Make a Graphics Website
One of the most common questions I get is 'How do you make a website?'. There isn't exactly a specific way. Making a website is far from easy, but there's really no wrong way to make one. The most important thing to remember is that you should be having fun, because if you're not you will never stick with a site for more than a month, and you'll be complaining the whole time. If you want to make a graphics website, this tutorial will help you through getting it started, but the rest is up to you.
1. Get a host. If this is your first site ever, you should get a free host. It doesn't have to do with not knowing enough, but there's a lot involved with a domain and you should focus on learning everything about having a website before you start paying for one.
Some good free hosts are:
- freewebs.com (they came out well after I had a domain so I've never used them, but they have no ads, and I've heard they're good)
- geocities.com (my first free host! an ad on the side of every page, but they have nifty features)
- angelfire.com (great features and a huge library of free javascripts, but there are a LOT of ads)
Sign up for whichever one looks the best to you, and remember that your username is also your site name in the address! (ex: if I signed up for a freewebs account under the username potatoeater51, my website address would be www.freewebs.com/potatoeater51)
2. Make some pages. If you don't have pages and content, nobody will visit your site. :( When you signed up for an account with the free host, you probably started off with an index or default page. That's your homepage. You should make a layout so your site can be organized and prettier, but it's better if you don't use a premade layout. Yeah, they can look nice, but when it comes down to it, an okay layout unique to your site is SO much better than a great premade layout. For a graphics site you'll probably want some of the following pages (you don't have to have all of them, but you can choose some):
Site
About
Affiliate
Awards Received
Contact
History
Link Back
Graphics
Adoptables
Backgrounds
Blinkies
Brushes
Glitters
Pixels
Scribbles
Signs
Resources / Downloads
Actions (for Photoshop)
Brushes
Fonts
Patterns
Textures
Tutorials
Adobe Photoshop
CSS
HTML
MS Paint
Paint Shop Pro
Once you have some pages, you need to make content. Lots of content is always great, but don't sacrifice the quality to do so. If it's not something you yourself would use, don't put it up.
3. Advertise. This is the hardest part. Once your website is up and running, you need to get some visitors. Of course, you should continue making new content forever because it makes people come back every day, but getting visitors is the final step. You should start by telling some close friends about your site and getting a few affiliates then joining a topsite or two. You don't want to overdo the affiliates and topsites because when you have twenty of them, it doesn't look good. :( If you have less, you'll be able to visit every affiliate every single day, and your visitors will vote for you in all the topsites because there's less. When you have some more visitors, keep adding content!
Another way to advertise is to post on people's guestbooks, comment system, and tagboards. DO NOT SPAM. Spamming is the absolute worst thing you can ever do, and it's right next to stealing. You don't want to be hated on your first day advertising. If you want to comment on someone's guestbook, look at their website, post something nice (and not just 'cool site', make it show you actually went to their site) and if there's a field in the form for your site url, put it there. The site owner will probably read your comment, be happy, and click on your name to go to your website. You've just accomplished a few things. One, you've advertised your site. Two, you've made someone happy. And three, you've started your site off with a good reputation.
When your site has content and you're getting visitors, you just have to keep adding new and unique content and casually advertise your site. I hope you the best with your website, and good luck and have fun!
