How to publish a website?
So, you have decided to have your own website and want to know how to publish your website onto the web. You can create your web site, build it and test it on your local machine. However, for others to access it, you will have to publish the site by putting all of the files on the web server that will be hosting your site.
With these steps, you will find creating a website is much easier than you think!
1. Finding a domain registrar and registering a unique domain name
The first step is finding a unique domain name. You will need to find a domain registrar that will help you register a domain name. There are hundreds of registrars available online and basically they will offer more or less the same features.
However, it is worth doing some research before you pick one, as a bad registrar can make you loose your domain name. Once you find a suitable registrar, look up the domain name you want to register for your website. If the name is available, then get it registered as early as possible.
2. Creating your website
There are several ways you can go about building your site. Depending on your skills and level on knowledge in web designing you have to create the website. Following options are available: you can use a website editor like Dream weaver to build your website, use a site builder that comes pre-installed with templates, hire a web designer and get a website of your choice designed.
Hiring a professional designer can seem a costly option but they may be the best option if your site is for business purposes. Other than these there are a number of open source alternatives available that do not need any knowledge of programming. You can opt for content management systems like WordPress, which allows you to have a website up and running in few minutes.
3. Find a hosting company and get a hosting plan
Next step is to find a hosting company to put your website files online and to assign have the domain point to their name servers. There are thousands of web hosts available and choosing one can seem time consuming and difficult task.
Make sure you find a host that provides 24/7 rock solid support, offers a money back guarantee, provides FTP access, addons that you might find necessary for your website and so on. Once you have done this and ordered for a hosting plan with them, you should receive your FTP (File Transfer Protocol) login details from your web host.
4. Uploading your data
Once you’ve found a web hosting provider, its time to upload the site. The control panel provided by the hosts will generally include a ftp manager, if it doesn’t, you can download one of the FTP client’s on your machine and upload files to your web space.
The FTP details will be provided to you by your hosting company. Generally webhosting providers will provide to you with a free/paid site builder which helps you to build your website with the ready to use templates. Content Management System like WordPress and Joomla can also be installed from the control panel they provide.
Once you are done with uploading the data on your web space it is time to change the DNS. You will have to point your domain name to the name servers provided to you by your host so your domain can start resolving from your host server.
You can ask your domain registrar to set those for you if they haven’t provided you with a control panel to manage your domain.
Read Here: A Step-By-Step Guide to Create A Website on WordPress?
You are now ready to display your website on the web! Happy Publishing 🙂
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