Lots of people today have some kind of online presence. There are plenty of free blogging platforms available, it's a walk in the park to set up your own YouTube account. There's also Twitter and Facebook when have literally exploded in popularity in recent years. Despite all these ways to get online, some people still feel a little restricted. After all, these are all websites that are owned by others, so your account is never really yours. Many people still want to publish their own material, but not have to comply with all the rules and regulations.

If you're ready to take the next step, and start your own website on your own domain, then this article is for you. There are plenty of software packages out there, some free, and some paid, that make it easier than ever to set up and publish your own site. Once you finish reading this article, you'll be able to set up your own website within an hour or so.

Far and away, Wordpress it the most popular. This is an open source platform, which means many different people contribute to creating it. It started out as a simple blogging platform, but has evolved to something much more. You can create huge, multi media sites with just a few clicks. There is plenty of support everywhere on the Internet, and there are so many options that you can customize it any way you please. The best part is that it's free, and you can install it onto your website with about two mouse clicks. All that you need to do next is create some content, and publish it.

Another free, open source option is Joomla. Joomla is likely the second most popular web design software next to Wordpress. It is highly customizable, which means you can create any website you like with. There are plenty of templates available, both paid and free, to help you to design any site that you have in mind. There are plenty of support forums as well, in case you run into trouble.

One more option is XSitePro. This is a fully customizable, fully operation software package that can accommodate any design you can think of. It is a premium software package, which means you'll have to pay for it, but it's worth it. There is no need for programming, as it is set up to create websites based on how they look, rather than worrying about programming. It has it's own built in file transfer protocol function, so updating your website takes about ten seconds once you hit the "update" button. Because it's a paid software, the user support is outstanding, and they have a large forum with other users to share tips and ideas.

Some people can be a little bit intimidated when starting there own website on their own domain, but there's really no need for this. With any of these programs, you can be up and running within a matter of minutes. And if you do have problems, there are plenty of friendly people online that will help you. And once you get started, you will be in complete control of your website. You can publish whatever you want, no rules, no restrictions.