Getting Started
Aside
from your site's design, you will need to make other
decisions surrounding your new web presence that you may not
be familiar with. This includes your domain name and
your hosting options. Essentially there are three
pieces to creating a web presence:
1. Select
a domain name
2. Select a hosting company
3. Design your site.
These are the fundamental needs for all websites. The
most critical step being the firstfactor being the domain
name
Domain Names
So what is a domain name? A domain name is a web
address that ends in .com, .org, .net, or another similar
ending. Getting a domain is really easy. When I
wanted gmarsh.com, I made sure no one else had it, and just
started paying my small yearly fee for it. Now
whenever someone types www.gmarsh.com in their web browser,
my web site appears.
The most important feature of a domain is that you own it.
When you get a domain, you own the worldwide name. As long
as you've picked a legal name for it (not someone else's
trademark) no one will be able to take it from you.
What's a URL? - URL is a geek term that stands for
Uniform Resource Locator. It just means (web) address. My
URL is http://www.gmarsh.com.
Domain Hosting
You'll need to find a web host for your site unless you
run your own web server 24/7. (Running your own server is
very expensive, complicated, and not recommended).
By choosing a web host, your site will be available to the
world all day every day. Most hosts are only down for a few
minutes each month, if at all.
So if you're
making a personal web site you want to look professional, or
you're making a business web site or a web site for an
organization you'll want to get a domain name and domain
host. A domain name ends in a .com, .org, or .net. |
