Starting a Website

[betlynjua]

I think you are on the right track by going with something other than a free site.  From what I've learned from my mentor, a free site will severely limit you on what you can do on your pages. 

You are much better going with something reasonable for you which at the same time gives you more freedom to decide what goes on the site.

[mrisha]

There are thousands of sites in which you can build a free website.  Just go to Google and ask for a free website also you can go to for example Wix, it's a free website builder.  Good luck.

[oldbuddy]

The free hosts I use are 50webs, freehostia, and byethost.

The 50webs actually has a link to set up a free site but it still wants my credit card info.  IF it is really free they do not need my credit card info.

Thanks to everyone who has commented.  I am seriously looking at the godaddy and paying for it.  Now I just have to figure out what software I need to design the site and how to upload it. lol

The problem with GoDaddy for hosting (I use them to register domain names), is they don't use a standard interface and the eventual price of $11.95 is very high. You can still register a domain name with them and host the pages on AngryHosting for a dollar a month using your own domain name to get started.

If you made pages with Front Page you should understand the basics of HTML, so if you stretch and learn a little more creating attractive pages from free templates is much more flexible and produces better results than any of the website generators. Plenty of tutorials are free from YouTube to learn more and you can practice on W3Schools.com to apply them.

If you Google oldbuddy you can find a website I created  with this exact method. Another important point today, is it's mobile responsive so it works on any size screen from TV displays to Smartphones and Google looks at that to decide how high you go in the results.

I know this may sound overwhelming at first, but if you take the time to learn as you go it's not as bad as it sounds. Try a few one page splash pages to start and grow it from there.

[oldbuddy]

Why Not Free Hosting?

Web servers and their administration do not come free, so ask yourself why anyone would let you use their resources for free with no catch? The answer is THEY DON'T! It's just hard to see the reason sometimes, but it's there.

If you pay even a little, at least you control your presentation and advertise for yourself instead of the hosting company. With free sites, everyone who visits knows you are not even making enough to afford your own hosting, so why would they believe you can lead them to the money?

[countrygirl12]

The free hosts I use are 50webs, freehostia, and byethost.

The 50webs actually has a link to set up a free site but it still wants my credit card info.  IF it is really free they do not need my credit card info.

Thanks to everyone who has commented.  I am seriously looking at the godaddy and paying for it.  Now I just have to figure out what software I need to design the site and how to upload it. lol

The problem with GoDaddy for hosting (I use them to register domain names), is they don't use a standard interface and the eventual price of $11.95 is very high. You can still register a domain name with them and host the pages on AngryHosting for a dollar a month using your own domain name to get started.

If you made pages with Front Page you should understand the basics of HTML, so if you stretch and learn a little more creating attractive pages from free templates is much more flexible and produces better results than any of the website generators. Plenty of tutorials are free from YouTube to learn more and you can practice on W3Schools.com to apply them.

If you Google oldbuddy you can find a website I created  with this exact method. Another important point today, is it's mobile responsive so it works on any size screen from TV displays to Smartphones and Google looks at that to decide how high you go in the results.

I know this may sound overwhelming at first, but if you take the time to learn as you go it's not as bad as it sounds. Try a few one page splash pages to start and grow it from there.

I am familiar with html.  My only issue is where to upload the site to.  I agree that almost $12 a month is a bit pricey.   Like I said, I have created several websites.  Two were personal, and also free with where I had internet at the time, and then a couple for a business and they have space with their internet service.  So there was no issue with WHERE or WHO was going to host the site.  Designing the site is no problem. 

[ancmetro]

      If you get that magical formula or website, let me know!

[countrygirl12]

Why Not Free Hosting?

Web servers and their administration do not come free, so ask yourself why anyone would let you use their resources for free with no catch? The answer is THEY DON'T! It's just hard to see the reason sometimes, but it's there.

