Building a Free or Low Cost Website

Mike Harding Is it impossible to build a really cheap website? Most definitely not! I am
maintaining a very low cost website at the moment, in fact the site
(http://www.echogecko.co.uk) cost a mere £8.00. So, even if you don’t think
you can afford to make a website, if you have a bit of change in your
pocket, that will be all you need.

Domain Names
If you are going to register a domain name then I suggest you shop around
registrars for prices. I used 123-reg.co.uk, a UK based registrar who I
found most helpful. If you are inexperienced with domain names, I suggest
you read up on them, otherwise you may run into some head-scratchers.

Think of a catchy name for your domain, so people will remember it. Then
register it. The domain may take 24 hours to be registered but in that time
you can be finding a web host.

Web Hosting
Unless you have a fast computer and are always connected to the internet,
you will want to find a web host, who will keep your files on a big server,
and to find a free one shouldn’t take you that long, but most of them put
their own pop up, or built-in adverts, which can ruin the way your website
looks when you upload it, especially if you used frames.

The best free host I have found so far is portland.co.uk. They are also UK
based, but offer a mypage.portland.co.uk sub domain name and no adverts
whatsoever. This is a bonus. If you have bought a domain name, they will
even host that for free with no adverts or transfer fee. Although I have
experienced some technical problems with Portland, I believe they are
stabilising their service and I highly recommend them.

Publishing
When you sign up with your web host, you will be given a method to upload
your files. (Web based, FTP, etc.). Any of these methods are great, but I
prefer FTP and recommend it to advanced users. Web based upload is usually
very simple, but FTP is handy when you would rather not open your web
browser, and simply connect straight to the ftp server with ftp software
(CuteFTP recommended).

Uploading is usually easy, but can take a while with a slow connection.

Recommendations
There are some things that have helped me on the way to an extremely low
cost web site, one of which is my love for design and the rush you get when
people all over the world are visiting your web site; the other physical
attributes are listed below with details.
- Visit www.dtp-aus.com for HTML lessons, tips, and webmaster utilities.
- To register a domain name I suggest you visit www.123-reg.co.uk .
- To get free banner less web space, visit www.portland.co.uk .
- To upload to ftp servers, I suggest you download CuteFTP from
www.downloads.com .
- To put banners on your site to make you money, visit www.tradedoubler.com
- To speed up your internet connection by 100% for free (yes it really
works) visit www.marketscore.com .

About the Author

Mike Harding was interested in web design from a very early age and built
his first website then. Since then he has progressed in his hobby and his
latest project, http://www.echogecko.co.uk was born in 2001. Echogecko.co.uk
provides its visitors with musical resources, band reviews etc., forums, web
search, downloads, and more.