How to setup your own web site.

	So you want to present your products, ideas or yourself on the Internet and are uncertain what to do ? This article outlines the basic steps, requirements and considerations to be taken if you plan to set up a web site.
	What do I need ? You have the idea - now you need someone that will develop the HTML pages for you. Of course you can learn HTML yourself. Here are some good links to start with: Microsoft Site Builder Workshop The World Wide Web Consortium Then you need a computer on the Internet, where you can place your files. There are several considerations to be taken, which are discussed in the following chapter. A Web Server To get your files online, you need a Web Server, where you can place your files. There are several options for you, depending on what you want to do and how much money you want to spend. If you are doing a personal web page or a non-profit page, then you might want to try one of the Free Hompage services, that can be found on the Internet. Such a service can be found at: Geocities With such services, you might miss some things, like web counters, CGI scripts and more. These enhanced services are not available when using such services. The second option is, to rent web space from an ISP. This might be the best option for commercial purposes. The cost of renting a web space from an ISP might differ from provider to provider, depending which additional services you want to use. The fee you have to pay might be charged for the amount of space your want to rent or you might be billed for the amount of data that is transferred from your homepage. We do recommend the first option, that is choose an ISP that only charges for the amount of harddisk space, not for the amount of data transferred. But before making your final decision, you should ask your ISP the following questions (detailed information see below): How can I update my pages ? Using E-Mail or FTP ? Do you provide ready-to-use CGI scripts ? Can I use my own CGI scripts ? Which programming languages do you support ? Do you provide detailed access statistics ? Can I have my own domain ? Please note that additional services like custom CGI scripts may add to your bill. There are many providers that do offer the options above. If you do not find a suitable provider in your vicinity, why not choose one from another country ? The third and probably most expensive option is server housing. This means, that will have your own computer, which will be housed by your ISP. You have to install and configure your computer yourself. The advantage of this options is, that you have full control over your computer. But before choosing this options, do calculate the costs. You will need ...: ... your own Computer with a large memory and a big harddisk and a fast CPU ... your own Operating System ... your own Server Software ... your own IP Address and Domain ... a leased line to connect your computer to the Internet If you do want to have full control over your server, the files and CGI scripts, and if you plan to make money with your web site and expect a lot of traffic, then this is probably the best option - but be sure to make some money with it, otherwise it won't pay. Top
	Provider services Here is a detailed description of services that a good ISP should offer to his web customers. Maintaining and updating your Site Generally an ISP can offer two option for updating files. The probably best method is to use FTP. When using FTP you can update the files when you want to update them. This means, that your customers will see your updates as soon as they are installed. You also can react faster to certain circumstances like fixing errors. We do not recommend updating your files via E-Mail. This means, that you have to pack your files and send them to your provider via e-mail. Then your ISP will install them for you. When using this method, there usually is a delay, before your files are being updated. And you probably can't update your files on non working days. Access statistics Access statistics are important, because there is no other way to determine how popular your web site is, and how many people are viewing your pages. Detailed access statistics should be provided on a monthly or weekly basis and should give you details on how often a particular page was requested from your server. A nice and useful addition is to see a list, from which domains your pages were requested. We here at the IIC do have a weekly report, which gives details on how often a particular page was requested; we do have a daily, hourly, monthly and weekly statistics and statistics, on how many pages were requested from which domains. If your ISP does not provide you with access statistics, then you can use one of the free services below: Digits Internet Audit Bureau Error logs Nobody is perfect. An error log will help you to find errors in your HTML pages (especially broken links). Such an error log should give information which error has occurred in which document. CGI scripts You surly have seen feedback forms on the web. To implement such a feedback form, you need a CGI script. Many providers offer ready-to-use CGI scripts like a formmail script, an access counter and a guestbook. At least a formmail script should be provided by your ISP. It's useful to design a form, which your visitors can use to submit feedback to you. If you want to implement your own scripts (like a custom guestbook, an online ordering system, etc.) then you need to have your own CGI scripts. Ask your provider if he does support customer made scripts. Also ask which programming languages can be used. For example, Perl is a widely used language for Scripting on Unix and Windows NT Servers. Your own domain If you have your files on an ISP's computer then you might want to have your own domain, instead of the ISP's domain and a sub-directory. There are two ways how your own domain might look like. It might be www.yourdomain.com/subdir or www.yourdomain.com. The last one is called a virtual server and might be a bit more expensive than the first option. To get you own domain, check with your ISP or have a look at the following domain registration services: Internic International, USA Asia Network Information Center Danish Network Information Center NIC Pakistan NIC France NIC Mexico Liechtenstein and Switzerland German NIC Top
	Announcting your site As you have your site online you might want to attract visitors. Putting your site online alone will not do so. The first thing to do is to announce your site the all the major search engines available. To start you off, here are some links to popular search engines on the 'Net: Yahoo Lycos Hotbot Magellan Webcrawler Alta Vista Opentext Promote It In addition you might want to add your site to certain directories, like iGuide. We recommend, that you use one of these all-in-one promotion pages. These sites will announce your url to various other search engines and directories. A great timesaver. Here are the URLs of two very good services: AddUrl Broadcaster Furthermore you can promote your site on other sites if they offer to do so. To get an advertisement on any other site, contact the author of the site and ask for fees. If you plan to put an advertisement, then you usually have to design a banner, which will be actively linked to your site. Depending on the hits of the site you plan to advertise on, fees might range from 50 USD up to a 1000 USD. If you plan to advertise on any other site, then it would be a good idea to find a high traffic site that has a good reputation. We here at the IIC do offer several advertisement programs. You do not want to put an advertisement for your serious product on a porn site, do you ?

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