If you pay even a little, at least you control your presentation and advertise for yourself instead of the hosting company. With free sites, everyone who visits knows you are not even making enough to afford your own hosting, so why would they believe you can lead them to the money?

lol.  Most people are not that smart.  I usually don't know if a site is paid or free.  Guess I don't pay attention.  And just because you have a free site does not mean you "can't afford" to pay for your own hosting.  Like I said, my main thing right now is WHY would I pay for hosting if no one clicks on the site.  I don't know how to get the site out there so people will look at it.

[countrygirl12]

      If you get that magical formula or website, let me know!

lol.  Yeah it's not going to happen.  Even the sites that say they are free when you get down to it they want you to pay.  I don't know why people have to lie.  I totally understand that nothing is really free and you do pay in some way or another.  Even if it is by them putting ads on your site and they get paid for the ads that are clicked on.

[oldbuddy]

Like I said, my main thing right now is WHY would I pay for hosting if no one clicks on the site.  I don't know how to get the site out there so people will look at it.

Another myth the gurus try to get us to believe, is you need thousands of viewers to make any money. If you use LEVERAGE you can do just fine getting a few viewers a month if at least one of them takes action. The real key to making money is CONVERSIONS, not visitors.

If you design a website that will convert visitors into buyers, I can show you how to get those few visitors the easy way.

[countrygirl12]

Like I said, my main thing right now is WHY would I pay for hosting if no one clicks on the site.  I don't know how to get the site out there so people will look at it.

Another myth the gurus try to get us to believe, is you need thousands of viewers to make any money. If you use LEVERAGE you can do just fine getting a few viewers a month if at least one of them takes action. The real key to making money is CONVERSIONS, not visitors.

If you design a website that will convert visitors into buyers, I can show you how to get those few visitors the easy way.

I would be happy with just a few visitors a month. 

[oldbuddy]

I would be happy with just a few visitors a month. 

Here's an example to think about.

One of the ways I get traffic is by using a traffic exchange. Not just any old traffic exchange, but the one I picked out as being the best return on my time investment over several years. It does have some little quirks that can be exploited to give anyone an advantage, so I started a blog called WhyTrafficSwirl to help people learn where they are and how to use them. The emphasis is on helping people, but as the owner of the website I can slip in a few promotions as long as I don't get too carried away.

The point I want to make is I haven't posted anything new on there for several months, but I still had over 500 unique visitors last month and when I take a more active role it goes up to a couple thousand a month. My cost for running the blog is $1 a month for the hosting and $10 a year for the domain name. Getting it on the first page of Google when people go searching for Traffic Swirl was free. Of course I don't stand a chance of beating out the main website on that list, but I still get a handful of searchers finding me every month.

So can you can think of some way you can help other people and establish a website to further that goal?

[countrygirl12]

Idk.  I have been working on something today.  Thing is it is unreal how many people troll the internet looking for ways to make money from home.  And will search page after page and click every link on the page looking for something new.  That is actually how I found this site.  And I was skeptical when I first signed up.  Why?  Never heard of this site and I have been burned in the past.
Luckily this was a awesome return overall!

Random question - Do we get paid for displaying our FC banner?  Just noticed a lot of people do this.

[dwggs]

I would google .. free web hosting and then see what my options are ... be careful cause some are trial offers and will charge you after your trial period is up

[svetka05]

I recently bought a domain name for my website. A day later I got an email offering me to build a website. I am interested to do that, and working on it right now. I have a lot of things I want to include in my website. I would rather  pay for building my website then get it for free or very cheap, because I want my website to have quality and good organization.

[CharmedPhoenix]

When I was looking into starting a site I was told about GoDaddy so I checked them out and checked if my company/domain name was available.  A few years later when I actually started the site, with a different company, I found that someone else was using my company/domain name even though it wasn't an exact match to their company name.  It was poorly designed by a hired web designer.  GoDaddy had bought the domain name and put it up for sale because I hadn't bought it right after my search.  Sure enough the site failed and my name became available again so I have it now.  That's why I went with a company that has built in software, no code needed and complete instructions with tutorials, but it's not free.