So you've determined you need a website. You know the web offers an opportunity to gain your business world wide exposure and how it's the most important element of any modern marketing campaign. There's only one problem. You don't know where to start and you've already learned why hiring a web designer isn't the solution. There are several steps to setting up a traditional website but at the end of this section I'm going to tell you about a shortcut that will save you a ton of time and money.

There are three major components to any website. There is the domain name wich is the web address your visitors will type into their browser to find you on the web (for example_ YourWebsiteName.com). There is the hosting which is a computer hooked up to the web that houses all your web pages. Lastly there are your web design tools.

Typically to get a domain name you need to go to a domain registrar. Domain registrars provide tools for your to search for a domain. Once you've found a domain name you like that's available registering it will typically cost $30 per year. I've seen advertisements for domain registration as low as $1.99 per year but if you look carefully you'll always find there's a catch. For example it's common to offer you $1.99/yr domain registration if you buy something else from the registrar like a hosting package.

So let's talk about hosting. There are basically three levels of hosting available. The first is the cheapest and it's called shared hosting. Shared hosting means your website is sitting on a computer with many other websites. Typically shared hosting is very affordable and since you're just starting out it's unlikely you'll need more than what shared hosting has to offer. Later when you start to receive a lot more traffic you may find it necessary to get some form of virtual or slice hosting.

Slice hosting offers you the ability to handle more traffic than shared hosting. You're still sharing hardware resources but you're not sitting on a server with hundreds or thousands of other sites. You may be sharing a server with 20 or 30 websites. Finally once you're very large and receiving thousands of unique visitors every day you may want to consider a dedicated server. A dedicated server will offer you the ability to handle tens of thousands of visitors each day. There aren't many websites that need a dedicated server and once you get to that point things become quite expensive.

The third part you need to build a website is something to create your actual web design. There are a lot of options here and most will require you to know a minimum amount of HTML code. If you're a business owner you probably don't have time to learn HTML. There are many software programs designed to allow you to create a website without knowing a lot of code but most are expensive and they won't provide you with the ability to create a unique and professional looking design.

Once you have all these pieces you'll have to make them fit together. The domain name will have to be configured to work with the web hosting. This will require you to under what's callled DNS or Domain Name Servers, IP addresses, and if you want custom email it will require knowledge of MX records as well. As you're reading this you may or may not know anything about those things but if you want to setup a website in a traditional way you'll need to know about them.

If you can jump the hurdle of getting the domain name pointed to the web hosting you'll still have a few more steps to get your website up and running. You'll have to figure out a way to take the actual web pages you created and upload them to the web hosting. This will most likely require what's called an FTP client. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It's a software that will need to be installed and configured on your local computer to transfer the files from your computer to the web host.

Now that your FTP client is installed and configured you'll have to use it anytime you want to make a change to your website. So if you want to change even one character of text you'll need to edit your code, login to your server remotely with the FTP client, and then upload the files to your server. Heaven for bid you need to change a webpage while you're on the go or at a friends house and don't have your computer with you. What I'm getting at is you'll likely only have one computer you use to make changes to your site - so you won't be doing that on the go unless you bring your computer with you.

At the beggining of the arcticle I told you about a shortcut. So here's good news. You don't need to know a lick of what I just shared with you to get your website online when you do business with WebStarts.com. WebStarts is a web-based application that combines all these parts into one simple service and puts all the parts together automatically for you in just a few minutes. And because WebStarts is web-based you'll never need to store any files on your local computer. You'll be able to make changes to your website from any computer in the world that's connected to the internet. The drag and drop interface WebStarts provides makes it simple to create a unique design that conveys value of your products and services without ahving to know any code. You just click on an image, text, or any object on your page and drag it where you want it to appear.

WebStarts was also designed from the ground up to help you get better ranking on search engines like Google. Using WebStarts will not only save you bucket loads of money and time but it will also help you attract more visitors to your website and help you turn more of those visitors into paying customers.

When you build a website with WebStarts the tools are so easy to use you'll be able to manage every little change to your website. Keeping your website updated will convey to your prospects you're serious, professiona, and in business. You'll never have the expesne of a web designer and never have to wait for someone else to make a change to your site. With WebStarts all the content belongs to you and can be downloaded to your computer at anytime. WebStarts truly creates a modern business efficiency.

By now you're probably convinced WebStarts is the right choice for getting your website online but if not there is nothing to worry about. You can sign up for WebStarts for free so there is absolutely no risk. It's not a 30 day trial but rather a completely free account. However if you're the type of person who's serious about your business you'll want to upgrade to one of the more powerful Pro accounts right away. To sign up for a free website click here.