Mar 23 2009
How to Set Up a Website for FREE, written in layman’s terms!
Okay, let me first explain that what I will be talking about is from my experience as a layman to others who know nothing (or very little) about computer stuff. I will use the term “website” loosely. When I say website, I am talking about a site in general that will give you a presence on the Internet. Some of these suggestions would not exactly be called a true website, but will do you fine in setting up a family, organization or personal ’web site’ for free.
First, you have to decide if you want it to be the kind of a website for only you personally to contribute to, or if it is something you want to set-up for yourself to but can invite other contributors to work collaboratively with you. Then decide, whether or not, you want it to be a private site or a public site. You can set it up so that anyone can join or access it, only you have access to it, or where people can join — only by invitation or permission.
Think of the name you want to show as your site name, then which e-mail address you want affiliated with your site. That means that you will need to have an e-mail account already set-up. If you don’t know how to set up an email account, I recommend typing into the top address bar for either of these easy and free e-mail accounts (there are others, these are just my favorites) …
Yahoo Account: login.yahoo.com/config/mail?.intl=us
OR
and follow the simple instructions to set up a free account. It only takes a few minutes.
(FYI: it is not always a safe to just click on any links without being sure of your source — so, it might be a good practice for you to start, instead of clicking on my links given above [or cutting and pasting them], it might be a good idea for you to search it yourself: type in ‘google’ in the address bar, then find and click Gmail, and for Yahoo; type in yahoo in your search bar — then find the site that says Yahoo Mail. Always make sure you are signing in to the authentic site. Of course, mine is a true site — this is just an FYI, and a good practice to protect yourself in the future.)
Now that you have an e-mail account, you are ready to set up your site. Go to and see what each type of site offers you:
- Wordpress http://wordpress.com/
- Wet Paint http://www.wetpaint.com/
- PBWiki (for more like a collaborative website – click on ’View Demo’ to see how it works) http://pbwiki.com/
- Google Blog https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=blogger&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fcreate-blog.g%26a%3DADD_SERVICE_FLAG&hl=en&sendvemail=true&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fhome%26a%3DSERVICE_ONLY&naui=8
- Today.com (get paid to write blogs) http://www.today.com/
Look at what they have to offer and pick one. I can give you my sites so you can look at the different appearances and the options provided at a glance. Here are mine: like I said, I am a novice … so pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzz don’t think this is the best of what you can do. Here are mine:
Seizethedayz.blogspot.com
Seizethedayz.today.com
WordPress http://bblovas1.wordpress.com/
I have a Yahoo360 (not well developed), Facebook, MySpace and a few different wikis (all for private use or collaboration) … those are not listed here.
Once you have picked which site best suits your needs, you are ready to go. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a comment and ask me for further help. I will do my best to answer you, or send you to a knowledgeable resource to get your answers.
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