This course was delivered at the AAO 2012 in Chicago. My portion of this 3 hour class dealt with various aspects of building a website. We covered issues such as hosting, content, design, types of websites and whether or not social media was even necessary. Hosting: There are hosted (free) and sefl-hosted sites. Without a doubt, self-hosted offers the most flexibility, ownership and best of all, the best ability to maximize your SEO. Third party hosting companies abound. Almost all have great "up time." I prefer to consider companies with great download speed, great customer support, almost constant "up time," and unlimited email. These days "Bluehost.com" answers all these criteria. Without a doubt, choose a hosting company where your website will download quickly (< 2.5 sec). Web design is obsolete. Web designers usually don't build websites on platforms that allow great implementation of SEO. In short, great looking custom designed sites do not rank. Using a CMS (content management systemt) such as Wordpress.org, you get the best of both worlds. Turn-key/fully customized themes and the best SEO! I standby the Geneis CMS framework which is coded to provide the best SEO. In addition, child "themes" can be installed (and changed with a click) to provide the look and function you want. All websites must be on a blog format. They can be designed to mimic ANY website and has the best flexibility for SEO! Social media platforms shouldn't really be considered until you have a functioning website of which you are proud! Don't draw attention to a website that is dull and outdated...it will reflect poorly on you and is a big turnoff. Thanks for visiting. Randy