Creating and Operating Your own Website

Blogging and writing online can be fun and even make you some money but going it alone has pros and cons.

Most online writers and bloggers do so through a basic blog or a platform owned and operated by others.

However there is nothing to stop you creating your own website.

You can go it alone or create along with a friend and still write for established sites such as Hubpages.

The choice as always is yours.

Which website builder you choose depends a great deal on your technological ability.

Some website creation tools will need you to be quite techie perhaps having knowledge of javascript.

For this reason I chose Weebly when I created my first website a few years ago. Weebly uses familiar tools such as drag and drop, and copy and paste, through the whole process.

You simply select a theme which will be the style of your basic site including fonts and colors and then get to work.

The theme can be changed if you do not like the results plus Weebly offer you the chance to get a free website up and running which can be useful.

This is a great way to learn how their website builder works.

If you want to have a domain and all the frills though it will cost. Weighing up the costs against any potential earnings is tricky as it will depend why you want to create your own website and your business plan.

Check out “help” on any website builder you choose for step by step instructions in some cases of building a website.

Wordpress also offers free websites and is fairly easy to use.

There are many free website creators so take your time and choose wisely.

Some websites like those created by Weebly are almost impossible to transfer.

As I have used Weebly for some years my renewal rates are pretty good as they were protected some years back. Newer users could find it expensive to use.

So what will your website feature?

In the past two of my websites have included blogs by other writers. These were news based and had great traffic though earnings were tiny.

Experience has taught me it can be difficult to make a profit.

If you write for fun just jump in and give it a go but if you want more than fun research your niche market.

Can you offer something different and fresh, ideally something unique?

My most viewed and commented posts featured one of my dogs and his battle to survive heart disease. One of these posts became a community in its own right with people going through a similar situation commenting, chatting with each other and offering advice.

A few words of caution before you bite the bullet and begin creating a website.

• You will need to add a cookie policy unless your website provider does that for you
• If you write reports giving health advice based on your personal experience add a disclaimer
• No plagiarism, you are better than that
• Respect copyrights
• Avoid sharing gossip and rumour
• Check your sources and acknowledge any used
• If you write on Hubpages write as you would here - that is check for typos and grammatical errors
• Add some reputable links to your website
• If your website is news based apply to have it added it to google and bing news online
• Use google and bing webmaster to improve your presence online
• Most website builders take a percentage of any adsense revenue
• Advertisrs may contact you re placing ads on your website. Think carefully before you accept. Many want to promote something like gambling and could negatively affect your website’s ranking online
• Use social media to promote your work

Above all remember this is your website which can be awesome but also means the buck stops with you!

This is a brief hub in response to commenting on one of my existing hubs.

You may be surprised how may people have websites in 2018.

If you want more information on creating your own website please ask in the comments and I will answer your query if I can.

If I cannot I will try to find the answer.

The Internet is constantly changing and sooner or later websites will be a thing of the past but for now they are a vital part on daily online activity.