Prefered install method?

[Tina I]

Another noob question:
I have written my first linux application that might actually be of 
interest to others. Just for fun I also wrote an install script that put 
the files in the common directories for my distro (Debian). That is in 
/usr/local/. (This particular program can be run directly from the 
user's /home but as a learning experience I want to do it the 'coorect' way)

Now, I don't know if that is the way to do it with python applications. 
I also don't know if a custom install script is the norm. I have seen 
some use of makefiles and tried to find something about it but the 
manual for GNUMake really assume you are familiar with/ using C which 
I'm not. I have googled a lot for this but can't really find anything 
aimed for someone just learning programming with Python.

So my question is; What is the preferred/ common way to install a python 
application so it's not really distro specific? And are there any good 
resources on this on the web?

Thanks
Tina