
- any special navigational elements related to that particular page e.g. 'you are here', sub-menu etc.
If you are using Dreamweaver, once you have an HTML template for the site ready you can begin creating your site pages. Create an html page based on the HTML template for each item in the flowchart of your site plan. Give each page a file name e.g. about.htm. Avoid using spaces and special characters (except underscore _ or hyphen -) in the file names.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Ensure that each page is search engine friendly. Check out these articles on how to make you web pages search engine friendly.
- Check each item on the SEO checklist.
- Ensure you pages have targetted content by using various content optimization tools. If you are using Site Build It! you will automatically be doing this as you add the content with the SBI 'Analyze It' facility.
Step 9: Install any additional scripts on the server
There are many prebuilt website functionality available which can enhance your website. You will most likely need to install some scripts on the server, the most common being a form script. Scripts are also available for functionality like guestbook, blogs, forums chat, poll, etc.
This is a good time to install any required scripts as you will need to link them from your web pages. Customize the interface of the scripts as much as possible to blend well with the look and feel of the rest of the website. In the case of a form you will probably need to create a form html page with the required fields and integrate it with the form script. Test it thoroughly to ensure it works fine and that you are getting the emails sent from the site.
In case you are not comfortable installing scripts there are free service providers that offer all these and more hosted on their server, but which you can easily customize and include into your website by adding the some code that they provide into your website's html pages. Some essential functionality you will need include forms and site search.
In some cases your entire site can be built on an installed script like Joomla CMS or Wordpress blog. Drupal and Mambo are are other content management systems. All these can be easily installed via Fantastico which comes with some hosting servers e.g. Hostgator Fantastico also allows you to easily install certain forum, photo gallery, shopping cart, CMS, LMS and customer relationship management software etc. If you have a WordPress blog site you might want to install plugins to enhance your blog. Joomla templates, Drupal themes,Mambo templates and Wordpress themes are also available.
If you require ecommerce functionality you could build your site on Yahoo! Small Business 
If you need a discussion board or forum you can install PhpBB via Fantastico. PhpBB skins are available so that the look of the forum can be customized.
If you need a portal site you could install php-Nuke via Fantastico. php-Nuke Themes are also available.
Here's a list of the web applications that Fantastico can install with the click of a mouse:
| Blogs b2evolution Nucleus WordPress Classifieds Noahs Classifieds Content Management Drupal Geeklog Joomla 1.5 Joomla Mambo PHP-Nuke phpWCMS phpWebSite Post-Nuke Siteframe TYPO3 Xoops Customer Relationship Crafty Syntax Live Help Help Center Live osTicket PerlDesk PHP Support Tickets Support Logic Helpdesk Support Services Manager | Discussion Boards Image Galleries | Polls and Surveys Site Builders |
I highly recommend Hostgator as I use it to host this website. They provide Fantastico with their Linux hosting, a great free Site Builder and various other features. They also have a plan that allows you to host multiple domains.
There are also some all-in-one website building solutions which may have all you need already installed and ready to use.
Step 10: Link the pages
Once you have all the pages ready you can link them up via the navigation. This can be done using Dreamweaver.
Ensure that the pages are all linked so that the user can easily find them. This is also important for search engines to crawl through the site and index all the pages. Also ensure that any scripts you installed are also linked in a user friendly manner e.g. forum, form, guestbook etc.
You can link pages from:
- Main menu items
- Sub-menu items
- Site Map
- Relevant text links within the content of other pages
If you are building your site on Joomla you can do this from within Joomla itself.
If you are building a Flash website you can do this within Flash.
Step 11: FTP the files to the hosting server
In order to make your website live you will need to sign up for a hosting server and domain name.
Once you have all the pages ready and linked, it is time to transfer all the files onto your hosting server and make your site live!
You can do this using an FTP tool like Filezilla. Dreamweaver also provides FTP facilities. Simply enter you server ftp details, connect to the server and upload all the files (html pages, images etc.)
Once this is done test the site thoroughly in the browser to check if all the pages are loading properly and are linked properly.
There are free tools to check for broken links on your site e.g. Xenu Sleuth
Your website is now ready and live for public viewing!
Step 12: Submit to search engines and promote the site
Once your site is live you need to tell the world about it or no one is going to visit it. Having a live site is just a tiny part of having a successful website.
Basically you need to get the search engines to know that you exist and display your site when people type in your main keywords.
This can be done by submitting your site to search engines and getting other sites to link to your site.
Some of the steps involved in promoting your site are:
- Submit your site to search engines like Google, yahoo etc. There are some promotion tools available to help you with this.
- Submit your site to directories like DMoz and others.
- Get other related sites to link to yours. A tool like SEO Elite can help you with this.
- Build a sitemap. This is an xml file that can be submitted to search engines to help them to index all the pages on your site. This is an important step. If it seems too technical or complicated for you, some hosting service providers like Site Build It create one for you automatically.
- Get your site bookmarked on social bookmarking sites and use other Web 2.0 tactics.
- Submit articles to article directories. This is called article marketing.
- Put up paid listings of your site on search engines.
- Explore advertising options.
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