If you own a business you have to have a website to keep up with your competitors. People always ask me how I made my website and and I always tell them that it's simpler and cheaper than they think but it takes a some creative ideas to get started. I'm going to break this down for you into 5 easy steps.

1) Finding a Domain Name

Owning a Domain is like owning virtual real estate on the internet. A domain name like www.Ebay.com is how your customers will find you so it's basically a street address. When you design your website it's like building a house on your virtual property.

I use GoDaddy to purchase all my websites because they're pretty easy to use and their prices are fair. It actually only costs about $10 a year to own your Domain. That's really cheap. The hard part is actually finding a name that someone doesn't own. This can get tricky so you'll need to get creative. I don't know how many long hours I've spent looking for domains only to find that they've all been taken.


The Domain I purchased was quite long so when business picked up I decided to purchase a shorter Domain. After negotiating a price I was able to get it and it wasn't cheap, lol. I suggest you find a name no one owns before you start purchasing "Premium Domains" (Domains with common words) and see if your website takes off.

Once you find a domain no one owns you'll need to have a credit card or Paypal to purchase it. Now you are ready for the next step!

2) Purchasing an FTP Server

Now that you own your Domain you'll need an FTP Server. An FTP Server is basically a file cabinet on the internet where you can store all your pictures and website information so the world can see it. It's like the foundation to your house. You store all the materials you need to build your website in this virtual file cabinet on the internet so you can share it with the world.

This service costs about $4 a month and you will be given the option to purchase it when you buy your Domain

After your purchase your FTP server you'll need to link it to your domain so The Internet knows to build the foundation on your virtual real estate. They'll have simple instructions for you to do that on their site.

3) Building and Designing Your Website

If you want to design your own website easily you'll need to have a program like Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. These programs make designing a website like using a word processor so you don't have to know much code. You will need to know a bit of basic HTML which you can learn in an hour by using the tutorials provided by these programs. You don't need to know much to make a basic site. In time you'll learn how to do more advanced things like using Flash and having interactive menus.

Here are two of the best Website Editing programs out there

When designing your site the most important thing to remember is that Simpler is Better. If your website is too confusing or has too much going on people will probably never come back. The best trick when you start designing your website is to find other websites that you visit and like and take note of what design elements you like about them.

If you want to bypass this whole thing you can actually use your Myspace or Personal Blog and just have the domain forward you to those sites. Maintaining a Myspace or Blog is much easier than having your own site but looks less professional. If you decide to use these sites you won't need to purchase an FTP site. GoDaddy will give you the option to forward your Dot Com to these sites so when you type in your Domain it'll send you to your Myspace or Personal Blog.

You can always pay someone to make your site but this can get quite expensive. I suggest you learn a little bit about how to make it even if you do want to pay someone to do it for you so you can update the site yourself without having to pay someone.

4) Uploading to Your FTP Site

If you decide to make your own website you're going to need to have a program to upload your images and webpages to your FTP server. I purchased a program called CuteFTP for about $60 and it was well worth it. What it does is it connects you to your FTP server so you can upload all your stuff to the internet. If you've used PhotoBucket it's basically doing the same thing except you own the site and the space.

You can actually use some free programs but it's a little more difficult. Remember! This is your business! Make life easy by using the right tools.

5) What to Do When You're Done Making Your Website

Advertise. People will not know where your site is unless you tell them. The more people visit your site the higher rank it will be in Google so when they search for whatever your business is it will come up sooner. Unlike the real world people can't drive down your street and see your business and say, "Hey! I'd like to see what they're selling!" You're going to have to tell them exactly where to go. The best way to advertise is to join communities and forums related to your business. This will help build your audience and you will be able to expand.

I personally do lots of interesting things like write lots of blogs and guides, make animations, do cross promotion, and try to maintain an internet presence. If you Google Mark Lim I'll be the first one on there and you can see what I'm talking about :)

The more involved you are in the internet the more exposure your site will get. So go read and comment on peoples blogs or try social networking sites. It'll really help your business. Trust me!

If you liked this guide please vote for it and visit my Ebay Auctions for my Shirt Company, Poison Apple. Thank you so much! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

~Mark Lim