~ TiPs On OwNiNg Ur OwN WeBpAgE ~

In the beginning...

WHAT QUALITIES DOES A WEBPAGE OWNER HAS TO HAVE?

DETERMINATION. It takes TIME to build and maintain a successful webpage, especially one which is built out of passion or hobby in our spare time. Especially in the beginning, when there is hardly any visitors and you are wondering whether you are wasting your time, you are NOT, just hang on in there and keep improving and updating, people will soon come... ^_^

TIME. (even though this doesn't count as a personal quality =P) It takes a lot of effort and time to make a decent webpage and maintain it. Be realistic, think about your present and future committments. I am not saying you would need to devote most of your time to your webpage (though it may seem like it), but you do need some time. You can start building a webpage and when you have some big exam, you can always sneak off and disappear for weeks on end, but in the end, you have to have to be able to come back and work on the webpage again.

PASSION. For the subject or whatever you are building the webpage for. After all, most of us are doing this in our free time. If you don't extremely enjoy the subject, then don't torture yourself, save yourself the time and effort.

HOW TO START?

FINDING A FREE HOST

First thing is first. I guess most of us would go find a free host who would kindly let us display our webpages. You can search the internet for free hosts. Some examples would be, of course, www.oocities.org, www.angelfire.com, etc...

BEFORE eagerly signing up to start building your webpages, be sure to research on the internet which is the best host suited for you and read the TERMS AND CONDITIONS There are things to take note of...

# How LONG for free can they host you for?
# How MUCH space can they give you?
# Do they LIMIT the number of hits you can have?
How OFTEN must you log in to update? (some hosts stipulates that you must log in every I dunno how many days, not too good for pple who intend to disappear for weeks on ends)
# Do they RESTRICT what sort of content you have on your site? (Besides the usual "adult stuff", a few actually restrict the content, for eg. only allow for businesses)
# Do they allow you to upload from an external source? Do they provide a programme for you to build your webpage? (Refer to THE KNOW HOW OF BUILDING A WEBPAGE)

The BEST thing of course, is to go and ask someone is presently using that host for their opinion. Most would be more than happy to supply the answers. <Take me for example, I asked the gracious Alleria (who previously owned Symphony of Fantasy) for her opinion on Geocities.>

COMMERCIAL SITES

Is yours a commercial site? If you sell things on your site, then yes, it is. NOTE : Most free hosts do not allow commercial sites to make use of their facilities. But I guess, since most of you reading this are TP fans, or are making the webpages for fun, there is no problem here. Just something to take note of. My site would be classified as a personal non-profit webpage.

THE KNOW HOW OF BUILDING A WEBPAGE

Have no idea what html is? Have no idea on how to even start? Not to worry! Some free hosts provide easy-to-use programmes to build your webpage! (Like geocities and angelfire) In fact, I am using one right now, it is known as Page Builder. Another alternative is to build it in your own computer using Microsoft FrontPage or any other programme, than upload it onto the free host. So, another thing to look out for when you are looking for a host is whether or not it provides a programme for you to use, or whether it allows you to upload pages from an external source. If you run into some trouble in using a particular host, you can always try and ask people who are presently using that host.

GRAPHICS AND PICTURES

How to give your website a different look? Simple, you can either design your own graphics and backgrounds, (I really admire those who have the artistic inclination and can do so) or we can always go trot down to websites which allow graphics and pictures to be taken for free. Yay!!

BUT there are things to note in doing such things...

@ Make sure the person who owns the graphics ALLOWS it.
@ READ the TERMS AND CONDITIONS first before taking graphics. Please adhere to the terms and conditions stipulated.
@ Give credit. A couple of people are very nice in allowing people to take their graphics without any stipulations. Be nice and courteous enough to at least acknowledge them on your Link page.
@ In case you plan to own a commercial site, be aware that you would be faced with other stipulations as well. Most likely, you will have to pay to use the graphics.

LINKWARE
An IMPORTANT term in the borrowing of graphics and pictures. Linkware is where when you take a graphic or background, on the VERY SAME PAGE you put it on, you MUST provide a link back to where you have taken it from. A good example is the background of this page, you realise, that on the top of this page, I provide a link back to the webpage I took it from.

