Trying to learn how to put together a website for the first time can be extremely frustrating if you’re doing it on your own. For this reason Ive decided to write this articles so that you’ll not only know how to set it up but also how everything works together.

To get started you’ll first want to get a broad perspective of how everything relates to one another. This will help you in the long run because when you need to trouble shoot or if you want to get help from a professional web designer you’ll be able to speak with them in industry terms.

Ok first off I should explain that there are two basic requirements for getting a website live: A domain name and hosting. Its important to get hosting because the hosting company will store all your website files on a protected server so that your website is protected and you can accept visitors to site. The hosting company keeps all your files on their computers. You could host from your own computer but its very risky because its very easy for hackers to hack personal computers. This service is very cheap and usually starts at about $5/month.

After you get your hosting set up you next need to get a domain name. The domain is the www.yourdomainname.com part of a website. There are many places to get domain names but I mainly use GoDaddy. It is the industry standard and provides excellent service.

To connect your hosting account with your domain name you’ll need to get a hold of your nameservers from your hosting account. The hosting company will usually send you those in their welcome email. Take those and plug them into your domain name account and then wait a few minutes. Soon enough they’ll be connected and you’ll be nearly there.

The next step is install your content management system (CMS). Go into your hosting account and find the “fantastico” button. Open that up and you’ll be given a list of a lot of different CMS’s. These are programs that let you manage your websites really easily and many of them without having to deal with code. I usually go with WordPress but it really depends on what kind of website you’re going for.

Your last step now is to complete your website by adding in the content and wala! You first website is all done!

Learn more about Thrive Learning Institute. Stop by Terry Roper’s site where you can find out all about Thrive Institute of Learning and what it can do for you.