Websites

There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to the World Wide Web and websites, so here’s a helpful analogy to make it a little easier to understand: A domain name is like a street address, web hosting is like the land, and a website is like the house on that land, for guests to come and visit.

Just like a house, websites are very diverse in how they’re built and maintained, and where they’re located.

 

Website Setup

Step 1:
Purchase a domain name, like www.exanpmle.com.

Step 2:
Purchase web hosting, or server space, to store your website files and content. There are a lot of web hosting platforms out there, like GoDaddy, Bluehost, and Hostgator, which allow users to purchase both the domain name and hosting together. However, it is not necessary for the domain name and web hosting providers to be the same.

Step 3:
Setup a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is a platform, or application, where businesses keep and maintain the content they share with the world. WordPress and Shopify are two of the most popular CMS’s used today, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of CMS’s out there. Some companies even create their own CMS. A CMS consists of a a backend and a frontend. The backend is where content managers go to create, edit and publish work, while the frontend displays the published content to site visitors.

Step 4:
Setup a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN enables faster delivery of your content and greater security. One of the best free CDN’s is Cloudflare.

All-in-one:
In some cases, one platform can cover each of the four steps referenced above. Shopify is an example of one such platform. You can purchase a domain name, server space and CMS access all through Shopify, and Shopify is partnered with Cloudflare to offer CDN services.

 

Web Dev Support

With the digital world changing so frequently, software often needs to be updated; this includes website. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have web developer support. If you let software updates accumulate over time, problems will eventually arise, and by this point, the time and cost necessary to resolve the problems will be far greater than if the software updates were regularly maintained.

 

Website Security

Websites are a great way to show the world your business and what you have to offer, but they are also a security risk. Customer data—names, email address, phone numbers, credit card details and more—is often entered into forms on a website. It’s the website owner’s responsibility to make sure such customer data doesn’t get extracted from the site unlawfully.