subject: 4 Ways To Make Your Own Website [print this page] It used to be that the only way to make your own website was to plunk down a lot of money on a website designer, then toss more cash at a website host, and probably then hurl yet more hard-earned money at a programmer so he can help tweak the thing. It was a long, laborious and expensive process. Scarce graphic designers, complicated and expensive art programs, and high cost hosting with bandwidth at least $10 a gig made for a lot of cash outlay just to launch a basic website. This amount didn't even take into account search engine optimization or link site listings.
Everything has changed with the birth of easy website making free sites that allow the new designer to create a complex, sophisticated website with some fairly high-end add-ons like forums and video. There are also more round-about ways to create websites that involve more cost, time and trouble, but the result is often a more sophisticated website. The end effect a designer is seeking will decide which of these ways to go.
1) Lenses and hubs
There are sites that will allow the lensmaster or hubmaster to build feature-rich sites that are more structured, and therefore less malleable, than the usual websites. They are driven by relatively intractable proprietary formats that reward users with traffic for belonging to their network of sites. There is often a very strict oversight of content on such sites. Copyrights are usually followed scrupulously, content often must meet a certain quality and density criterion, and linking must be done in specific ways.
2) Free sites
There have always been free site hosts that will allow website builders to create sites on their site systems for no cost. Often, they do this in exchange for ad space on each website. Now that bandwidth and disk storage have become incredibly cheap, the size and transfer ability of such sites tend to be as large as a professional site. Some even allow limited streaming of podcasts and the like. The webmaster must still deal with downloading and customizing his own website templates. Website templates are often available for free.
3) Free sites with website generators
This type of site host is a sort of combination hub-type site and free site. The architecture is more tractable, but the site designs are limited to an online array of website templates. The website creator must choose one and then customize it to his liking.
4) Paid hosting
The last option is traditional paid hosting. This will cost money, however, the good news is that hosting now costs a fraction of what it did ten years ago. A very nice and sophisticated site can be built for under $20 per month. Any bandwidth overage is charged at a regular rate, but many paid hosts allow growing websites to bump up to the next higher account level without charge. This is almost always cheaper than paying for overage. Again, website templates are necessary in this case, but they are widely available for free.
The best thing about the Web is it's the most democratic form of communication. Everyone can now make his own website. There's nothing stopping even the least Web-savvy webmaster.
