How to create and host your own website?

The following are the main steps.

• Book domain name for your website
• Choose the technology to be used to build website
• Host your website
• Maintain it

Book Domain name

If you are lucky, you get the name of your choice. In case you don’t get the name you want then probably you have to add online suffix or prefix. For example, it is onlinesbi.com for State bank of India.

The cost per domain name per annum starts at Rs.350/-. There are various offers by resellers. Check out the following links for that.

These websites allow you to check the availability of domain name with different extensions. They also generally provide hosting facility, in case you want it.

http://net4.in/net4app/index.aspx
http://www.getwebdomains.com
http://www.networksolutions.com
http://www.domainsforyou.net

Choose Technology

If your website needs a database and some server-side scripting to process the data sent from users of your website then you have to choose the server-side technology and database.

The main options are as follows.

• Java – Servlets, JSPs and probably some framework also.
• ASP.NET
• PHP

Database can be anything you want. There is no hard and fast rule about database. You can use any database of your choice. Price and features are to be considered. If you need a moderate database then any  database management system like Oracle, MS SQL Server and MySQL would do. They are given in the order of price, Oracle being the costliest.

Get your web pages designed by Web designers and get the code developed by web developers.

Once you complete design and development of the website and tested it on your local environment, it is ready to be hosted and made available to the world.

Host it

• Host it on your own.
• Host it on hosting company's server.

Host it on your own server is a costly affair as you have to buy server and other infrastructure to run your server 24x7. You also need people (administrators) to manage your server 24x7. Your server is to be connected to Internet with its own IP address and with good band width.

Of course you need to purchase software such as Windows 2003 server and Oracle.

Generally for startups it is ideal to host your website on somebody else’s server. There are a lot of companies offering hosting services. You can choose the one in your local market. Or it could be anyone with good track record and quality service.

I have hosted srikanthtechnologies.com at rdsindia.com. I am pleased with their service. They are always available in Yahoo messenger for me to contact, in case I need them. I am using their services for last 8 years and happy with the way things are going.

You see your criteria. If you need a host with lowest price for hosting then you probably have to compromise on other issues.

There are lots of companies providing hosting services. The price also depends on the technology you used and other services such as email that you need.

Generally hosting PHP based website with MySQL is the cheapest. Next comes Java with MySQL and then ASP.NET with MS Sql Server.

When you take hosting services for your website, you are given an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) account, which allows you to access your area(a folder) in the server. You have to use one of the FTP tools to log on to server with your account details and transfer your files from your system to host. There are a lot of FTP clients that you can use to upload files from your system to server. I have used many of them. I found GOFTP free and simple to use.

How you transfer your database depends on the database you are using. For example, in case of SQL Server, you can use Import/Export tool provided by SQL Server or create tables in the server database using Query Analyzer. It all depends on your database product.

You also have to take a few other steps regarding DNS (Domain Name Service) so that all requests for your domain name go to the system (with an IP address) on which your website is hosted. These details are provided by hosting service provider.

Yeah, the most important question. How much does it cost you to host your website? It varies from as low as Rs.1000 to anything depending on the amount of space for database and website you have taken along with other ancillary services you ask for.

A website with 50 MB of space and 10 MB of database space may cost you around Rs.3000/- per annum.

That’s all you have to do to make your website available.

Maintain

If you are hosting your website on your own server then changing content in your server is equivalent to changing the website.

Well that’s all. So the overall cost of a website (in case you design and develop website) is just around Rs. 3500/. In many cases you can get more than what you spend by using Google Adsense. Check out for more details about that at Google Ad Sense.

Have a good concept and want to build a website? Try it as it costs you as less as Rs.3500/- per annum. Luck favors the brave. Be brave and get lucky.

Good Luck.

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