HOW TO DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE

WEBSITE DESIGNING BASICS

What is a website?

A Website can help broadcast information about your organization to the general public.it can help you increase awareness of your organization,pass information to your employees or volunteers,or publicize fundraising events,with these instructions,you will be able to quickly and easily create a well organized website.

PLANNING

Before you can complete any of the other steps,you must have a good idea< of what your website will be like.consider the following questions carefully before beginning the other web design steps:

1. what are the goals for the website?
2. what is the main topic of the website?
3. why do you want to make a website?
4. what do you want your audience to do in response to the website?

The design and content of your website should reflect your answers to the above questions. Another important aspect of website planning is ongoing maintenance.you should try to keep the information up-to-date by changing the content frequently.

In order to implement a website you must

1). Acquire a domain name.
2). Secure a web server to host your site.
3). Design and build the website.
4). Track website use and refer to the web analytics document.

Acquiring a Domain Name

A domain name is the "easy to remember nickname" for the internet server where you will be able to upload the contents of your website.It is also part of the website address that people will use to get to your website.

GUIDELINES

Choose a domain name appropriately.You should aim to make your website easy to find for visitors by making sure your domain name is:

short

Descriptive

Easy to remember-your domain names should be as similar to your organization name as possible.

Hyphen-free

Number-free

Meaningful

Unique

Utilizes Keywords

The ideal situation is that your organization has its own domain name for several reasons:

1) People will be able to easily remember your domain name.they will simply type in your organization and add an extension to reach your webpage.

2) The domain name will not be trademarked by another organization.Since your organization name is owned by your organization,you will have the rights to the domain name.if your website does use trademarked phrases or words,you could easily be used by the company that owns that phrase.

Examples of Domain Names:
1) YMCA.net

2) Walmart.com

3) Baylor.edu

4) WacoHumaneSociety.org

REGISTERING YOUR DOMAIN NAME

After deciding on your desired domain name,the name must be registered with the ICANN organization.You can do this through a domain name registar.You pay the registrar for the use of your domain name annually.Popular registars include Register.com and GoDaddy.com.if you have your website hosted,then that hosting organization may be able to register your domain name,too. Use the domain extension appropriate for your organization.common extensions are listed below