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1. Have an idea guiding your site. 

2. Make sure your domain name is available. 

3. Build your site. 

4. Research for a web hosting company.

5. Sign up.

6. Upload your site. 

7. Maintain your site.

You want a website.  Maybe you want to take your business online or perhaps you want your family to see up-to-date baby pictures or you want to plan the 25^th Class Reunion online.

Regardless of what you need a website for, there are certain steps you need to go through in order to make it happen.

1. Have an idea guiding your site.  Why do you want your own website?  Who are you trying to reach?

2. Make sure your domain name is available.   You may want to purchase the name now or wait until you find a host.   When you host with us it doesn’t matter which you do first because we don’t charge any service fee for moving the domain.  It’s usually better to lock the name in as soon as possible.  However, when you purchase your domain, make sure the company that sold you the name doesn’t charge an extra fee for moving it to another server.

3. Build your site.  It is faster and easier if you can build your site first.  There are many excellent software programs that can help you.  We offer the FrontPage extensions, but many of our clients use Dreamweaver or Home Site to build their site.  There are also many excellent freeware or shareware programs that let you build your site with a minimum of scripting experience.  If you know HTML, you can even use NotePad to create your site! 

4. Research for a web hosting company. What kind of host are you going to need?  Our clients come to us because we specialize in personal sites and small to medium sized businesses.  We have experience with the full range of services and questions you might have on everything from FTP access to e-mail forwarding.  Large companies needing dedicated servers or database intensive sites needing Cold Fusion.  They will want a different kind of host that specializes in that kind of service.  If you know what you need before you start looking you will have a better fit with your prospective host.

5. Sign up.  Once you have your site and have chosen your web host, you will need to sign up with them.  How much do they charge just to set up your site?  We don’t charge any set up fees and we can usually have you on-line within 48 hours. 

6. Upload your site.  Once your name has been purchased or has been moved to the new server, then you will need to upload your site.  Does your host offer 24/7 FTP access?  They should!  You never know when you are going to want to change your site.  Your host should also offer some sort of support in case you run into trouble.  Coastline offers e-mail support and during normal business hours you can even call 888-Coastline to talk to one of our support technicians. 

7. Maintain your site.  Your site will need updates and changes over time.  If you have FrontPage you can access your site directly on our servers 24/7.  You can also edit e-mail addresses, change passwords and add services through your own Control Panel.   Whatever host you ultimately choose, make sure you can control as much of your own site as possible!