Things You'll Need:
- Digital camera
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Step 1
Decide on a name for your child care website. Ideally, this should include the name of your business.
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Step 2
Purchase the domain name--this is the name of your website. (Of course, this must be done using a computer and internet access.) See link in "Resources" below for domain purchasing information. If the name of your company is already taken, you may have to get a little inventive. For instance, if your child care is called "Red School House," and that domain is already taken by redschoolhouse.com, you can add words to the beginning or end of the company's name until you find a domain that you're able to purchase. For instance, "RedSchoolHouseChildCare.com," and so forth.
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Step 3
Purchase a hosting plan. Hosting is akin to paying rent for a piece of cyber property: you will pay a monthly fee to the hosting company for the service of hosting (holding) your site on their servers.
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Step 4
If you have no knowledge of html, xml, or xhtml, you can easily build your site by using a site-building software. Dream Template offers thousands of different website templates--see Resources.
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Step 5
Create content for your website. Some ideas to consider: Create a page about the history of the child care. Create a page with information about the location and hours. Make a menu for parents, so that they can view what meals will be served for the next week or month. Create a calendar page and contact information. Make a page that features the teachers, including a photo and brief bio about each one.
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Step 6
Hire someone to set up a webcam or system of webcams that show the playground, dining area and various classrooms, so that parents can log in to watch their children. Make sure that these webcam pages are password-protected, so that only current parents are able to view the webcam images. See Resources for ways to add a script to your pages to password-protect them. Change the passwords periodically for further security.
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Step 7
Add photos to the pages. Use your digital camera (or borrow one) to take current, timely photos.
For instance, the homepage should feature a nice photo of the front of the school. Other photos to consider putting on other pages: A photo of a typical lunch can be put on the menu page. A photo of kids listening to story time can be put on a curriculum page. Make sure to take group photos from the back, so that there are no legal issues resulting from having a particular child's face in the photo.
