You are here: Home / Archives for Website

So you Want to Start a Website?

Image representing TypePad as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Web hosting is somewhat of a foreign term to those who have never had a website. Once you find a domain name you like, such as a dot-com address, you must register that address with a host. There are a number of hosts such as www.Ipage.com and host gator which have publicly available software where you can check an address for availability. You must first decide what you need a website for and then decide if you can go for a free host or whether you should pay a monthly five dollar fee.

If your goal is to blog then there’s a number of options available to you. Companies such as TypePad and Blogger offer a free hosting service. The free software allows tools for search engine optimization to drive traffic to your blog. There are generally a few tools you can use to dress up your blog not as much as you will find at a paid web host.

A more traditional website with multiple pages and a bounty of design options will only come with a paid host. Www.Godaddy.com for example will supply a number of starter formats you can use to get your website up and running. These companies offer 24 hour live support on the phone and online. They also have free tools to help you upgrade your site. For example, you can add a user forum to increase traffic to your site or commission your web host to write search engine optimization pieces that will drive new users to your website.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Internet, Web Design, Web Hosting Tagged With: , ,

Dedicate versus Shared Web Hosting

Multiple racks of servers, and how a data cent...

Image via Wikipedia

If you are planning to get a website, the very first thing that comes to your mind after you have registered your domain, is the web hosting. When we talk about web hosting, there are countless options available to choose from.

The type of web-hosting you choose for your business entirely depends upon the need for which the website is being designed. For instance, if you are creating a personal blog just to maintain a daily dairy, then any shared web hosting will do for your website. However, if you are designing an e-commerce portal, then you will need to have a dedicated web hosting server for your website. Having said that, I am sure you are curious to know more about shared and dedicated web hosting servers.

For a serious business website, a shared web hosting is not a good idea. In case of a shared hosting, your data pipeline will be shared with other users. So, if for some reason, the pipeline is clogged by a website, it may leave your site non-responsive and in some serious cases, even the loss of complete website and in turn business.

Due to the reasons mentioned above, more and more people are opting for dedicated web hosting. Although, it is little expensive as compare to shared hosting, it provides better safety features, avoid loss of data, and help earning reputation for your business. Moreover it offers extremely important confidentiality of business data and customer’s information. So, if by spending few extra pennies, you are getting all this along with better safety, reliability, and more memory and maintenance, it is worth all the money.

Filed Under: Web Hosting Tagged With: , ,

Advanced Tips For Web Design

Some people think that creating a website is an easy process that anyone can do. The real truth is that building a successful and interactive site takes a lot of work, know-how and research. It’s very important to learn and understand advanced web design tips and tools so that the website you design will be engaging and informative—and will entice lots of visitors.

When you’re creating a website it’s very important to consider the layout, which must both look good and be easy to navigate. Some of the most successful websites use the cascading style, which is excellent because it defines the style for the entire site and draws attention to the content at the center of the page. This type of layout is very popular; any time you see a website with content in the center of the page and sidebars that contain additional links, you’re looking at a cascading layout. Find a Casino online for an example of good website. These websites are not only interactive and engaging but you can get a good idea of how a website is designed to appeal to a large audience.

Another important aspect of designing an advanced website is to make sure that all of the coding is valid. The code used is the most important factor in how the page is displayed and what information is given to the browsers. Invalid code can move the text around on the page and can even change the colors for the text and links—an unprofessional look that you should avoid if you want to build a successful website.

Filed Under: Internet, Web Design Tagged With: , ,

A Digital Housewarming Gift

So you know how to build a web site? Great. You’ve learned a lot, grasshopper. (Now catch the fly with a chopstick!) HTML and Java, embedding and graphics–you’re good to go. But, wait!

Where do you put all of it? That’s like getting all the materials for building a house but not securing the lot. All of a sudden you’re complete with the house in the middle of a busy street, but you forgot to either purchase the land to fit the house; so you send a chopper to lift your prized architectural feat and whisk it toward your dream land, like in Disney’s “Up”. Only it’s not that simple.

Repeating like shampoo in the shower this phrase: first find a web hosting service before even thinking about creating the site. Period.

