When I first started on the Web (Dec. 1999) , I was really clueless but I have learned a lot since then. Just about everything I have learned has actually come from the Web itself, via on-line tutorials. When I started building my first page (what an ugly thing that was!), I knew that this was the thing for me. I felt as if I had been reborn and I looked at the world through the eyes of a child again. (Please excuse my cornball sentiment; I don't know what came over me)
If you are new to the whole Internet and site building thing, and you have come here to learn, I hope you will be patient because I am still learning too. If you are a seasoned veteran or programmer this information is really not for you and I hope you will not make fun of my naivity; my reasons for having this section on my site are as simple as wanting to help others experience the joy that I have in learning to build my site. Personally, I use HOMESITE, which is a wonderful editing program. You have to understand HTML but Homesite makes things go a lot faster.
When I first started, I signed up for a free Yahoo Geocities site. That didn't last long. Although free Web space and site building tools are very convenient and useful, I NEEDED my own domain. Free Sites are the perfect thing for personal home pages, however, if you are serious about getting traffic to your site or if you have a commercial site, the importance of your own domain cannot be stressed enough. Think about it, if you were looking to buy something, I will use shampoo as an example, where would you be more likely to buy it?
Joe Blow's Shampoo Emporia - Hosted on some free site with a URL as long as my arm that no one could remember long enough to type it into their browser.
or
Just 4 Hair - A professional site with its own domain and secure pages for ordering and the option of paying anyway you choose.
Remember, Free hosting services are wonderful for starting out (and are perfect for those personal home pages that no one but family sees anyway) but think about this, how are your potential customers going to feel about buying products or services from you if you can't even spend a few bucks on your own domain and commercial hosting? Especially if you are marketing a money making opportunity, who in the world would take financial advice from someone who can't or wont spend a dollar a day on hosting and a quality site?
I know that a lot of you who read this are probably thinking that the sole intent and purpose of this article is to convince people to host their site with me. This is really not the case. I am just trying to inform people who are seeking to build a commercial site for their business of the importance of having their own domain. Since my site is commercial, in the sense that I sell things on it for profit, I wish someone had told me the things I am telling you right from the get-go. No one did though; I had to figure everything out on my own and I am still learning.
If you have no experience but you want to build a site, I absolutely recommend that you sign up for a free site at first, just to get your feet wet. Yahoo Geocities is great for this because you can use their wonderful "Page Builder" tool to build your first site and then while you are building it you can browse Geocities tutorials to learn HTML as well as view the source code of your "Page Built" pages to get a grasp of how things work.
Remember, I am no expert, I am just trying to help. I couldn't make a decent graphic with PAINT SHOP PRO if my life depended on it and the only thing I know about javascript is how to cut and paste it. I do have quite a bit of common sense though. This section of my Web site will be ever growing as I grow. Thanks for visiting and I do hope I was of some help to you.
