How to Make a Website for Free

Background of this Site
by Marshall Burns

     On my visit to Kenya in early 2007, I met several people who had interesting ideas for projects and organizations to improve things for Kenya and for Africa. When I asked if they had websites to explain their ideas to people, I was often told that it costs too much money to have a website and they could not afford it. But the fact is that there are a number of facilities available on the Internet that provide the ability to make and keep up a website for no cost at all, except for the cost of connecting to the Internet while setting it up.

     So in March, I offered a free class for anyone who was interested in how to create a website on the Internet for free. Then, in order to give the people in the class a place to review what they had learned and to offer the same information to people who couldn’t get to the class, I set up this site. While this was initially prepared for my friends in Kenya, the information here is applicable anywhere. Good luck with your project!

     This site is a gift to my new friends in Kenya and to activists elsewhere who are working for a better world and are just getting started in using the powerful technology of the Internet as a tool in their work.

     After making arrangements for my class, I found out we had extra time available in the room, so I also offered a free showing of the movie, The Empire in Africa.

     The room for the class and movie were made available with the generous support of Charles Macharia.

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Version notes:

	•	2007 03 31 S:    Site posted
	•	2007 04 02 M:    Fixed spelling on home page, added these version notes
	•	2009 06 12 F:    Moved site from GeoCities to another free Web hosting service, Tripod, since GeoCities service is shutting down. Replaced specific step-by-step instructions for setting up a site in GeoCities with general suggestions for using any of the free services.

Other Sites on my Kenya Trip

     This is one of several sites created during my two and a half months in Kenya, Africa in early 2007. The others are:

	•	Disillusion and Hope on the Dark Continent
	•	Who Owns Kenya? — What is the Queen Doing in Parliament?
	•	The Last Mau Mau — Kenya’s Freedom Heroes or Villains? by David Njagi
	•	Ogiek Land Cases and Historical Injustices — 1902 – 2004 by Towett Kimaiyo
	•	Mathare Youth Talent Organization — a site I created for them, currently maintained by MYTO themselves

     The first item is a page within my personal website. The others have been set up in Tripod, instead of in my site, in order to give examples of what can be done with a low-tech site that can be created for free, as explained on this site.