Make A Website


Do you want your own web page? The Beginners section is a great place to start and might do everything you need it to do. You will know when you need to to go to the Advanced sections.

Beginners (5 easy steps)

  1. Go to google sites sites.google.com. This is your starting point.
  2. First you will need a gmail account to sign in. Click on No Gmail Account? Sign up. You will get a user name an password. Lets assume you choose a "login name" of "PurpleGophers".
  3. Now sign in to google sites with your gmail account ""PurpleGophers@gmail.com".
  4. You will be taken to Google's page creator where you can easily create your pages.
  5. After you publish your pages, they will be accessible by everyone on the internet, at sites.google.com/site/PurpleGophers
Other alternatives to google sites is www.weebly.com and www.squarespace.com .  weebly is free like google, squarespace charges a month fee, but allows your to do more.

Next Step (a real domain name)
  1. So the problem. No one can remember the address you give them: http://sites.google.com/site/PurpleGophers. All your relatives say what was that address again?
  2. Here is where you go to start paying a little money. $6 per year. Go to www.1and1.com and buy a domain address. Pick an easy domain address, such as PurpleGophers.com.
  3. On the 1and1 site, redirect your website, PurpleGophers.com to sites.google.com/site/PurpleGophers. This way you still use google sites to edit your site, but everyone can type in PurpleGpphers.com to get to your website.
Advanced (more Google options)
  1. Google Analytics will allow your to view your your site's traffic patterns.
  2. Google Adsense will allow Google to put ads on your pages. Of course, they will pay you for this 'virtual' billboard.
Advanced (web page editor)

Google pages are great for the simple things, but it you want to do anything sophisticated, you will need a web editor and possibly a hosting service.
  1. Microsoft's Visual Web Developer Express Edition is one of the free software packets on ClearNumber's Software Page
  2. This web page editor will load tons of documentation, along with Microsoft SQL Server Express (provides basic client-database and server-database capabilities(. To use data base capabilities, a hosting server will be required (see below).

Advanced (hosting service)

Hosting services will give you even more control of your site. Again, sites like www.1and1.com offer these services.