| If you're going to have an online business, the first | | | | recommended for a commercial website because of |
| thing you'll need to do of course is to put up a | | | | the need for an extremely reliable Internet |
| website. You may have never given any thought at | | | | connection, and because of the amount technical |
| all to what it takes to create and manage a website, | | | | competency required to make sure your server is |
| but there's more to it than you might think. | | | | properly configured to handle all of the different |
| The first thing you'll have to decide is what to name | | | | types of programs required to serve up your web |
| your website, also known as your domain name, or | | | | pages. |
| URL. This is the part of your website's name that | | | | The next thing you'll have to do is create the web |
| comes after the "www". You can name your site | | | | pages themselves. If you've ever paid much |
| anything you like, but you have to name it something | | | | attention to the address, or URL, bar in your |
| unique. There are web sites that let you check on | | | | browser, you'll know that most web pages are |
| the availability of a domain name, but usually you can | | | | named something-or-other.html (or sometimes just |
| do that at domain registrar's site, which we'll cover | | | | .htm). Most likely you'll want to hire this process out |
| next. | | | | to a professional web design company. They will |
| After ensuring that you have chosen a unique name, | | | | consult with you to find out what kind of content |
| you have to register it with a Domain Name | | | | you want and the overall theme of your site, and |
| Registrar. A Domain Name Registrar is a company | | | | they will handle the (extremely) tedious process of |
| which handles the registration, tracking, and reporting | | | | creating the code for the actual pages. If you're on a |
| of domain names across the Internet. In the old days | | | | really tight budget you could purchase a |
| of the Internet there was only one Registrar, but a | | | | pre-packaged web site known as a "template", and |
| few years ago that was changed and now there are | | | | replace the generic content with your own content |
| many companies to choose from. Search for "domain | | | | on the pages. Even this method will probably require |
| name registrar" in your search engine to a company | | | | some professional help, but it won't be nearly as |
| to use. | | | | intensive, or expensive, as a custom site. |
| The next thing on your list is to decide who is going | | | | At this point your site should be up and working, but |
| to host your website. For this you need a hosting | | | | no one will know how to find it yet. For that you |
| company. A hosting company is simply a company | | | | have to make sure it can found by the search |
| that has a bunch of computers, known as servers, | | | | engines so that anybody who is looking for your |
| hooked up to a really fast Internet connection. You | | | | type of product or service will be able to find you. |
| pay them a monthly fee and they give you a certain | | | | That's a huge topic in and of itself, and we'll go into |
| amount of space on one of their servers. | | | | that a little later. |
| If you're really ambitious, you can host it yourself on | | | | Till next time...Success to you! |
| one of your own computers. But this is hardly ever | | | | |