Let’s be honest, shouldn’t a person be able to just click a few buttons and make a website? Well, actually, you can — it’s really not too complicated!

Step 1: The web address
One of the first things you will need to do is find out if the web address you want is available.  Click here to check domain name availability!  

If it is, go ahead and register it!  With DreamHost, my preferred registrar, it’ll probably run you about $9.95 per year to hold a typical “.com” domain name registration.

Once you have ownership of the web address, you can use it to display your website.

Building a website is pretty easy if you have the right tools and a bit of knowledge on how to use them.

 

Step 2: The web host
You need to host the files that make up your website on a physical machine or set of machines somewhere.  That can be your basement, but is more conveniently, and more usually ‘leased’ from a third party like DreamHost (or any other of thousands of webhosts out in the world … I just prefer DreamHost because that’s who I’ve worked with continuously for most of my websites for over a decade) for a reasonable rate of around $10 per month.

Click here to host your website with DreamHost! Great service, great price — they’re awesome!

 

Step 2: The web site
Okay so you have the name and you have the space, now let’s build a website there.  You can start with a simple web page, but then you pretty much have to know Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML.  A much better way right now is to use a web software like WordPress, which is easy to install and which acts like a Content Management System to make it easy for you to post pages and images and pretty much anything else you want to do.  Installing WordPress is easy, you just follow the famous five minute install guide; but an even easier way is by using DreamHost’s One-Click Installer, where with just the click of a few buttons DreamHost will install WordPress or any others of its dozens of FREE SOFTWARE for you!

Once you have WordPress installed you will be able to visit and view your new website at your new web address in your favorite web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Congratulations on getting your new website!