You’ve identified that you need a website so now what do you do? After making a list of what you want the website to do it is time to start building your site. The following is a basic breakdown of terms you will encounter when building a website.
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- Web Hosting
- Web hosting is the process of placing your website which consists of files on a computer (server) in order to be viewed on the internet. Web hosting pricing and features can vary greatly so research your options and discuss your needs with a qualified professional. If you are really stuck please feel free to contact us for a list of recommended companies.
- Domain
- Your domain is the address you use to access your website such as www.yourdomain.com.
- Domain Registrar
- Domain registrars include companies like Go Daddy and Network Solutions. You use these companies to purchase your domain names.
- HTML/XHTML
- HTML/XHTML is the basic language used to write websites. It stands for HyperText/eXtensible HyperText Markup Language. Becoming familiar with HTML should be a priority no matter which solution you use to build your site.
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- Utilizing CSS has become the preferred method of presentation. Essentially CSS defines the LOOK of your site. Learning the basics of CSS should come right after getting a basic understanding of HTML.
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
- This is the method used to move files to and from a server. You can use software you run on your desktop operating system (http://www.filezilla-project.org is a good free choice). Many hosting companies also offer FTP access through the Control Panels that run their webhosting.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing the code of a website in order to maximize search engine placement. An excellent resource for understanding the basics of SEO is Google. Here is a link to get you started http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291.
- PPC (Pay Per Click)
- A quick and easy method of getting your website out there when it is first launched is by utilizing any of the various PPC advertising programs. Google, Microsoft and several other companies offer this service. In it’s simplest form you bid an amount you are willing to pay per click when a user clicks on your advertisement on one of their networks.
- Blog
- A blog is a form of software and/or service (WordPress and Blogger) are two of the better known solutions. Both offer free services that you can utilize and WordPress software can be downloaded and installed on your own server for free. They are very powerful programs that offer a host of features (which can be added onto utilizing various plug-ins) that aid in managing a site and posting content. A blog is an effective software solution for a variety of website types. (This site is running WordPress).
- CMS (Content Management System)
- Similar to a blog but usually used for more complex sites that might be prohibitive to produce using a blogging software. There are a large offering of commercial and Open-Source (free) software solutions available. Joomla! and Drupal are two of the more popular Open-Source packages. The learning curve is somewhat steeper than utilizing a blog but with a little bit of effort some very advanced websites can be setup using a CMS as the basis.
- E-Commerce
- A service or software solution that allows a user to sell products/services online and accept payments. There is a massive amount of offerings in this area that include full software packages, monthly services and simple services that allow payments to be accepted for a product from a company such as Paypal and Google Checkout. Research and determining what features you need will help you to identify what type of E-Commerce solution would be most effective for your needs. Advanced software and services allow design customization, customer accounts, order tracking, shipping estimators and are ideally suited for larger sites with a large amount of traffic and products. Simpler solutions from Paypal and others can be setup with relative ease and ideally fit websites that have limited product and little need for customer information to be stored.
- Gateway
- If setting up an advanced E-Commerce site you will most likely have to choose a Gateway service. A gateway provider encrypts and handles the data that travels between your site and the credit card processor. Some gateway services can also provide the credit card processing while others can recommend a list of processors that you will need to setup an account with in order to accept credit cards.
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The above terms will hopefully help as you get started building a site or hiring a professional website developer. If you have heard a term that isn’t included and you need some assistance, just drop us a line and we will add it to our list.