- 1). Acquire a web domain and host. There are free hosting sites available, but if you want a unique domain name, you'll have to pay for one. You can generally purchase a domain name from any company that also provides hosting.
- 2). Decide what kind of website you want to build. Figure out if you'll be writing reviews, blogging about all things indie rock, selling merchandise, making a fan site, or reporting indie rock news. This will help you determine how you want to design, manage and maintain your site.
- 3). Determine if you want to use a blogging application or Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla. These web-based applications allow you to update and manage your site without having to edit individual page files. Instead, you can develop your own visual template so that your site has a unique look. If you prefer not to use a blogging application or CMS, you will need to use your HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) skills to edit individual files every time you want to update your site.
- 4). Design your site. Try sketching out a layout or create mock-ups using imaging software like Photoshop or GIMP, a free, open-source imaging software that works on multiple platforms. Think about where you want to place the navigation elements and how you want your pages to be read.
- 5). Design your header, buttons, and other images using your imaging software. Since you're building an indie rock website, you're going to want to feature images reminiscent of the subgenre. Perhaps create a montage of notable indie rock performers, or photos of a club that heavily features indie rock acts.
- 6). Code your website. If you created a mock-up in Photoshop, and you like your design, then you can "slice" the image into smaller images, export your file to HTML, and you've got an instant webpage to upload. If you're using Dreamweaver or FrontPage, you can build the individual elements for each web page and the application will create the code for you. Hand-coding gives you the most control, if you're familiar with HTML, CSS, and even PHP. Hand-coding also allows you to keep your code lean and clean, without any extra, unnecessary code that the server and browser have to read and interpret.
- 7). Upload your web pages to the server using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client. There are free ones available, and ones that you can purchase. This way, you can manage your site's files as you would manage the files on your computer.
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