Mike West: Web Presence on a Shoe String
 Slide 1
Good day!  My name is Michael West. I’m a researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University.  In my 
spare time I also create websites for organizations I belong to and for family members and friends who 
have businesses.  In this course module, you will be learning how to create a website for your own 
business. 
Slide 2
This module will provide the basics of creating and publishing a starter business website.  It is intended 
for entrepreneurs who are new to website development but have average or better computer 
knowledge and skills.  It is divided into three sections: Why do I need to create my site? How do I 
create my site? And, how do I put my site on the web?  
Slide 3
So, what do you need to have a webhost for your business?  First you need a webhosting service and 
there are thousands of them out there with different price ranges and different types of 
configurations.  We will be talking in just a minute on how to pick the one that is right for you.  The 
second thing you will need is a registered domain name that is associated with your site.  Finally, you 
will need software to create your site and upload it to the web server.  
Slide 4
With all of the webhosting plans and services to choose from, how do you pick the one that is right for 
you?  Here are some tips of what to look for in a hosting plan.  First, what is the operating system of 
the web server?  Hosting companies offer either a Unix or Linux plan, a windows plan, or both.  Don’t 
make a mistake of assuming that you know how to use Windows and you have never used Unix that 
you need to pick the Windows hosting plan.  Either Unix or Windows will run basic HTML webpages 
equally well and will be equally easy to manage.  The primary difference is cost.  Many hosting 
companies charge less for a Unix site because the Unix operating system is free and Windows isn’t.  
Fewer companies have this price differential than in the past, but it is still something to look out for.  
What’s a good price for a starter website? Expect to pay from $5-$10 for an economy webhost package 
with an established company.  You should also check to see what amenities come with your hosting 
package.  For example, many hosting companies also register domains for you.  Some will even 
register your domain for free with your hosting package.  That will save you time and money in the 
long run.  Next, check to see how much disc space you are allowed on the web server and how much 
bandwidth you are allowed per month.  Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer to and from your 
website.
Some of the less expensive sites offer little disc space and bandwidth and then charge extra when you 
exceed your allocation.  You should expect between 5-10 GB of storage space and about 100 GB of 
bandwidth for an economy site.
Next, almost all hosting plans come with email accounts that are linked to your domain name.  For 
example, if your domain name is bobsbakery.com, you could have an email address for 
bob@bobsbakery.com.  It looks far more professional than using an internet service account address.  
Some hosts will only allow one or two email address for a starter account and then charge more for 
additional addresses.  Even if you are operating your business alone, it is a good idea to use a host that 
allows multiple email addresses.
Next, check to see if the hosting plan includes preinstalled scripts or programs.  Look for scripts that 
allow you to interact with your customers.  For example, if your site will have a form that visitors to 
your site can use to inquire about your services, you will need a form handler script that will send the 
contents of the form to you by email.  There are many other types of scripts available such as 
discussion boards, guest books, and scripts that allow your visitors to send your page to others.  Look 
for the scripts that help you get your business established.  
Next, check to see if the hosting plan comes with an easy to use control panel for managing your site, 
setting up email accounts, and checking your web statistics.  
The last thing to look for in a host is a variety of support methods for customers.   It is hard to say how 
responsive the support is going to be when you need it, but look to see the hosting company has at a 
minimum, a customer service guide for doing your own setup and troubleshooting, a toll free number 
and email assistance.  Some are now also offering support through instant messaging.  I have found 
this to be the fastest way to get your problem solved.  
Slide 5
Some extra tips on webhosting.  First, some who are new to webhosting mistakenly assume that 
because your site comes with email accounts, you no longer need your internet service.  You still need 
your internet service to connect with the host, to upload your pages and check for email.  Second, be 
wary of free webhosting or shared hosting, sometimes referred to as sub-domain hosting.  Free 
hosting may seem attractive, but you have to agree to a lot of banner advertising on your site.  If you 
decide to use a free service, make sure it allows you to designate what types of ads can be displayed.  
Shared or sub-domain hosting does not require a domain name, so it is less expensive, but it will seem 
less professional to your customers.
There are several websites that provide reviews of webhosts and they are listed in the resource 
section of this slide show.  It would be wise to investigate potential webhosts in the area of site 
stability and support.  When you do sign up for your hosting plan, you will be emailed information on 
your account such as the username and password, the URL of sending pages to your site, and other 
critical information.  You should print this email and back it up on a removable storage such as a disk or 
thumb drive and retain for your future reference.  


Slide 6
Now I am going to talk about registering your domain name.  There are four domain extensions that 
are available for your use: .com, .net, and two recent additions- .biz and .us.  In the early days of the 
web, .net was intended for use by internet service providers but now anyone can use it.  Registered 
domain names are maintained in a database called whois.  To see if the domain you want is available, 
you have to search the whois database.  Your hosting company will probably have an interface for this 
database or you can access it directly at whois.net.  
One of the nice features of the whois database is that if you use the domain lookup selection and your 
domain is not available, it will suggest alternatives.  For example, if your domain name is not available 
in .com, it will also check .net, .biz, .us as well as alternative spellings.  With over 78 million registered 
domains, it can be difficult to find just the right name that isn’t already registered.  You may need to 
get creative.  If your first choice isn’t available, try using an acronym or try using the name of the 
service or product that you are trying to sell.  You can also use numbers or dashes in your domain 
name.  If Bob’s Bakery isn’t available, try Bob’s-Bakery.  The main rule is to keep the domain name as 
short and descriptive as possible so that your customers can remember it.  
