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Create your own website, Royal Berkshire
Starting Your Own Website

Please note:
The service providers mentioned on this page (except the Amazon and Google ads)are genuinely the ones I use, and the prices are correct to the best of my knowledge (May 2007). However, I do have an interest, in as much I receive a commission if you buy directly following a click from this site. I would be delighted if you did so, but please make sure the service is the right one for you and that the prices are still correct.

Designing Your Webpages

There are several excellent programs to help design your website, but they can be very expensive. The ads below are just a selection.
Alternatively, you can try to Google a free one, but, like everything else, you probably get what you pay for...

Hostgator
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My Domain Name Provider

I have used the same domain name provider for about 7 years. I have registered several domain names with them and continue to do so. Service is good, price is reasonable, and billing is straight-forward and honest. The only difficult part is finding a suitable domain name which is not already taken.

I use UK2.net.

 

 

Please follow the link above to search for and register your domain name. Ignore headline prices like £1.99, this is only part of the story. When everything is included, you will pay a little over £5.00 / year for a www.xxxx.co.uk. This is still a small price to pay for securing your chosen website. name.

UK2 also offer web hosting services, but I have not used them so I can't comment. I chose Hostgator, who offered a deal which suited me better

My Web Host

After much searching I chose Hostgator as the host for this website. At the time I was looking, and it is still the case as far as I know, they offered by far the best deal in terms of webspace ("hard disk" space for your files), and bandwidth (the amount of file transfer allowed every month). Both of these were important to me as large numbers of photos are downloaded from this site.

Several different packages are available, but either of the two cheaper ones ("Hatchling" and "Baby") will probably be more than adequate. Expect to pay £4 to £6 per month all in.

 

 

 

The service is very reliable, as is the technical support. Please use the link above to check the details and to order.

They also provide a free application called Site Builder to help you create your web pages, but I haven't tried it.

Since starting this small website, I have been asked several times how I went about doing so. I don't claim to be an expert, but here are just a few words to point you in the right direction

Starting your own website is fun and inexpensive. You can use it for anything you like (within the law, of course...), and if you are lucky you may still be able to get one with a name which bears some relationship to your own - great for your 21st century CV.

Before you can start, you need a domain name (such as www.royalberks.co.uk), and a hosting service.

If you want a "real" domain name in the above format (www.myname.co.uk, or www.myname.com etc) you will have to register it formally and pay a small fee each year. It is possible, even easy, to find free domain names, but the name usually gives away the fact that it is free (e.g. www.myname.freedomainname.co.uk), which may be ok to start, but does not give the same impression to visitors. There may also be other limitations, but I can't say as I don't use a free service.

To keep this domain registered currently costs just over £5 / year (including V.A.T etc)- why risk a free service......

You also need a hosting service where you can store your web pages, images etc so that they are available to visitors to your site. This can be the same company that provides your domain name, but does not have to be. Again, it is easy to find free hosting services, but they often have drawbacks, such as pop-up ads, which will annoy your visitors.

To point you in the right direction, these are the companies I currently use, I can't talk from experience about any others.