Your Own Small Business Web Site

Why should you make a web page?

Well, for starters, as a means of communication, the internet is the most powerful medium in existence. Although the exact statistics are difficult to nail down, it is reasonably estimated that over half a billion people around the world are currently 'online', i.e have internet access. No single television network, radio station or newspaper can come anywhere near to commanding this kind of attention. Going door-to-door, standing on a soapbox on a busy streetcorner, distributing pamphlets or spending all day on the telephone dialing up complete strangers would likewise fall far short of reaching the equivalent to the number of people who regularly browse the World Wide Web. So if you have anything to communicate to people for any purpose whatsoever, the number one reason why to do so via a web page —or better yet, an entire web site— is sheer visibility.

Small Business Web Site

In fact, if you have a small business whose prospective clients are not being reached because your current means of advertising is limited to conventional means (a sign on your storefront, a listing in the yellow pages, an ad in a newspaper, magazine, etcetera) then you have no reason NOT to make a web page. An address on the internet is arguably the most memorable form of advertising. If someone has a choice between remembering Jason's Garage at 1-800-714-7603 or www.jasonsgarage.com, it's a sure bet the latter is going to stick in the mind a lot longer. Moreover, even if the person forgets your dot-com address, he or she could always just type "Jason's Garage" into a search engine on the internet and if your web site is indexed then it will immediately show up in the search results.

Information Web Site

As well, the internet is becoming an indomitable source of information. There is no better way to get the daily news especially since all the world's news sites are virtually at your fingertips. You can hit the front page of the New York Times, The Guardian in the U.K. and the Sydney Morning Herald all in the space of five minutes and not to mention at a fraction of the cost of the newstand price. Not only is the news readily available online but also information on any subject imaginable. With over eight billion web pages currently indexed by Google (the most popular search engine on the web), the internet is like a gigantic international electronic library. We are in the midst of an information revolution and desktop publishing is definitely the way of the future. If you've got information to share, a web page is an excellent choice of medium to share it.

For example, if you're a teacher, creating a web page could be an exciting new project for your students that could also give parents an accessible and innovative way to take a peek at what's going on in the classroom.

Self Publishing

Or perhaps you're an aspiring author who feels they have something valuable to offer the world in spite of what the editors think. If so then a web page is a great way to get your latest manuscript into the limelight without having to wait for the go-ahead from publishing houses. Your articles, stories, poems, or humour could be out there being read by the world at large and you could even be getting feedback using a web form.

Family Site

You could also make a web page dedicated to your family. On it you could post news of the latest happenings, who's getting married, who graduated, or you could show off those awesome photos you took while vacationing in Egypt or pictures of last summer's backyard garden. It could also contain the family history or a detailed genealogy. A webpage or website like this would be a permanent electronic record that would never decompose with time and could be easily backed up on any other computer.

Know-how

Another reason to make a web page is to simply learn how to do so. Tired of saying to everyone that you're 'computer-illiterate'? Knowing how to create and publish a web page to the internet will help you shirk off that label and catapult your communication skills into the 21st century.

Just for Fun

But hey... Wait a minute. A web page doesn't always have to be dead serious or have some kind of divine purpose. You could create a web site just for fun. Perhaps a page devoted to your favourite hobby or video game. Or maybe a fan page about rock 'n' roll music. And with the wide selection of free web hosts at your disposal, this fun page doesn't have to cost you a penny.

Personalize your Web Browser

One of the best reasons for anybody and everybody who regularly surfs the internet to learn how create a web page is so that they can create their own personalized home page. Just to clarify, when I say 'home page' here, I am referring to the web page that is first displayed when you start up your web browser. This is to be differentiated from web pages created for various non-profit purposes which are also colloquially referred to as 'home pages'.

And this is, in fact, an excellent place to start if you want to learn how to make a web page in general. But first let's take a quick tour down memory lane and review the history of HTML...