In my humble opinion, everyone should create a homepage. Wait, let's back up
a minute. What's a homepage? Well, there are really two definitions. First,
a homepage is the first page of a web site, usually named index, default or
home. Second, a homepage is a web site with one or more pages which is
personal. It's the second definition which we are using in this article.

Okay, so why would anyone want to create a homepage? It's simple really. The
internet is all about communication. A homepage is a method whereby you can
communicate about yourself, your family, hobbies, pets, likes, dislikes,
religion or anything else that you desire. Oh, there are limits to what you
can put on your web site - you must stay within the contractual terms of the
company which is hosting it. You also should not violate any laws - but
besides that, post away.

You say you have nothing to communicate that anyone would want to know?
Hmmm. You're alive, aren't you? You have a family, a job, a pet, a hobby,
anything? Let's see what kind of topics you can choose.

- Make a fan site for your favorite television show (Star Trek, Wonder
Woman, Dallas, whatever)

- Create a personal diary.

- Post a photo album.

- Put up pictures of all of the trash cans in Disneyland (someone already
did it).

- Write about and include drawings and photos of your cat, dog, fish,
armadillo or snake.

- Tell everyone about your job.

- People are always interested in religion - talk about yours.

- You like your car? Create a web site all about that.

- What about your travels around the world? A diary and/or photos is a good
thing to put on a homepage.

- Did some school papers of which you are proud? Post them.

- If you are an artist or photographer, display your work.

- Figure something out? Tell us all about it.

- Had an out-of-body experience, been kidnapped by aliens or remember your
past lives? Well, we'd all like to know.

That's just a sample, there are an infinite number of subjects that you can
write about.

All right, so now you want to create a home page. How do you go about it?
Find a company (a provider) to host it, choose a web editing package
(optional), and get to work. If you want to include photos or other graphics
you will need to get a graphics editor and possibly a scanner. Don't worry,
just start small and work your way through it. The providers usually make it
pretty easy to get started.

Visit some of the sites listed in the article on freehosts
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Homepages/freehosts.htm). Read their
information and FAQs (frequently asked questions) until you find one that
you like.

Virtually all of these hosts have very easy-to-use utilities to create very
nice home pages. They let you edit right from your web browser, add
pictures, even include nice things like guestbooks and counters. These
utilities are a great place to start.

My advice is to just pick a provider and jump right in. Get your feet wet.
Yeah, your first efforts may not be perfect, but you've got to start
somewhere. Enjoy yourself and have fun.

If you find after a while that the provider that you chose doesn't meet your
needs, switch and start over with another one. Until you find a provider
that you are happy with (fast, easy-to-use, up most of the time) keep you
homepage small. Once you find one you are happy with, go to town.

Now spend some time working on it. Do a little every day if you can, or at
least a few days a week. Just keep working on it. When you get a version of
the site that's "done" (all pages finishes, no under construction signs,
links working, etc) submit it to the search engines
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Advertising/searchengines.htm) so other people
can enjoy your work. Remember that the search engines take a few weeks or
months to list your site, so don't expect visitors overnight. Then practice
using some of the other promotion techniques discussed in "advertising"
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Advertising/Advertising.htm).

Now just keep working on your home page. Get as fancy as you like. You'll
learn about graphics, HTML, and many other things. You've begun an adventure
which has more rewards than you can imagine.

At some point you will begin to push the limits of the free host/web based
homepage editing technology. You will start to get frustrated because
something you want to do is difficult or cannot be done at all.

Now is the time to begin to learn about new things. Now you will want to
learn HTML, perhaps buy a nice HTML editor and go to town. Most likely, by
this time you will want to re-create your site anyway, so pick an editor and
go for it. If you don't want to do the whole thing over, there are
techniques to get your site down to your own hard drive (learn about FTP).
Perhaps you will need to find a new host - there are hundreds and hundreds
of them.

There is an added benefit to doing all of this - you are learning skills
which will be of use throughout the rest of your life. This will be useful
in many jobs, and if you become good enough, perhaps you will have found
yourself a possible new career. At the very least, you may make some new
friends and have a great adventure.

It's better than sitting at home watching television, isn't it?

About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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