The first step of course is to buy your domain name and web hosting account. In some cases website owners opt to use two different companies, and in others they choose to use the same company.

The decision tends to come down to price in the end though I have generally found it most practical to have your domain and website registered with the same company.

Once you've set this up you will be able to start to make your own website on your own domain.

There are almost as many different ways to make a website as their are websites themselves, but let's take a closer look at the 3 most popular techniques.

To begin with there are a range of pieces of web design software currently available that range in specification (and price) from free up to several hundred dollars.

Examples of software to make websites are:

Nvu Front Page Dreamweaver

These are of course just a tiny selection of those available and the list goes up in cost.

These are what are known as WYSIWYG website software - which stands for What You See Is What You Get. They enable you to make a website much as you would a desktop publishing document. That is to say that you don't need to know any computer code, you just draw boxes, right words, stick on pictures and so on, and the software itself turns your designs into code.

It is also possible to get hold of premade website templates that you can edit with WYSIWYG website software to make them your own and such designs give you a head start in creating a really professional final site.

The second to make a website on your own domain is to actually learn the computer code that websites are made of. Known as HTML - which stands for Hypertext Markup Language - this code is reasonably easy to learn. I personally always recommend new web masters learn at least a little HTML as it can make building your site and getting it just right so much easier.

One final method is to use content management software, otherwise known as CMS. This CMS is particularly useful as it allows you to get the best of all worlds. There are plenty of free templates you can use (or edit) for a really professional look, yet it's super-simple to add your website content.

Personally speaking I favor the final option the choice really is yours. I would suggest you take a look at some of the free or low cost options and try them out to see which you get on with best and which results you like best.

Once you've beuilt your website using one of the techniques described, the final task so visitors can see it at your domain, is to upload to your web hosting account using a process known as FTP.

Using a free piece of FTP software you will move the files that make up your website from your computer to your web hosting account and as soon as that short process is done, you will have completed making a website on your own domain.