What is a website?
That is a good question. The answer is: It’s a document , or documents, that is accessible online via a URL (Or Link) you put into a “Web browser”. Really simple right?
The whole reason “Websites” even became “A thing” all started when there was a need to be able to share “Documents” amongst a group of people. Back in the day… this started out with Universities… Which had small “Intranets” ( meaning internal internet or network ) that allowed the sharing of “Documents” within the university.
Fast forward to today, these “documents” are now accessible to everyone thanks to the Internet ( Or World Wide Web). And not forgetting Email which was also “The way” to send and receive correspondence in the Digital world.
So a Website is, at it’s most fundamental, A Document. Just like documents, which have titles, headings, content like word and images required a simply “Formatting” language to allow the “appearance” of the content to be much like what you see in a typical Word or Open Document… Document.
BUT With Any Document, Website or scribble on a napkin… It must have…
A Reason: You just don’t create a website for no reason… But creating one just for the sake of creating one to get your feet wet is definitely a “reason”.
A Purpose: It’s probably more fitting to talk about the “Purpose”. So when you decide to create a website, it should definitely have a purpose. And that can be for a number of reasons… Hmmm sounds like I’m going around in circles here… But the thing is, it’s popped into your head you need a website and so let’s work from there.
But fundamentally, a website exists for the reason or the purpose of “Sharing information”.
Now that could just be for yourself. You might want to have a list of recipes… Assuming you have access to the internet, you can simply, Write down your recipies and have them handy from where ever you are intead of having them “With you” on any device…
Then you might be asked “Oh how did you make that… you must give me the recipe”. No problem, you simply share your link… You could just tell them, email it to them, ( these days we can now SMS )on our mobile phones)
Now that person can access the same information and on and on… I think you get the idea…
Which leads us to…
Content: The whole reason and or purpose for a website is to have “Content”. Information… Much like any document… BUT with the advent of technology and the reach of “Websites”, they have developed into a whole range of things like “Services”.
But let’s stick to simple content… because as an Affiliate Marketer, you want to be able to create a website that will let you do things like document your online travels, discuss what you find useful and what you don’t. Record anything you might need to remember yourself. I always said, once you find out something it’s best to wrtie it down and where better to do that than on your “Website”
So what is the most simplest Website
Google Docs
- Requires: A Google account (Gmail Account):
- Type: Free (15GB Limit for all Google Services)
Well if you said “A Document” you’d be spot on… With the advent of services like Google Docs, I have seen some very clever “Websites” which consist of a single Google Doc. It kind of shocked me at the time, but then I was thinking “How clever”. That’s how it used to be…
When you create a Google Doc, you have the option to make it public, so you can share the link and anyone they can access it “To Read” only… Or you can share it directly with someone you send an “Invite” link to and let them have “Write access” or just Read Only access.
The example I saw, was being “promoted” on a website exchange for “Affiliate Marketing” purposes. It was Nice and simple and it worked!
For example, if I was to create a Document called “My Website”, the link might look like… https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hKrybHdDQDKK-gARcRhNvD9E3X_m1lAwHt_4v_7620s/edit?tab=t.0
Now this is a very LONG and unmemorable URL and its not really screaming as something I can just Tell someone, BUT I could use it anywhere that allows me to share a link. What would be better is either using a URL Shortening service like bit.ly
After signing into Bit.ly I can create my “shortened” link and now it looks like… https://bit.ly/4nADRqS, which is still “Gobbely Gook” and hard to “say to someone” but at least it’s a bit shorter and again, I can use this link where ever I want to share it.
Google Sites
- Requires: A Google account (Gmail Account):
- Type: Free (15GB Limit for all Google Services)
Another, even better, option is to use a Google Site. This introduces you to the world of “Block” Templating. While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of say a WordPress Website, it’s right up there and an excellent place to start learning. It’s very simple to create your own website.
Now I have mentioned URLS… A URL in “techy speak” is actually a Uniform Resource Locator. Also referred to as a “Domain Name” when we use things like “TheAffiliateDream.com”.
Now one of the nice things with Google Sites ( as you can do now with the majority of services like this ) is you can “Connect” it to a Domain Name…. So instead of something like…..
https://sites.google.com/d/1DlhgbtWPxTlLhlaInfvv_hXjJKofCDqH/p/1DXBgV3hK3BWLf82UJ9o7wpztyXEw8zYh/edit
We “could” go and buy ( register ) a domain name, and as an example we could use something like… https://getbuyerclicks.com