A website analogy
Many people seem to be confused by the various parts of what is involved in having a website…
No wonder – if you are new to concept of having a site you may not know where to start, so here is my advice:
- Get yourself a domain name. This is like a plaque or a sign that you would put on the front of your house and it is the address that you give to your customers and friends to show off your business. You can move it around, so if you move home you can take the name with you. There are lots of places where you can get your domain name, and it is a good idea to register a name that reflects you or your business.
- Once you have your domain name, get a web designer to help you plan and prepare your website. If you need a designer, I can help. Contact me or see here for examples of some of the websites I have produced.
- If you have a website designed you need to buy some web space so you can get the site online to show to people. There are many web hosting companies, all with different plus and minus points so shop around! Your web designer may be able to advise or have a favourite host that they like to use. The web space is like the building you put your name on. The size of the space you need will depend on several factors, mainly the kinds of things you want to put in your rooms…
- The ‘rooms’ are actually folders or directories and the contents will be things like the images used to make up the visuals used on your site, the styling information files, any video or music you want to have, Flash files and of course, the pages themselves. In most cases, the website will have an entrance hall – some kind of navigation telling you what rooms there are. Some of the rooms will have cupboards inside them, containing goodies of their own.
- Generally, each room or cupboard should have a map on the wall somewhere, giving you quick access to the other rooms.
- Some websites will need a database to help them run efficiently. This is like having a personal assistant who knows and remembers everything that you need and gives it to you when you want. Pages can be built on-the-fly and customised to suit the visitor. This is a dynamic website.
(If you want more information on Getting a Small Business Online, see this article over at firstsiteguide.com.)
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I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Thank you mikey. I’m hoping to post useful stuff regularly; explanations, videos and tips that will help get some ideas across to the web community. Hope you find other posts helpful.
Nice ! :).. Thanks buddy..
Glad you like it – thank you.
I completely agree. Thanks for the post!
I personally don’t see a huge difference between standard shared hosting and VPS hosting, especially if your needs are basic, e.g. PHP, Mysql. Both are shared systems and performance is ultimately going to depend on the web host and how many users they decide to stuff onto a single box. Hit or miss, IMO. Go with something in your budget. If you have a lot of money you can put into this and you really do expect to grow, get a low-end dedicated server. It will save you many headaches later when you have to migrate your data to an upgraded infrastructure. If you’re going to be small and stay small, find a reliable shared hosting account with PHP and Mysql. The VPS is great is you’ll be running lots of sites or lots of custom code; if not, I don’t think it will benefit you.
Helpful advice. Thanks.
Great post and thanks for sharing.