Website Building | Web Design & Layout Tips

A lot of people these days are raring to put up an online business or bring their business over the World Wide Web. An online business is more convenient and easier to operate because you can do it practically in the comfort of your own home. However, it can be daunting, at first, especially if you are a newbie in the internet. Terms like domain names, website hosting, website design, HTMLs, and many other internet jargons may sound alien to you in the beginning. Lucky for you, you have just stumbled upon an article that will introduce you to the basics of building a website.

One of several considerations you need to give particular attention to in website building is the domain name. Ideally, it has to be short, and if possible, choose a domain name that will immediately identify to what your website is all about. If you are serious about your online business, have your domain registered for a minimum of two years, no less than that. This will give people the idea that you intend to be in the business for a long time.

Once you have a domain name already, the next thing you would want to do is to make your presence felt in the World Wide Web. This is called web hosting, and you will need a web host for this. Your best choice is a web host that has a good reputation. It may be more expensive, but at least you can be sure of the high quality of service and security.

As a newbie in website construction, you can take advantage of the Microsoft FrontPage. This is particularly helpful if you do not know a thing about website development at all. Use the Google search engine or the search services of MSN and Yahoo to get answers to any questions you may have.

With regards to your website layout, there are tons of ready templates you can choose from. However, if you want to know how it’s done from scratch, so much the better, because by so doing, you become more experienced. It can be time-consuming, though, and you may have a lot of mistakes in the beginning. Nonetheless, when all the work has been completed, you will realize that it’s worth everything you’ve spent. A piece of advice: use tables instead of frames. If you do not know what they are all about, just do a bit of researching on the internet.

A lot of people want their websites to have a high resolution. In your case, however, a website that is less than 750 pixels wide, may be a good choice already for easy reading. Just make sure that your pages turn up the same using different browsers.

Do not ward off potential visitors to your site by putting in words, like “under construction”, and some other phrases to that effect. Use relevant keywords as much as possible as these can influence your place in search results. Do more readings about HTML tags, meta tags, and keywords. Preferably, your title should be placed before the head in the HTML code. Also, use one or a couple of keywords in an ALT tag to tell something about your images, and get links from other sites that will lead people to your site.

Graphics are good and may even be a factor in attracting visitors to your site. However, keep in mind that more graphics mean more load time. Let your clients or visitors judge how your website looks. If possible, do not rely on how your family and friends look at your site because they may be biased about it.