Your Own Website

• If you want to create your own website, you will typically need to set up a web hosting account and purchase a domain name. There are online services offering free websites, but in most cases what actually happens is that you are given an area within a larger site. If you need to have total control over your published web content and to use your own domain name, you will generally need to purchase a hosting package. Web hosts sometimes offer free domain registration when you take a new package.
  
  

Subdomains

• You can publish content within a dedicated site as part of a subdomain. Someone with an existing domain can register a subdomain within their account, with the subdomain accessible using the following address format:
  
  http://subdomain.maindomain.com
  
  Content published on subdomains is often effectively a separate website, so this option allows for a good level of control. However, you can only get a subdomain from a person or organization already in possession of a main domain name. Some web services offer free and paid subdomain hosting, and many web hosting packages come with a set number of free subdomains included in the overall price.
  
  

Blogs

• Depending on what you plan on publishing, you can set up your own blog for free. The main services are Blogger and Wordpress. These allow you to choose a name for your blog domain, but this is limited to those that have not already been taken, using the form:
  
  http://blogname.blogspot.com
  
  You can include many different types of content on a blog, including text, images and other media. You are limited in terms of what you can upload, and the basic format remains the same, but you can tailor the appearance. If you have a domain name of your own, you can use it to point to your blog even if it is not hosted by you.
  
  

Inclusion on Other Sites

• There are many websites that accept submitted content from users, allowing you to create a profile and publish whatever content you like, such as Hubpages and Squidoo. This depends on what you want to publish. If you are trying to publish articles or creative content you have written, there are many article sites accepting submissions. These sites can include text content on many different topics, and can display contact details for you.
  
  

Internet Advertising

• If you are hoping to publish commercial content online, you may want to consider Internet advertising. Google are the biggest provider of Internet adverts, and offer many different packages. Adverts are included on Google and other websites, some of them viewed by thousands if not millions of people. Services such as Google AdWords provide the ability to target particular search terms and content types, focusing your marketing on those areas that are most likely to yield results.