Falko Timme has written a tutorial describing how to create Debian packages with checkinstall. Checkinstall is a nice tool to create simple .deb-packages that you can use in your local network (e.g. if you have to install the same piece of software on multiple computers running Debian). It lets you compile and install software from the sources like before, but with the difference that you end up with a Debian package which also means that you can easily uninstall the software you just compiled by running dpkg -r!