Even the most attractive of websites won't serve the purpose if it has no traffic. Therefore, after uploading/publishing it, the most important task is to promote the website. Try to advertise your site in magazines and newspapers if your budget permits. Have your website registered with the world's top search engines and directories on the internet. There are more than 4000 search engines and directories available on the internet that provide promotional services. Many of them charge from $ 10 to $ 100.

It always feels good to have your presence felt on the World Wide Web, and there is nothing like having a personal homepage to express yourself. Here, in this article, we briefly look into all the necessary tools, one by one, that help you understand and master the art of creating a homepage/website.

Name availability

When you first decide to create a website, your mind is brimming with ideas. You feel like stuffing your pages with heaps of interesting information. But then you would like to name your domain (address) after a focal theme - perhaps, a name, a concept, a product or a service. Let's say we want our URL (Uniform resource locator) to be like, but for that we have to first check if the domain is available on the net.

So how to check? Simply, just go online; open your browser and type the desired address and press Enter. If this site already exists it would appear in the browser canvas, if not then a "Site Not Found" message pops up. Another way to find is by visiting a domain registration authority's website, such as, formerly . Visit this site and use whose link to check the name availability. Whose search is more useful because it provides details about registrant, technical person, billing contact as well as details about hosting servers? Usually a name registration body offers ".com", ".net", ".org", ".edu", ".mil", ".gov" suffixes. If you want a ".pk" website, visit. So if the site record is not present on these websites, it would show a "not found message" and invite you to register for it.

Hiring the webspace

Before you decide how much space is required to build a site, you need to do your homework thoroughly. Work out all the needs and wants for the desired site. Various services are being offered by web hosting companies, some of these are offered in different packages. The cheapest may only have some basic services. However, If you are designing the website yourself, you must carefully choose the services from the ones mentioned below:

1. E-mail accounts

2. Auto responders

3. Multiple FTP accounts

4. Access history/log

5. True FTP

6. No hidden charges

7. Web-based FTP

8. Dedicated IP address

9. Frontpage extensions

10. PHP support

11. Cold fusion support

12. ASP support

13. JSP support

14. CGI support/ own cgi-bin directory

15. Shell account

16. Reselling space

17. SSL

18. SSI

19. Real audio/video support

But if you are hiring some professional developers' services, you should still straighten out all the necessary details to avoid any future hitches. Web space rent range from $1 to $250 per month, depending on the services included in the package. Today $10 per month package is enough for most static sites which fulfils almost all requirements of a client. A good $10 service is offered by Softcomca providing most services, with fastest access. You may find about other web hosting companies through any search engine.

Webspace and domain name

Today, most hosting companies offer both services at a single spot, for example softcomca. However, you are not under any obligation to use both, webspace and domain name, services from the one company. You may also use domain name and web space individually. In some cases, you do not have any plans to build a website and just want to reserve the domain name for the future use; or you may already have registered a domain name with insufficient space and want to buy some space for that domain; or you want to change the hosting company of your existing domain name.

Purchasing domain and webspace has never been so easier as it is now. All you need to do is just fill up a form, and pay through credit card and you're done!

Planning the design

You should plan to design your site before registration process. Even the testing phase comes before the site is formally launched. Due to advancement in web designing we have divided it in two parts for more convenience:

Front-end tools: There are several useful tools available to create web pages, like Frontpage 2000, Dreamweaver, Flash (interactive animation purpose only) and many others used to create front-end documents.

Back-end tools:< Active server pages (ASP), Java server pages (JSP) Personal home pages (PHP) Cold Fusion pages (CFM), Perl pages ({PL also called CGI) are different programming being used, on back-end server, to handle database driven applications as well as support all e-commerce activities. These all run on server side, and finally generate a front-end document called web page, which is already made and integrated with one of the said programming.

Serious website development is not a joke of jeddy and also not a single handed job. It is a team work; at least three members must be in the team to run and create a "website mix" and publish it to the dot com.

• Website developer/webmaster

• Website designer

• Website programmer

Website developer/webmaster: A key person who handles all the website related matters. He is responsible for web page layout design (front-end), he should command have over using control panel of the site. He should also know how to handle SSI and SSL (server side includes and secure server layer). Most professional webmaster are perfect in running all kinds of CGI applications, different web servers, fault tolerance, etc.

Website designer: It is basically a designer's job who is responsible for creatively design graphics, illustrations and animations. He also develops graphical layout of website, creating buttons and themes for the entire site and assist webmasters.

Website programmer: Must be a qualified programmer with good skills in at least one of the server side programming, such as ASP or JSP, etc. He should also be able to handle all the server side requirements like creating search engine for the website; hit counter, manipulate with text or graphics; submit form applications; control database connectivity; develop e-commerce applications like credit card handling and shopping cart, etc.

Website promotion

Even the most attractive of websites won't serve the purpose if it has no traffic. Therefore, after uploading/publishing the website, the most important task is to promote the website. Try to advertise your site in magazines and newspapers if your budget permits have your website registered with the world's top search engines and directories on the internet. There are more than 4000 search engines and directories available on the internet that provides promotional services. Many of them charge from $ 10 to $ 100. It is also suggested that you should visit download.cnet.com and search using "promotional software" as keyword, you will find useful software and you may not need to visit or get help from any site like www.submit-it.com which would save you money and time. Now it is your choice which way you want to promote your website.