How to get them? Well, I have some links to some lovely graphic pages on my Links N Webrings page. You can also source for them on search engines.

CONTENT

USER-FRIENDLY
Make sure your site is user-friendly. Ensure that on all pages, it is directly or indirectly linked back to the main page. I find it cumbersome when I visit pages with NO links on it, sort of like reaching a dead end. Be ORGANISED. If your main page which leads to the different sections is confusing (due to design or for aesthetic purposes), at least provide a decent site map.

STANDING OUT

% SPECIALISE
You could try to specialise in a particular area and let that be your selling point. For example, some TP sites specialise in TP information, their webpages' titles reflect that, for example, The Absolute Complete Guide to Tortall.

% INNOVATION
Think of something new and different. Have unusual sections. ^_^ Yeah, something like me, I try to be innovative. A good example of how innovation really helped a site grow is Tara's Tamora Pierce site. Her site really boomed after she put up the rather novel concept of Spoilers. (NOTE : NOT that I am saying she came up with the concept, just that after she put up that rather new concept on her page, it really expanded)

ADD-ONS

Add-ons are additional things such as counters (they reveal the amt of pple visiting that page), guestbooks, message boards, etc. You may find that you may lack some of these things on the programme you are using, or you find that the ones on the programme you are using are inadequate. (For example, pagebuilder does not supply guestbooks) So, one solution is to go find an external source for it. On the internet, there are a myriad of free add-ons that you can add to your page. So, do not feel limited by the programme you are using to build your webpage on.

THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE ON YOUR PAGE

~ LINK PAGE
As I always said, give credit where it is due. Besides that, it is common courtesy that if someone puts you on their Links, you should in return, put theirs on yours. And, do you know what is the not-so-well-kept secret is behind getting traffic to your site? LINKS! Yes, you heard me, LINKS N WEBRINGS. That is how people will get to know about your page.

~ PAST/PRESENT UPDATES
Visitors are not psychic. They cannot tell what you updated in the past and most often, they visit between huge spaces of time, so it would be useful if you had some info on past updates.

~ HOW TO CONTACT YOU
Very important. Let visitors have some means to contact you. Via e-mail or guestbook or message board. They will be able to give you compliments ^_^ and complaints =P and perhaps, helpful comments =). Besides, how can potential contributors contact you? ^_^ And how can anyone tell you of any flaws in your page?

BEFORE OPENING YOUR SITE
~Before you start publicising your site, be sure that you have the basic infrastructure. I mean, if you have a single blank page which says, under renovation, it is not much motivation for the visitor to come back again. It is all right to have it under construction and let people come look & see. But at least have SOMETHING for them to look at.
~Make sure your links work. Get someone to visit your site and get their opinion.

In The End...

If you suddenly find youself unable to continue to maintain your webpage due to various reasons and is faced with the possibility of closing down the site, DO READ THIS before doing so.

Explore other alternatives. Closing down your site not only affects you, it also affects regular and faithful supporters of the site.

1. SHARE AND DIVIDE
If you find that you have not enough time to manage the WHOLE site, one possibility is to find someone else to share the site with. You can both share responsibilities, though it would take much co-operation. Another way, is to get people to be in charge of respective sections. An example would be Tara's Tamora Pierce site, before she closed, she had someone in charge of the library of fan fiction. Another revelant example is the Shang Barracks. (You can find these sites under Links N Webrings)

2. KEEP IT OPEN, COMIN' BACK LATER
If you feel that you just want a break, or this period of time is extremely busy for you, you can always just keep it open and later, you can come back to it.

3. PASS IT ON
Why not? A feasible possibility is to just pass the site to someone else who would continue to upgrade and maintain the site. YOUR LEGACY WOULD LIVE ON. A good example of this would be the Steelsings site. The original owner passed to site to its respective owner with some stipulations. She did this by calling out and auditioning future prospective owners. In fact, in the future, when I do get too burdened with the work of University, I may probably do so.

In close, I think, no offense to anyone, it would be a huge waste to simply just delete the website from the face of this earth. All the time and effort just went to dust. Do consider ALL options before the final decision.