| This is the place to start.
What is a web site?
A web site is essentially a way to present yourself online. Your web site is a place on the internet anyone in the world can visit whenever they want to find out more about you, ask you questions, give you feedback, or even buy your products. Think of the internet as the world's biggest trade show, and your web site is your booth.
What is a Domain Name?
Your domain name is your address on the web. Just like people use your phone number to call you on the phone, your domain name allows people to access your site on the web. Clever, simple, or easy to remember domain names are most desirable, as they can play a large part in attracting visitors to your site. Most domain names end with ".com" (such as verio.com), but other extensions such as ".net" and ".org" are also available. In addition, domains can be used with your e-mail accounts allowing your to send and receive e-mail with address such as "support@yourcompany.com".
Why do I need a web site?
Five years ago having a web site was a vanity, two years ago having a web site was trendy,. today having a web site is a necessity.
People are using the web for everything from researching schoolwork to buying dinner. It's quick, it's convenient, and you never need to leave your desk. Even people who prefer to shop off-line are researching products on the web. These days when people are trying to find you, the first place they look is on the Web -- and if they don't find you, they will probably find someone else!
What can a web site do for me?
Your web site can be used for a large number of tasks such as: Making public announcements, providing support to your customers, receiving feedback from your visitors, sharing/distributing files and images and, of course, selling your products!
Those might not sound impressive, but don't forget that you'll be able to do those things for people around the world at any time of day or night. You have the potential to become a household name ten thousand miles away!
How does a web site work?
A web site is simply a collection of files that reside on a computer connected to the internet. When someone visits your site, they are actually contacting that computer, and that computer (called a web server) gives the visitor the files they want to see. It sounds very simple, but most normal computers don't have the power or the software needed to constantly respond to all the requests made by all the visitors a site. And even if they did, they'd need an extremely fast connection to the Internet to keep up with all the requests. Most people and small companies don't have the resources to run a web server, and that is where Web Hosting comes in.
What is Web Hosting?
Think of a Web Host as the landlord of building.
A landlord rents out storefronts to various businesses. Each business decorates and runs their store differently, and doesn't worry about the maintenance of the building. In a similar way a Web Host rents out space on a web server, (or entire web servers), to various businesses. Each business builds their own web site and never has to worry about the maintenance of their web server. In other words, the Web Host provides the place on the internet where your web site lives. It's a lot cheaper than buying you own server, and you don't have to hire the technical staff to take care of it.
Who should I choose as my Web Host?
Here are a few things to look for:
Experience -
More businesses trust their Web sites to experienced and trusted companies in the world.
Service-
Look for a CO that strives to provide their customers everything they need, ranging from exclusive products and features that you won't find anywhere else.
Customer Service representatives that are there to help you 24 hr. a day, 7 days a week with no phone wait.
Capacity -
Look for high-speed Cisco(r)-powered Tier One Internet backbones to E-commerce solutions, security services, and virtual private networks, That have the infrastructure, resources, and expertise to give businesses of any size a clear competitive advantage in the emerging Net economy.
What is the Procedure for building a Web presence?
In this part of the Web Hosting Guide, we explain the process you need to follow from start to finish to establish a successful presence on the web.
Choose a Domain Name for your site
The first thing you need to do when establishing a web presence is decide on a domain name. Choosing the right domain name is very important, as it directly affects how easy it is for potential visitors to find your site. Try for something that's easy to recognize, easy to remember, and to easy to guess. For example, if you business is "Barb's Beach Balls" then "barbsbeachballs.com" would be a good domain name as it's logical, easy to remember, and easy to spell. It's also a good idea to think of alternate domain names in case the first one think of is already taken. If you are not planning on building your web site right away, you might still want to consider registering your domain as soon as possible. Thousands of domain names are registered every day, and there's not guarantee that yours will still be around when you decide to build your site. If you were to go to my Links page I tried to list the most popular sites to reference to.
Select a Web hosting plan that's right for you
Most people start by browsing through the hosting plan descriptions on a site. but it's not always easy to decide which one is for you. Here are some tips to help narrow down your choices:
If you plan on selling anything from your web site, take a look at E-commerce. Consider a plan suitable for your business. Consider us if your not sure of the right service plan that's right for you. We will ask you questions about your web site to figure out exactly which plan you need. We are dedicated to helping you establish your site. You can e-mail any questions you might have and we will walk you though the process.
Build and publish your Web site!
Building your own web site can be very gratifying, but can be very difficult. There are currently a lot of software packages available that help you create and publishing a web site but are relatively painstaking to learn and expensive. we supports most web site design and publishing tools but only use for repetition.
If you find that you need help publishing your site, or are interested in more advanced web site features, we can provide extensive online documentation as well as excelled technical support by both phone and e-mail.
Promote your Web site
To really succeed on the web, you need more than just a Web site. You need "traffic" -- a steady stream of visitors coming to check out your products, services, information, and everything else you offer online. In order to drawing people to your site, you need to be listed in the Web's most popular search engines and Web Registration directories.
Analyze the results
The success of a web site is generally measured by how many visitors it gets. Your web server automatically logs each time someone accesses one of your web pages. Looking at these logs can tell you how much traffic your site gets, how popular different part of your site are, and when your site is the busiest. Analyzing your traffic can even give you an idea of which parts of you site may need to be improved or expanded.
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