Birth of a New Website -The Absolute Beginner Webmaster (Part 1)

This is a series of articles aimed at the beginner webmaster who is just beginning to run, or is thinking of running their first site. It covers everything you need to know to build a successful basic site from how to avoid those awful domain name choices (http://www.ondemand-hyperinsurance-scam.com) to optimising your site for SEO and using PHP scripts.

So you have an idea for a website but you do not know how to start creating one. You know that you either want to control it all yourself (because you are a complete control freak) or that you cannot afford to have a site built by a subcontractor. Maybe you already have a website built with a site creator but you want to modify and extend it, make it more professional and get more traffic. Welcome, you are in the right place!.

First things first, we will jump straight in with selecting a host. This is place that has the server with your site on it, held so that it is available to the internet for browsing (or not if you forgot to pay them!). Your host will handle things like backing up your site, server maintenance, server security and so on. Unless you are already an expert in software, TCP/IP networking and internet security I would not suggest that you have a PC in your house used as a server (though in these days of broadband some techies do just that).

There are many web hosts out there with a lot of different options. It is all pretty bewildering for the new webmaster. The main thing to remember is all the packages except those provided by free-hosts, are scaleable. Sure your own facebook clone which you are about to start building will someday attract 10 million visitors a day, however to start with you will be lucky to top 100. Why go out and pay $200 a month for your own unique managed server? Thats like buying a 20000 sq foot supermarket to start your new fruit and veg store in. Its insane but lots of companies do it... and go bust. What do you do? You rent a small lock-up shop. In the world of the internet this is called Virtual Hosting. For $9.99 a month you can get really top notch virtual hosting that will last till you are in the 10000 visitors a day bracket, or let you run multiple sites on the same host with no extra charge.

I will tell you who I use in a moment, but just in case you want to make up your own mind, here is a shopping list of the 'must have' options.

• Unix operating system, you will pay more and get less with Windows, windows is more complex to administer, and if your site needs any programming then it will