So, you want to build a web site, but you have no clue where to start? You came to the right place! The first thing you want to do when starting a website is to brainstorm on the vision of your site first.

Don't just open up your web design software and start building it. Trust me, you will eventually get frustrated if you don't have a plan. How do you want it to look? What color scheme would you like to use? Also, write down the name of your pages (example: links.htm) and the purpose and a layout of each page. You want to do this so that you have a vision of what you want and hopefully these tips will help you!

Designing Your Webpage
You will need an HTML editor. HTML is a language that turns code into what is actually seen on a webpage. For beginners, I recommend using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor such as Dreamweaver. These are easy to use because you can place text, change fonts, add images etc. right there on the screen without having to know code.

If you don't want to design a site yourself or don't want to hire anyone, consider purchasing a professional pre-designed web site/Flash template for a low cost. A few examples are below, but you can search for hundreds more here.

 

Content
You would want clip-art or graphics on your page. This helps to keep your visitors alert and keeps your webpage interesting. You can add pictures, music, or whatever you want. There are also many free sites you can get free background graphics, which are designed to tile across the page and look nice. There are a lot of free clip art sites where you can find pictures to use on your pages. Go to google.com and type in "free clip art".

You can also use a digital camera or a disposable camera to take photos of your hair. When you get it developed request a cd-rom of your film. Then you can put the cd-rom in your computer and put them in your website.

Save your photos in a .jpg or .gif file format. This keeps your photos in a smaller size. Larger files take longer for the visitor to view the entire page. Not everyone has a broadband connection so keep that in mind.

 

Web Hosting
Now that you have your files and pages build and save, now you gotta put them on a web server so your site can be viewed by the entire world:

Domain Names
Your domain name is like your home address. It's the address (or URL) internet users use to find your site on the web. You can choose a unique name like (http://motowngirl.com) or if you choose to go with a free hosting, it will have their name apart of your address (example: http://motowngrl.freeservers.com).

For this website, I started off with a free domain. As the site got bigger and bigger, I had to purchase a monthly fee because of all the files I have and for the traffic I receive. I bought a domain (http://motowngirl.com) which makes it easier to remember and had my original site point to it. Now I've moved servers and all of my files are on motowngirl.com. Get your own personal domain name below:

Upload your site
There are easy two ways to upload your files and pages from your hard drive or disk to the web. You can use a FTP program (this stands for File Transfer Protocol). It's a program that lets you send the files from your computer to the internet. CuteFTP is one you can download for free. Whatever web hosting you go through may have their own tools to upload your site. You just choose the files from your computer and click on a "upload button" and your files should appear on the web.

Website Maintenance
The wonderful thing about a website is that it is not static like a brochure or printed document. You can easily change it to reflect new products, new developments or new content and it's not hard to do yourself! How often you update is completely up to you! You can do this yourself or hire someone (like me) :) to do this for you if you are too busy.

Promoting your site
One of the best ways to promote a hair journal is to have owners of other hair sites to place links on their pages. Once your page has been live for a few weeks, it will start to appear on search engines. Or you can sign up to place your search engines yourself. One of the most popular search engines is Google.com. Also, addme.com is a service where you can add your website to multiple search engines at once. Or you can promote your site with paid ads where your banner will be placed in a highly visible place on a site.

Pop-ups
Pop-ups can be very annoying to visitors. NEVER place them on all of your pages. You can choose to not have them on your site or choose to place them only on the popular pages of your website. Companies usually count one IP address to count as a valid pop-up. In other words, if you generate a lot of unique hits, this can be a lucrative source of income, but if your site is too annoying, you may lose returning visitors.

Targeted ads
If you've been on this site for any amount of time you might have noticed a group of 4 ads that deals with the topic on that specific webpage. I use Adsense and this is how it works...whenever someone clicks on an ad in that area, I make money (anywhere from $0.01 - ?). Here's the thing...you don't know how much specific ads pays. However if you receive a lot of visitors to you website chances are this can make you a bit of cash without annoying popups. You can customize colors to brand to your website (or make then stand out!) and see daily statistics as well! Sign up for this service and find out more information below:

Sell your stuff online - CafePress

You can use a company such as Cafe Press to sell items such as t-shirts, mugs, totes and much more! They have a base price of every item and you mark the item higher to make a commission. They take care of producing the item, payment, and shipping to the customer. All you do is create your logo and promote your website (your URL would be http://cafepress.com/yourname.

Paypal

You can also accept credit card payments online with shopping carts and you can also pay people and send money as well with Paypal.

 

Get your own toll-free number for $2/month
Having a toll-free number is not only convenient for your customers, but it makes your business look very professional as well:

Tutorials
If you are in need of a more detailed info, check out this resource:

This is only a quick overview on how to get your web site on the internet. I hope this page helps out anyone that is looking to start documenting their own hair journal or even your own business! If you need more hand holding or if this techie stuff is not your thing, free free to contact me anytime to setup a business/website consultation with me.

Good luck to and have fun!

Sincerely,

MotownGirl