What a web hosting service does is allow a smart individual such as yourself to actually build the web site, complete with specialized URL. It’s your foundation. Without it, you can’t actually build anything. You need a ‘place’ to build it.

There are several types of web hosting. Here are two:

Free Web Hosting: A rather fortunate advantage on the internet, being free to secure a space for your site. Most companies offer this. However, the downside is, because it’s free, your web site when finished is usually inundated with ads up the wazoo.

Shared Web Hosting: Also free, but with neighbors, basically. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Although sometimes shared web hosting services will expect certain conformities you wouldn’t get from free web hosting sites.

There are many, many more. But this is the start of it. That’s just a key to the door of the wide world of web hosting. It’s a big place. But remember to bring that digital housewarming gift when you’re done, because it’ll be a beautiful day! Happy hosting!

Filed Under: Business, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Learning Web Design Can Grow Your Business

If your business doesn’t have a website, it’s time to get out of the dark ages and promote your business in a manner that draws traffic through the Internet. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get started either.

Hiring someone to build and then maintain your website can get expensive. Professional designers charge in the thousands of dollars to get your website up and running, then charge you more to maintain it upon completion.

Steps to Web Design Made Simple:

§                      If you’re a beginner, the first thing you need to get is a Domain name. For example, if you are selling sports memorabilia, a good domain name might be “bestsportsmemorabilia.com”. Getting a Domain name does not mean you have a website, it simply means you own the rights to that name, and can use it for web design purposes. There is an annual fee to have a Domain name.

§                      Before you can build a website you must choose a Web Host and sign up for an account. Essentially, having a Web Host means your potential website has a home, a place that is recognizable to other internet users across the world. Make sure your host can handle things like playing media files with Ares or xvid codec and other high-bandwidth items.  Finding the right web host can be tricky, but a little research goes a long way towards finding the one that meets your needs.

§                      If cost is a concern, there are many locations on the Internet that take you through the steps of building your own site. If you’re going the free route, find something online that speaks your language, something not too techy, but something that gets you rolling.

For those just starting out in the world of web design, many accredited colleges and universities offer online programs. If you’re serious about attracting people to your business, and obtaining a lifetime skill, these universities can lay the groundwork for a successful operation.

Filed Under: Business, Web Design Tagged With: , ,

Content Management System Tips

You have a website – great – but how are you managing it? If you’ve found that managing your site is a bit trickier than you expected, you need to look at your content management system. If you haven’t even thought about managing anything, it’s time to stop being a website building newbie and it’s time to look into the tools the big boys and girls use. You deserve to work just as efficiently as they do.

Your CMS Should Think for You

We all want our technology to work for us, as much as possible. This allows us to get on with our lives, instead of burying our noses in a book to find out how to stop something from happening. When you’re looking at the content management system options, you will want to look for something that is intuitive. Whenever possible, you should take the company up on their offer for a free trial. This will give you a chance to see how the program works with your own knowledge (or lack thereof). If the company offers a thirty-day trial, make the most of this trial. Try out all of the functions and the options to see if this is something that will help you to actually get work done, or if this is something that will just confuse you and waste more of your time. You might need to try on a few different CMS programs before you settle on just one.

What Can Your CMS Do?

If your website is something that will sell items to customers, you need to make sure that your CMS can support you in this endeavor. When you choose your CMS program, it should be helpful for certain tasks, not just so-so in every task. If you can find a CMS that is going to be able to specialize in working with the sort of business and site you are trying to build or to maintain, then you will be golden. Check to see what other websites are using the CMS you want to use. And then see if you want your site to look like they do.

Being Computer Savvy Should Not Be a Must

You might have a stronger background in website maintenance than others you know, which is great. But a CMS program should not be just for those who know more about their hard drives than about current events. You will want to spend some time looking for a CMS program that will allow you to do things without having to be a geek. The simplest of programs can do the most complex of things, especially when the program is also intuitive and specialized in certain areas of content management.

While you might have no idea what a content management system is, that’s okay. In fact, it’s better than you don’t know what it is and you can simply use it to manage the content on your site. Sometimes, the less you know, the better.

Filed Under: Internet, Marketing Tagged With: , ,