I have been planning to build a website for months.. I have borrowed books on the subject.. read hours of on-line info... talked to numerous others who have designed/built their own sites... and I am just as confused as I was the day the idea of building a site popped into my head.

I will be selling my candle holders, bendy dolls, ..other various handcrafted gifts/toys...

I just don't know where to *start*... Once I get going I think I'll be able to manage..

I realize that explaining to me step by step how to build a site is not possible here.. I just would love to know the best place to go for on line for hosting? Possibly a place to go to get help with the design etc? A starting off point... ?

any advice, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Building a website. It's not that hard... right?? Anybody can do it? Right? Sure but it takes patience and determination to do it well.

I build websites and I've found that I get my inspiration from looking at websites that are similar to what I want to do. I draw my design on paper and then make it happen using a piece of software like Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage.

There are templates (mostly cheesy ones) available for free on the internet - but you can usually find something for less than $100 that is high quality and customizable if you can't get the creative energy to do it yourself.

You can do this thing!

1. register your own domain name and find a host
(i use netherweb.com - they have a domain registration feature too... like "mysite.com")

2. create your files on your computer and upload them to your website.

3. tell the whole world about your product!!!

I want to caution you - that just because you HAVE a website doesn't mean that people will visit it. I have a friend who brings in all of his money on ebay and doesn't even have a website to hock his products...