Many people create websites for many reasons. It may vary from a business purposes to a hobby. When I first had a website, I didn't know a whole lot compared to what I know now.  Like everyone, my very first website was a free one until one day I decided that I needed more control and now I run a site that has its own domain name and webhosting.  In fact, I currently have a total of three sites running concurrently under one host.

Free websites do have their place if you are only starting out and you don't typically need a lot of advanced features like having a forum included in your website.  More than likely, you would have to go a domain name and webhost to take advantage of that.  Most free hosts do not have the stuff you need in order to install a forum.

In this section, I am going to discuss what is needed when it comes to paying for a website.

What you need is this:

• A domain Name
• Webhost
  

Buying a domain name is cheap. When I first bought my first domain name, I was spending $15 dollars a year only because I didn't know of any other sites that charged less for the money. Now I spend less than $10 per year per domain name.

When you do buy a domain name, come up with a name that suites what your website is all about. The key to a good domain name is one that is easy to remember.

A domain name is only just a name so you need some sort of host. Most people I know these days use hostgator. I've used them for a couple years and I have hardly had any problems with them.  A little about webhosts, they usually meet what you need.

There are many different options that you can choose when choosing the webhosting options.

Here are a few options you have:

• Shared
• Reseller
• Dedicated Server
• Virtual private server

Most people will start out on a shared server as that is usually all you need when first starting out. A reseller account is where you can sell hosting to other people to choose. Its great for that, but its also a good way to divide your own websites up. Its the more expensive option than shared. Resellers are typically on shared environment. Then the next step would be the virtual private servers as that is right in between a shared environment and a dedicated server. What it basically is, is where you share a particion with other people on that server. Finally the last option here is Dedicated server where its only you on there and if you are hosting other people.

Now it is time to start building a website once you have done all that I had said before.

Now you have to decide if you want to build a site from scratch or not. You can build the site with only just html and css or using a cms.

If you decide to create a site from scratch, you really need to learn how to create a site from scratch.  The other option is that you can install a cms and it will do most of the work for you.  Still it will be helpful for you to learn html in order to do everything you want to do to make the site look good.

The bottom line is that it does take time to learn everything.   If you are willing to learn new things, this is for you and it will be well worth it once you start building your own website.   You will be happy on what you had created and as time goes on you will keep on trying to improve it.  I have had my website for quite a few years and have never looked back since.