If you're wanting to start you're very own website - Pokémon or not - that's great! Making you're own website is a wonderful thing to do, as you'll come to enjoy writing content and making layouts. Not only will it be something for you to do when you're bored, but hopefully become a hobby! Just remember, you're not the only one feeling satisfied when creating your own site, if it's good, then so will your fans!

What You'll Need

Obviously you'll need some programs in which you'll need to create your site. Primarily, you'll need a text editor, an image editor, and perhaps a FTP client. A text editor is what you can use to edit the pages on your site. Fortunately for Windows users, Notepad is installed with Windows. However, I prefer more advanced programs, such as Komodo Edit, and Notepad++. You'll need an image editor for making all your graphics, namely a layout for your site. Never, ever use paint as it's a horrible program. If you don't have Adobe Photoshop, try downloading GIMP - yes, there's a Mac version too. Finally, a FTP client will allow you to upload files to your site, however many hosting deals come with an online web panel that allows you to upload and edit the pages on your site. I recommend FileZilla or SmartFTP, and if you've got Firefox, FireFTP is an excellent add-on which allows you to upload files to your site without leaving your browser!

Yes yes, it's time to choose a host. As you're just starting out, you should use a free hosting service rather than wasting money buying a domain and paid hosting. The basic rule for free hosts is more, more, more, so keep searching for a host that has the most quantities to offer. However I'll lay down a few must haves. Firstly, your host should offer at least 300 MB of diskspace. Any lower than this is a complete joke. Another thing you'll need is at least 1GB of bandwidth a month, which is the most you'll need seeing as you're just starting out. You should ensure you'll get at least one MySQL database, and that a server side scripting technology is supported (PHP/Perl/Python/Ruby). To make it a little easier for you, I've found two hosts which I think are very good and reliable and put them in the table below.

If these two hosts don't satisfy your needs, try searching "Free Web Hosting" or something similar on Google. Just remember, you'll never be locked into a single web hosting provider for the rest of your life. Feel free to move servers constantly, although it may irratate your visitors. However, the most important rule for choosing a host is to never, ever use Freewebs, Piczo or something similar. Ever!

I've complied a list of general tips which I believe you should keep in mind when creating your site. Trust me, they really help! These tips are in no particular order points are bolded simply for contrast between points.

1. Don't steal content, images, anything! Don't use anything from another site without permission. This also means not to remove credits. >P
2. Don't have anything that your visitor may find annoying. This includes marquees, javascripts, and random images in the center of your page.
3. Keep everything on your site constant, such as your layout. Under no circumstances should your layout change on every single page.
4. Don't use splash pages. Your visitors aren't monkeys and should easily be able to find their way to your menu. Only use splash pages if necessary, for example for style selection and warnings.
5. Don't bore your visitor with pages that ramble on for a long period time or with 'Do not click here' pages which repeat the alphabet 26 times.
6. Don't burn your visitor's eyes out with bright contrasting layout colours and such eye burning practices. It is these eyes they intend to use to read your content. Unless of course, your content is really bad. xD
7. Never use chatspeak when you're writing content. Ever. It's annoying and frustrating especially when trying to read whatever you've written.
8. Content never meant a page containing one short paragraph and a link to an external site.
9. Originality. Come on people, it's what keeps your visitors coming!
10. Don't be rude, threatening or vulgar. People tend to dislike you if you are.
11. Don't allow your ego to inflate so that it's larger than your head. Not only does it make you short sighted, but it makes you look funny. xD
12. Don't open your site until it's finished, and never have fifty links on your menu sending me to your 'This page is under construction' page.
13. Don't ever give up. Ask for help, keep trying whatever. It's sad when I see a Pokémon site close simply because it's webmaster has more or less given up.

Considering you read the entire page, you should have the knowlege to not only start your very own Pokémon fansite, but make it a successful one too! If you have any queries, suggestions or critisms, contact me.