| Every business no matter how small should have a | | | | professional. |
| website. In today's technology hungry society, people | | | | Hosting |
| expect a business, which is serious and professional, | | | | This is also referred to as web hosting and website |
| to have a website and email. A recent FT article | | | | hosting. All websites have to be "hosted" somewhere. |
| quoted a BT survey which found that 60% of small | | | | In the majority of cases websites are hosted in data |
| to medium businesses (with less than 50 employees) | | | | centres on web servers. |
| did not have a website! | | | | A data centre is a secure building where computer |
| The business owners interviewed found the whole | | | | and server systems are based along with |
| process of getting a website incredibly daunting. | | | | telecommunication and storage components and |
| Many of them are painters and decorators, plumbers, | | | | systems. They consist of racks of servers which are |
| butchers, musicians etc. These people, whilst amazing | | | | connected to the Internet via different connectivity |
| at what they do, don't understand technology; they | | | | providers. See Wikipedia link at the end of this article |
| don't use a computer for their work and therefore, | | | | for a more detailed explanation.* |
| wrongly, assume getting a website is beyond them. | | | | A server is like a powerful computer that holds all the |
| The following points will hopefully help unravel the | | | | files of many hundreds of websites in separate web |
| process and demonstrate to you just how simple and | | | | folders. When you type in a website address your PC |
| straight forward it is to get your business online. | | | | sends off a request which goes in search of the |
| 1. The basic elements. | | | | server where the website is hosted. That website is |
| Domain Names | | | | then sent back to your PC. |
| To get your business online you need a domain | | | | In the early days of the Internet many websites |
| name, a website designed, email accounts set up and | | | | were hosted on servers in people's bedrooms. This is |
| you need somewhere to host the website. And | | | | true! And it's how a high number of hosting |
| that's it. | | | | companies began life. Nowadays all serious hosting |
| A domain name can be registered at a number of | | | | companies have their own data centres and have |
| different Registrars. Registrars are companies which | | | | invested millions into running their hosting operations. |
| deal with the Registries for each domain name | | | | Email |
| extension. For example Nominet is the UK Registry | | | | Once you have your website designed and ready to |
| for all .uk domain names. Nominet look after just over | | | | go live, you need to get your email addresses set-up. |
| six million domain names. They prefer to deal with | | | | Now as explained below in Point 2. you don't need to |
| Registrars rather than the individual registrants. The | | | | host a website if you just want to use an email |
| work load of dealing direct with all 6 million plus | | | | address. Most Domain Name Registration companies |
| registrants would just be too much. | | | | offer basic email services, but if you only want to |
| I know this can be quite confusing. No idea who | | | | have an email address but no website, make sure |
| thought these titles up originally, but it would have | | | | you choose a Registrar who offers POP3 email |
| been easier if they weren't all so similar! | | | | accounts. A POP3 email is an email address on a |
| A Registrant is the legal owner of the domain name. | | | | domain name such as wendy@wendybanks.co.uk as |
| A Registrar is a domain name registration company | | | | opposed to some of the many ISP email address |
| which is a member of the Registry. | | | | such as wendybanks1978@btbroadband.co.uk |
| A Registry is the company that looks after all the | | | | POP3 email accounts look for more professional than |
| actual domain names, and because each Registry has | | | | ISP email and are in keeping with your corporate |
| so many millions of domain names under their control; | | | | identity. |
| they deal through Registrars. | | | | This is just a quick guide to explain the workings of |
| Website Design | | | | the Internet and how it's all glued together. So to get |
| You have a couple of options for getting a website | | | | your business online you just need a domain name, a |
| up and running on your domain name. | | | | website; which you can either build yourself using |
| 1) Get a Web Design Company to design your | | | | online tools or you can get a web designer to design |
| website. | | | | one for you; and you'll need email and hosting. That's |
| 2) Do it yourself using an online website builder tool. | | | | it. |
| There are pros and cons with both options. Using a | | | | So take action today and get your business online |
| web design company will be more expensive than | | | | and start benefiting from having your business open |
| doing it yourself, but your website should look more | | | | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! |