Website Starting Guide

Step 1 - Brainstorm

First, you need to come up with some ideas for your website. What kind of layout? What colors? What kind of content? Figure out all of this and write it down.

Step 2 - Find a Host

Personally, I recommend Freewebs. They give you a pretty large amount of space, but the best part is there's no ads!

Here are some paying hosts: Yahoo! Geocities ($5 - $12), Tripod ($5), Angelfire ($5 - $15), and Bravenet ($5 - $7).

Step 3 - Make (or Find) a Layout

Anyway, back to layouts. Try to avoid using only bright colors. That's called an Eye-Hurting layout. And try to make the font contrast the background (i.e, Navy Blue font with a black background) That's called a Non-Contrasting layout. Your layout needs to be readable by anyone.

If you feel up to it, you can make your own layout. But just in case, some free layout providers are The Pokeball, The Cave of Dragonflies, Espeon's Home, Eonlight Valley, and Valley of Nightmares.

Step 4 - Figure out some content

Would you visit a site that had one page that said: "I LOVE POKEMON! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE POKEMON! POKEMON RAWKS! I LOOOOOVE POKEMON!". Even if you did visit it, you wouldn't want to come back! A website must have a point. You must express that point in different ways, be it games, guides, reviews, Art Contests, or Forums. Try to get at least 15-20 pages of content. And remember, keep it original - no stealing other people's work.

Step 5 - Update, Update, Update!

No one's going to visit a site that hasn't had anything new in three years! Try to update at least every other week if you can. Remember managing a website takes LOTS of effort, so just keep at it and I'm sure you'll do fine. ;)