Most people today have seen web sites. They understand
the concept, and can imagine what their own website might look like.
It's the details, the actual process of getting their site up and
running that is unclear. This article aims to shed some light on
the mystery.
Where is your website?
First of all, your website will NOT be stored on your own computer.
Think about it: if you have a standard dial-up Internet account,
your site would only be accessible when your computer is connected
to the net. Even if you have a cable or DSL connection, the speed
would not be enough to handle more than a few visitors or "hits"
at a time. Besides, would you want everyone in the world to have
access to your own computer? Think of the security risk, not to
mention the drag on your machine's performance if you had a lot
of visitors.
Storing your website and making it accessible to visitors is
the essence of what a host does. You might liken it to the owner
of a shopping mall who leases storefront space to merchants. The
store owners can concentrate on their own business without worrying
about parking, restrooms, and the other logistics of running the
mall.
What about my ISP?
You might be thinking, "Don't I already get this service from
my Internet Service Provider (ISP)?" You probably do get some
space for your web pages as part of your ISP account. The problem
is, the address your visitors type to reach your site is going
to be something like:
www.yourISP.com/users/~yourcompany.html
This doesn't look professional by today's standards.
The "free" web space provided by your ISP does not allow you
to use your own domain, i.e., yourcompany.com.
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A professional image
This is where a hosting service comes in. The host provides space
on its computers for your own domain (yourcompany.com)
and you'll also then be able to receive email at you@yourcompany.com,
rather than you@yourISP.com. Again, this conveys a much more professional
image to your clients, whether you even devote much energy to
your actual website or not.
Note that you do not have to host your website with your ISP;
the services are completely separate. In fact, you don't even
need to have Internet access to host a website! At StarlightSite.com,
we concentrate on hosting -- we do not offer dial-up connection
services.
YourCompany.com
There is one final element you need to know about to complete
the picture, and that is: domain registration. In order to use
yourcompany.com -- this is called your domain -- you first
have to register it. Before you do that, you'll have to search
and see if anyone has already taken it, just as you'd do before
registering a business name or trademark.
Again, this is a separate cost, and does not have to be provided
by your ISP or your host. In this case, however, we do offer the
service but it is not required that you register your name with
us.
StarlightSite puts you on the world wide web
Where do you go from here?
First, register a domain. You can do this on your own or we can
help you. Either way, the domain is registered to and owned by
YOU.
Next, start designing your website. If you need help with this,
contact our design partner, Fitch
& Fitch.
Now you are ready to be on the web! Just sign up for a hosting
account with StarlightSite.com. We will help you get set up and
ready to go!
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