Personal Improvement

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or just want to use the Web to communicate more effectively to your personal contacts, owning a Website is a fun and powerful way to get connected. Of course you can hire a pro to tackle the whole project for you, but many people enjoy the process of getting hands-on and putting their own Web presence together.

I have a background in professional Web development and marketing, so I’ll be including some really great tips on this blog to help people get rolling with their own Websites. But first let’s take a look at some basic tools you might need.

BASIC WEBMASTER TOOLS TO HELP WITH YOUR WEBSITE PROJECT

There’s no need to spend a fortune on quality Web tools. I’ve owned an online business since 2005 and many of the resources I use are very affordable or even free.

Here’s a quick list of essential Web tools I use and recommend.

HTML Editor - Obviously you’ll need a good editing software to build and update your Web pages with. You’ll use this tool to construct your Web pages on your computer and then upload them to the Web (your host) once the changes are complete.

You can get a great, free HTML editor called 1st Page from this site.

FTP software - An FTP, or file transfer protocol, tool is what you’ll use to move files from your computer to the Web and vice versa. It sounds complex but it’s really not.

You can download a free - and very good - FTP utility at Core FTP. Be sure to get the totally free version and not the free trial!

Web Effects Software - It’s also nice to have a special effects wizard to help you easily generate cool features like dropdown menus, image rotators, frames, and other cool stuff. These tools basically prevent your having to learn and remember complex javascript code, and allow you to make all kinds of groovy effects with a few clicks of your mouse.

Please accept a free copy of the Black Label Web Wizard from me by hitting this link. Be aware, however, this item only works with Windows software (executable file); sorry Mac users, I’ll try to find something for you as well.

Domain Name - This of course is your Web address. You can register a good domain for around $10 per year, and I recommend Lots More Hosting for this service.

Hosting Service - A Web host is the service that stores the files and data that actually make up your site. You’ll get access to a powerful server that runs 24 hours every day, and you’ll upload all your Web pages and other files to this server. Then you’ll synchronize your domain and server by setting the DNS (most hosts explain this in their welcome email); once this is done an Internet user can type in your domain name and connect with your host machine.

Again I recommend Lots More Hosting for your Web hosting service.

This list of essential tools will get you off to a solid start. I’ll post some tips for actually building and running your site over the next few weeks.

As you’ll see, being a Webmaster is nowhere near as difficult as many people think. In fact it’s both easy and fun once you get the hang of it.