How to Create a Web Page

Pop’s Blog and his web page—Michael Thal Young Adult Books—were developed to promote his five YA novels. Pop had a vision, and with the help of his web designer, Savio Kalathilparamb, they created a six page website with blog. Keep the following concepts in mind when you create your own:

Purpose

A website for personal reasons would highlight pictures you want to share with friends or relatives. Perhaps you’re a budding poet and would like to see how well your poetry is received. Make sure you include a place for your readers to make their comments.

A business website needs to be cutting edge and professional looking. Is your product line from a reliable source and your business practices are beyond reproach? This will help guarantee success.

An educational website should focus on an area of education you’d like to highlight. Perhaps you’d like to provide advice for parents, games for kids, or videos on science or history. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s colorful, organized, and kid/parent friendly.

Whatever you decide is the purpose of your website, first you’ll need to plan it out meticulously.

Planning

Prior to building the author website, Michael Thal Young Adult Books, a plan needed to be put into place. Since the website is a business site promoting the books of a specific author, the website builder planned for six separate pages. The first page, or home page, highlights the author’s most recently published book, Koolura and the Mayans. The “About Me” page introduces the author; the “My Books” page promotes his five YA books, while “Recommended Books” provides readers with some of Pop’s favorite reads. The “Author Events” page announces events like a guest slot on a talk radio show, a book launch party, or an appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. “The Contact Me” page is self explanatory. Finally, Pop’s Blog is where he reviews YA books, writes about educational issues, parenting, and other topics of interest to the author. 

Registration

Once your website is planned, register a domain name. Any search engine, like Google or Yahoo, will provide domain name registration sites. Register.com and GoDaddy.com are two recommended sites.

Next, make sure the domain name matches the idea you have for your web page. For example, if you’re developing an educational website showing the disadvantages of corporal punishment, create a domain name like nocorporalpunishment.com or dontsmackyourkids.edu. If the domain name is available, you’ll be told immediately by the registration website. If it is taken, create a new one.

If you go to a website builder like Web.com you will be charged a minimum of $1.95 per month. On GoDaddy.com, they run specials for as little as $1.99 for the first year. Shop around until you find what you’re looking for.

Web Hosting

Most web hosting companies will also make sure you obtain the domain name. These companies manage the server on which your web page is located. Some possible companies include GoDaddy.com, Web.com, and Networksolutions.com. There are also a few free services like Weebly.com, AwardSpace.com, and 888webhost.com.

Wrap-It-Up

Once you have decided on a host company, return to the outline you originally developed. Flesh it out and save on a word or text document. When all your pages are ready, go back to the host server, select a suitable template that serves your purposes, then cut, paste, and publish.

You don’t need an engineering degree in computer science to develop a web page. All you need is a willingness to learn and a platform to show off your ideas. If you have the patience and devote the time needed to make your website as professional as possible, you are ready to show the world a bit of your talent.

If you like Pop’s website and would like to hire Savio as your web designer, feel free to email Pop at [email protected].

Michael Thal is the author of the award winning novels Goodbye Tchaikovsky and Koolura and the Mayans.