How do you become a webmaster?

The reality is that setting up a web page is relatively easy (write a page with Frontpage, Dreamweaver, or even with Word these days, then find a host for your site and put it out there); it's getting visitors to the site that's hard. Fortunately, there are many resources on the web for learning the various aspects of being a webmaster (or webmistress) including publicising it (see below).

Making money on the site can be relatively easy too; you can afflilate with various companies to advertise their services or products on your site, with you making a small amount from any sale, or even just from someone clicking on a banner. Again, it's worth remembering that small amounts of money become BIG amounts of money if there's enough of them!

Adding your site to search engines is easy, but isn't necessarily the best way to attract traffic- it depends on the content of your site. If you can come up with an idea for a site that is unusual there's less competition for high search engine rankings, but of course less people will think to look for you..... Web rings can be a very effective way of reaching an audience that you can be sure are interested in your type of site, and swapping links with other, similar sites creates a much more stable flow of traffic (some web engines regularly drop sites to make way for new ones!!).

You might have been given free web space as part of the deal with your internet service provider (ISP), but if not there are lots of companies prepared to offer free web space for your site, in return for a bit of advertising. I think the big ones are the best, i.e. Tripod, who now offer 50mbs of space (which is a LOT!) plus a cgi bin for your mailhandling programs etc. But do a search for 'free web space' and see what comes up- there are always new offers appearing.

For learning everything about webmastering, I strongly reccommend Web Monkey. If they haven't got what you want to know, they have a link to what you DO need.