There are free tools available for download that will enable anyone to build one or more websites and you do not need to sign up to any guru's personal list or buy endless ebooks and software programs. It is possible to build a website for $10 or less. Hosting one site can be done for less than $100 a year. This may sound like a lot of money, but you can host one hundred sites for that same $100 a year with some reputable web hosting services.



Where do you start?

Lock away your credit cards.

You will very quickly find thousands of websites which all claim to have the magic bullet to make you rich. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET. These websites make thousands of dollars a month for their owners from people new to the Internet who buy into their particular magic bullet idea.

Sign up for Nothing.

Avoid information overload. If you sign up to even a tiny fraction of the gurus' sites selling magic bullet ideas you will quickly be running out of time to even read all the emails you will get. You WILL end up buying some of their information and be that much worse off.

Think about the knowledge you have.

Everyone has some knowledge that other people want for free. You do not need to set up complicated membership sites or to work out ways of selling your knowledge. Free websites make money for their owners through advertizing.

Your may be a skilled mechanic or plumber. Maybe you have moved house frequently and know all the pitfalls to avoid. You may be a good cook or know how to raise chickens. There are over 1000 million people using the Internet and that number is growing daily.

Even if only one person in a thousand is interested in your information that is one million people. That is a lot of users to see your ads and if only one person in a hundred clicks on your ads that is a worthwhile income which you would not have earned otherwise.

How to build a website for free.

Web pages are written in HTML. You probably already have basic programs that will convert text into HTML on your computer, but you really need a HTML text editing program. You can use a $300 program or you can download one for free. I still use Netscape Navigator 7.2 because I like the Netscape Composer program that comes as part of the package. You can search for this free download in any search engine and save $300 or more. Netscape Composer does almost everything that the more expensive programs do, and certainly everything you will need for your first twelve months online.

How to choose a domain name.

There are many sites that act as resellers for domain names. There is a lot of money being made in this business. Anyone can set up one of these reseller sites for less than $60, complete with flashing website logo and many other bells and whistles. Most people go on to build more than one website and it is simpler if all of your domain names are bought from the same reseller, so look for a reputable company who are going to be around next year and the year after at renewal time.

Prices vary enormously, so do not just go for the big name sites, they do not always offer the best deal.

Avoid - (dash) and _ (underscore) symbols in your name.

Most people have more confidence in a .com domain than in any other type, so look for one of these.

How to choose a hosting company.

You can find free hosting, but it may be slow, unreliable or carry lots of the hosting company's ads. It is better to look for a good value package from a reputable hosting company. Every company has an extensive list of features that mean nothing to most people.

The most important ones relate to customer support, especially if you are new to website building. Some hosts have site building tools, or may notify major search engines when your site is first uploaded or updated.

These are worthwhile add-ons. Look for the ability to host more than one site without paying any extra.

Look for a hosting company based in your target market because search engines will find your site more easily.

Many hosting companies also offer domain name purchase. If the deal is reasonable you should consider this, because it removes the need to move your domain from one host to another.

How to make money from a free website.

Google's amazing Adsense for Publishers program makes hundreds of dollars a month for many ordinary people. You put Google's code onto your website and Google chooses relevant ads to place on each page. If a user clicks on an ad you get paid.

Payment per click varies from a few cents to ten dollars and more. Pasting the code into your website is very simple. You need one website set up and online before you apply for Google's Adsense program or for company affiliate programs, because your site will be checked before you are admitted to earnings programs.

Another way to make money from your website is to recommend relevant products and services to the people using your site. You sign up for a company's affiliate program, you get code to paste into your web page or to use in links and then you are paid if someone follows your link and makes a purchase from the company.

Company affiliate programs commonly pay $5 to $100 commission to you, their affiliate, for each purchase made by the person you send to them.

How to get the search engines to find your site.

It is not enough to put a site on a hosting service. Search engines will never find it. Search engines follow links from sites they already know about to find new sites. They will only find your site if there is at least one link in to it.

You can ask friends to link into your site, you can have your site listed on web directories, too. The best way though is to write articles and send them off to article sites that will post your article for free.

Other websites which are looking for article content download the article and show it on their site, together with the link that you as the author are allowed to put into the author bio.

The better the article, the more sites download it and link into your site. This means that search engines find and index your site quicker and that you rank higher in their results.