So you would like to get a web page up and going? Great. There are a few steps that need to happen along that road. Some of them are very easy, and some of them a challenge. Here’s what needs to happen:
Choosing a domain name.
I recommend using mydomain.com as a domain registrar – it’s easy to use, provides domain name resolution (DNS) services for free, isn’t cluttered with tons of ads, and has great features. And it’s cheap. You can use that site to choose and register your domain name. You’ll need to sign up for the DNS service, as well as email forwarding as well, but you need a hosting account too where you will actually put your website.
If we will be working for you, please set us up as a technical contact for your domain: Purple Ivy Web Design, 110 Oakland Dr, Black Mountain, NC, 28711. 828-686-8231 is our contact phone.
Choose a web host.
We recommend Hostgator. If you want to order and set it up on your own, feel free, or we can handle all that for you. Once you have your web host set up, you (or we) will point the domain name to the host. They’ll give you an IP address, and you need to tell your domain registrar (mydomain) where people can find your website (the IP address at Hostgator).
Set up email.
We recommend gmail. Just set up a new email address and then go into your mydomain account and have them forward all email to that address. You can set up gmail to automatically reply using the right email address as well so that your messages don’t come from gmail.com but appear to be coming from your website address.
Install your CMS.
We use WordPress, and that’s the technical part. With access to your web host, we’ll do all that for you.
Upload your web content – photos and text
Of course you have to have some content to upload!
And that’s it, you’re good to go!