One last word on domains-If you have two or three different domain names that you like, most 
hosting companies will allow you to assign multiple domain names to the same website.  One will be 
the primary domain name, the others are called pointers.  This can increase traffic to your site from 
people who are using search engines to find your particular product or service.  
Slide 7
I mentioned previously that it is easier if your hosting company also registers domains as a part of the 
service package.  What if you have already registered your domain with another company?  How do 
you link your domain with your webpages?  This is done through what is called domain name servers 
or DNS.  DNS basically is the physical location on the web for your website.  DNS designations can 
either be in text as in the first example or as an IP address as in the second example.  If you use a 
bundled service, your webhost sets your DNS for you automatically.  However, in the case of separate 
domain registration and hosting accounts, you will need to go to the company that has registered your 
domain name and somehow change the DNS to the one that your host company provides for you with 
your account information.  
Slide 8
Now we will be talking about the types of software you will need.  First, it would be helpful to 
understand about a little about hypertext markup language or HTML.  HTML is not really a 
programming language at all like C or java.  It is basically text that includes markers or tags that are read 
and interpreted by web browsers.  I’ve given some examples of the types of tags that are used like 
headers, paragraphs, bold text, links and bringing images into your webpage.  You will note that all of 
them include both an opening tag and a closing tag marked by the hash (#) line.
Slide 9
There are many commercial software packages for writing websites such as FrontPage and 
Dreamweaver but they can be expensive.  Because HTML is text however it can be written with any 
plain text editor.  Both Windows and Macintosh come with a text editor: notepad in Windows and Text 
Edit in Mac and you can use those to create and edit your webpages.   My favorite text editor is called 
NoteTab and it is free for downloading at notetab.com.  NoteTab has two key advantages over 
notepad.  First, you can open multiple pages for editing.  Second, it has a menu of HTML tags that you 
can simply use by dragging or dropping wherever you want them.
The main advantage of commercial web authoring tools is that they are whizzywig, what you see is 
what you get.  You can see how your website looks as you develop it.  With text editors you don’t have 
that advantage.  You will need to open the file in both your text editor and web browser.  As you make 
changes, you need to save changes in the text editor and then go to your web browser and refresh 
the images.  If you miss one of those steps, you will not see the changes that you made.
Finally, you will need software to transfer your files to the webserver.  I will talk about those options 
later in the last section of this module.
Slide 10
So how do you create your site?  If you have little to no experience in developing websites, by far the 
quickest and easiest way to do it is with templates.  Templates will have design elements like menus, 
color schemes, etc. in a shell and you simply insert your own text into the shell at the appropriate 
places.  There are a number of websites that offer free or low cost templates.  These are some of the 
ones that I use that I think are appropriate for businesses.  When you open your template file, you 
should find markers like these showing you where to start and stop entering your text.  If you change 
or insert anything outside of these markers, you may alter the menus or other design elements.  
Slide 11
Some additional tips for writing webpages.  First, they can have either the .htm or .html file extension.  
Whichever one you use, you want to be consistent with it across your website, especially in your 
menus.  Second, homepages are generally called inex.htm or .html by convention.  This allows the web 
browser to find the homepage.  
Next, as you are creating your page and checking to see how it looks, you may see your paragraphs 
running into one another.  The common reason for this is that you have used line breaks, which are 
not read by the web browser.  You need to go back and use either the line break tag or the paragraph 
tag.  At the beginning of your html document, your header tags that convey critical information about 
the page including keywords.  Many of the search engines use these keywords to conduct searches.  It 
is essential to have key words and keyword combinations that describe your products or services.  
Next, you should avoid using word processing software to write your webpages.  My experience has 
been that they can insert additional codes that alter the layout of the page.  
Finally, visit sites such as websitesthatsuck.com for design tips.  This website illustrates some examples 
of what not to do with your site.  Just because you can do some cute with your site doesn’t mean that 
you should.  
Slide 12
If you intend to sell your products or services over the web, you will need a secure server.  Secure 
servers protect confidential information like credit card numbers from outsiders.  However, secure 
servers are very expensive and difficult to set up.  One alternative is to use a third party payee.  The 
most popular one is PayPal, but there are several others and I have listed them here.  Check them out 
to see which one offers the best alternative for your business.  
Slide 13
Once you’ve created your webpages on your home computer, how do you copy them to the 
webserver?  Well, there are three ways of doing it and all three require that you have your username 
and password that were supplied to you by your webhost company.  If you used web authoring 
software like FrontPage or Dreamweaver, look for an option for publishing your site to the web.  Just 
follow the instructions putting in the required information.  A second way to do it is using your web 
browser.  The example is how you would put that into your address bar.  Once you have connected, 
you simply use the Windows Explorer methods to copy files or folders from your computer into your 
website.  My preferred way of doing it is to use file transfer protocol or FTP software.  The industry 
standard for this is wsftp but that is no longer free.  There are however some free versions of FTP 
software and I’ve supplied you with two examples.  
Slide 14
This is a screen shot for core FTP-ing.  Once you put in your required information and connect, this is 
what you will see.  On the left-hand side is a directory tree for files and folders on your home 
computer.  On the right-hand side are files and folders for the webserver.  To copy file or folder you 
simply drag and drop them or use the arrow buttons.  Once that is done, your site is on the web.  
Slide 15
That is the end of the module.  If you want to learn more about writing HTML pages, I supplied you 
with three very good primers on the subject.  I’ve also supplied you with three sites you can go and 
get reviews of webhosts to help you pick out a good one for you.  If you need any further assistance, 
please feel free to email me.  Good luck with your website and good luck with your business.