Website Components
What’s Needed to Build a Website
Asking what website components are needed to build a site
might seem child’s play to many, but what if you’ve never setup
a website before?
This can be a whole new ball game and a
very complicated one at that.
What’s needed to build a website ?
Essentials
a) Domain name
b) Webspace
Extras
c) Email
d) Databases
e) Webpage/Website designer
f) Traffic statistics
g) SEO (search engine optimization)
Domain name
A domain name is simply the address of your website, for example
computer-adviser.com. Every website or domain name must
be unique; no two can have exactly the same address.
Domain names all have an extension that is
supposed to show the type of website attached to it, although
today this is not so relevant, such as .co.uk = uk, .com =
commercial, .org = organization etc
When you sign up for a hosting
package you will be able to choose any available domain name for
your website.
Tip
Choose a domain name that actually lets people know what your
website does, for example if we were to put together a website
on bonsai trees, bonsai-tree-care would be much
more suitable than john-smiths-mega-site,
more on choosing a website name.
Webspace
When you build a website you need somewhere to store it, the
content of the website which is actually just files will need to
be stored somewhere visitors can see it.
Just about all website hosting packages
come with webspace. Without webspace you just have a domain name
with no site.
Tip
Double check when you purchase a domain name that it comes with
webspace, otherwise you might find you have to use 2 hosting
companies, one for the domain and the other for website space,
also check the cost as some companies may sell cheap domain
names, but expensive webspace.
Email
If you opt for email with your website package you will then be
able to choose any email address as long as it has your domain
name in it such as name@your-domain, for example
peter@computer-adviser.com
The beauty of using this type of email is
the look, having a hotmail address is ok, but if you have your
own domain with email address, especially if you have a business
this is a must as it makes you look much more professional.
To access your email you will have a choice
of using your hosting company’s webmail or you can set it up
using something like POP3,
read our article on this for more.
Databases
Many websites today have a database running behind them, this
makes it much easier to store information such as registered
users, products, or pretty much any other web content.
Blogs such as Wordpress, and just about all
other dynamic websites have a database running behind them,
usually some type of SQL.
A dynamic website composes a webpage
dependant on the needs of the sites visitor, the webpage is
constructed using a template and content from a database.
Creating a website or blog with a database
running behind it can be very involved; if you want to pursue
this without having the uphill learning curve select a hosting
provider who provides scripted installs, this way you can setup
a dynamic site or blog with very limited technical skills in a
very short space of time.
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