How to Publish a Website Online (4 Steps)

Purchase a domain name. Before you can even begin thinking about a publishing a website, you're going to want to have a domain name. Coming up with a good domain name can be a challenge as many of the best names are already taken. The key to selecting a good domain name is to be creative and try to find something catchy and easy to remember while still representing your website. You can search for available domain names on websites such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions, among many others. Domain names can be purchased for varying amounts of time ranging from one year to life.
Purchase a hosting plan. Once you've picked out your domain name, you'll need to decide what type of hosting plan you need. Your hosting will include how much web space your site will have, how much data transfer your site will be capable of providing, how many visitors can be on the site at one time, and how many e-mail addresses your site will have, among many other features.
Create your website. If you are new to website creation, many hosting companies offer programs that will assist you. These programs will basically let you enter everything in plain text and convert it all to HTML. This is often referred to as 'What you see is what you get.' These programs will also let you easily drop in photos and other documents. If you don't need assistance, you can use any of the various editing programs that are on the market.
Publish your site. Now that your website is created, you can publish your site simply by uploading what you have created directly into the root file of your web-hosting space. Your host will have complete instructions on how to publish to the root file.
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How to Download and Use Website Templates (5 Steps)

Search for template sites online, looking for a template that suits your needs. If you're creating a website for a business such as real estate or accounting, you can find several templates with themes suited to those industries. If you're creating a personal website, find a design that suits your personality or the topics you'll be covering on your website. Note which platforms the templates are designed to work on. Some are for use with Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage or WordPress. Note that Dreamweaver and FrontPage would need to be purchased if they didn't come with your computer. WordPress can be downloaded for free.
Download the template by clicking on the 'Download' button on the page where you found the template. If it isn't free, you will have to purchase it before you will have access to a download link.
Unzip the files after they've been downloaded onto your computer. Double-click on the Zip file, or right-click and select 'Unzip File'. You will be prompted to select a place to which to extract the files. Create a new folder on your computer with a name and location that you will remember.
Upload the files. Your website hosting provider may have an online file manager so you can transfer the files to their server. If not, you will need to download an FTP program. You can find various FTP programs for free online. Connect to your host using your username, password and FTP address. Contact your host for this information if you don't know it. Upload the template into the public_html folder if you can find this folder on your host's server. If you can't, contact your host and ask them for the appropriate place to upload the files.
Access your administration panel through your website platform. This could be WordPress, FrontPage, Dreamweaver or another program. You will generally need a username and password to access it. You can change the text and make some design adjustments if the template allows.
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