How do I start my own website – 2

by Santosh Puthran | Leave a Comment | Tags: technology | on Jan2 2011

The Really, Really, Really Easy Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Own Website: For Absolute Beginners of All Ages (Really, Really, Really Easy Step-By-Step Guide To...)

In my last post, I had given the procedure how to book the domain name on www.GoDaddy.com . The next step is to build a website and configure email ids for your company. You have two choices

First Option

You can have a look at hosting plans at GoDaddy.com. I would suggest the Economy plans would be a good option for a small business, since it provides 1GB of space and 100 email. If you have more email accounts, then you need configure Outlook to download the emails on your local computer. GoDaddy also offers WordPress plans for blogging. So you have decide on your budget and then select the hosting plans that is suited to your needs.

Just to let you know I have hosted my blog http://iwaant.com on WordPress Hosting on Godaddy.

Second Option

This is the free option on Google Apps.

Why Google Apps ? Google Apps Standard Edition makes it easy for your business or group to communicate and collaborate online – and it’s free. Tools include:

Gmail : Get custom email like hikingfan@your-group.com.
Google Calendar Organize your schedule and share events with your employees.
Google Sites Create websites and group wikis
Google Docs: Share online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Simple steps to configure:

After you have booked your domain name on Godaddy, start here on Google Apps. Select the option “Administrator: I own or control this domain” and enter your domain name and continue with all the steps. This should register your domain name with Google Apps.

Google Apps will ask you to do two things:

Domain verification – CNAME Records: This will help google to verify that you are the owner of the domain. So you have do settings at Godaddy account as per the instruction in Google Apps. Then Google will fetch the information from Godaddy and verify the ownership. Click here for instructions
Configure Email Accounts – MX Records : You can enable email delivery by modifying MX (Mail Exchange) records; you’ll just need to point your MX records to Google. Click here for instructions on how to configure for Godaddy.

After you done the above settings, it would take 24 to 48 hours for the changes to take effect. Till such time, you will notice on your Google Apps Dashboard, the status of various services as “Updating”. Once google apps has established connection with your Godaddy account, it will show status as “Active”. Now you are free to use the features of Google Apps for your email, website and documents.

You will notice, the default setting for Google Apps services will be set like this. Eg. Site will be

http://sites.google.com/a/domainname.com. Use the function Change url and select http://www.domainname.com. Do this for all the services. Now you have fully configured your Google Apps. For more help, on how to use various services on Google Apps, click here.

So if you are a small business or practising firm who does not want to invest on website and email ids, but at the same time want to have professional website I feel the second option would be a better one. But everything is your choice including the domain service provider.

Please discuss if you need any help.

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Santosh Puthran

Santosh Puthran is a technology enthusiast, gadget lover, Internet and photography addict, fun loving person who speaks his mind on iWaant. Feel free to follow him on various social networks including Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe to iWaant.com by RSS or Email