The Worldwide Web is home to more than one hundred fifty million websites. This phenomenal number is more than one hundred times as many websites as existed just a few short years ago. The growth in website development has resulted from a rapid expansion in hosting availability, along with a concomitant increase in its affordability, and a general increase in Internet user awareness of and familiarity with technology.

Website content, of course, is wildly diverse among these tens of millions of websites. In the early days of Internet growth, commercial use of the Internet was discouraged and looked down upon. Now, however, the Internet might be seen as almost nothing more than just a big marketplace. Taking a simple view of website content, though, content might be broken down into just three classes: ecommerce, blogs, and search engines. Ecommerce is the largest of these, of course, when it is taken to include any and all websites which offer anything for sale or which take payments from customers of any kind.

When people develop the desire to put a site on the Internet, most often they are intending to post a commercial site. They want to make money! Many people, though, have other themes in mind. Perhaps they want to start a blog or discussion group to host discussions on a certain topic. Or they will run a website for a children's sports team. Schools run websites, too, and the bigger the school, the bigger the website will be. In any event, there are many non-commercial applications for website development, and the Internet is chock full.

Hosting a website is essentially a two stage process. The first stage is to develop some content. The website must have something to show! Pictures, text, games, documents, or whatever it is to be. HTML is the basic language used for creating Internet content. HTML is essentially an adjunct to simple text, but its effect is to structure text, plus images and other content, and organize its display on the Internet. HTML is a form of computer code, and one can actually build a website from scratch with fundamental code. Perhaps, though, an easier approach is with an HTML editor. This is a program that allows a user to design web pages essentially in plain text, adding images as needed, which is then translated into HTML by the program. These are handy and widely available for purchase from such brands as Microsoft, Adobe, and others.

Once you have your pages designed, you will need a website host. A host is an operator who owns a collection of computers known as servers that are connected to the Internet in various ways. Your website will have an Internet address, i.e., a URL or domain name, and surfers wanting to view your content will enter the URL into their browser, where the website will be displayed. Your website will reside on the host's server, and it will remain available to surfers so long as the server continues to function and your URL remains active.

Some people spend many hours, days, weeks, and months working on their websites. Refinement and expansion are always possible. However, websites all start out in the same way. They start with a domain or URL, purchased, or actually leased, from a registrar, such as GoDaddy or Enom, and a web host, which can include one of thousands in operation. With those, the website is in place. All that remains is to upload content. This may seem an oversimplification of the process, but in truth, for those with experience, the entire process can be completed in one hour or less. Look around, and you'll see how easy it truly is.

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