If you want to build a website yourself, you might be confused where to start. I started up my first website in November 2005 with no prior development experience and I now have 3 sites running, all of which I built myself.

If you've done any research on the Internet you'll probably run into numerous websites that are trying to pull in 100 different directions telling you to buy this product and that product, telling you to do one thing after another, and you might be confused as to where to start.

Given that several months ago, I was in the same boat as you, here are some thoughts regarding how you can build your own website(s) from scratch just like I did.

First off, think of things that you know about and can comfortably talk about. All of us know something and the best thing you can do is think about topics that interest you and that you could comfortably discuss with other people. Chances are that there are other people out there that are looking for information on what you know about. Building a website is about building content, writing information that other people want to read, and if you can think of topics to build your website around that you're familiar with and knowledgeable about, you're off to a good start.

Second, think about your website for the long term. Too many websites talk about short term, get rich quick stuff that might not work tomorrow. Besides, if it was the "right" thing to do, wouldn't everyone already be doing it? Search engines are getting smarter with weeding out websites that are junk. They want to supply their visitors with search results that actually add value and building a website that concentrates on good, interesting, original content written by you is your best bet for long term success.

Third, don't necessarily expect success overnight. It might be a longer, drawn out process that you might expect. Sure, it is possible to have success very quickly after setting up a website but there are millions of existing websites already running, with millions more on the way, so remember that you're competing with all of them for the attention of web surfers.

Fourth, think about what you like to see when you're surfing the web. What sorts of things do you enjoy seeing and conversely, what things do you see on a website that turn you off. Do constant pop up ads bother you? Does large amounts of advertising on a website turn you off? Do spelling mistakes and grammatical errors cause you to lose confidence in a website you're visiting? Remember that the quality and readability of your website can go a long way to attracting and keeping visitors.