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Web site design, web site redesign, web site maintenance, Domain Names and Hosting. What does it all mean? Let's start by explaining the four major steps to get your web site built, published, and visited on the Internet.

Website Design

The page you are reading right now is an Internet web site page written in a programming language called HTML. To design an Internet web site, individual web site pages are assembled into a group of pages with some sort of navigation system (menu). Frankly, just about anyone can create a web site and the Internet is filled with examples of all levels of ability and tools to help people do this. It's also true that just about anyone can build a house - but when it comes time to build your house (or build your web site), we encourage you to utilize a professional and review samples of their work. Samples of our work can be found on our Portfolio Page. The appearance of your web site and it's content will greatly influence the perception visitors have of your company or organization.

Website Hosting

Now you have a web site built and you're ready to go, right? Well, not exactly yet. Think of your web site like one of those fancy motor coaches that your retired parents drive around the country. You need a place to park that fancy motor coach so that people can look around inside it. Same thing with your web site - you need a place to park your web site so that your customers can look around inside it. Parking your web site is called 'hosting'. You need a web site host for your web site There are numerous web site hosting companies on the Internet that charge a monthly fee to host (park) your web site Basically, you are renting space from them for your web site on a monthly basis. The cost varies based on the type of hosting your web site requires and the volume of visitors you expect. Once you select a web site host, your Hosting company will provide you with an address for your web site This is known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). It will be something like www.yourhostingco.com/yoursite/ You'll need to 'publish' (park) your web site on the hosting site you are renting. Edutech Web site Designs can help you locate a web site host that will meet your needs and we can publish your web site for you. Please visit our Prices Page for more information.

Website Domain Names

Now you have a web site, a web site host, and you've published (parked) your web site on your rented Internet host space and you're ready to go, right? Well, yes and no. Once the web site is published to your Internet host then your web site is on the Internet and can be visited. Using our motor coach example from the previous paragraph, you've now parked the motor coach (published your web site) at a specific address (URL). Now you need to get your address to your potential visitors so they can view your site. Let's say your parent's have parked their motor coach in your driveway, so you send e-mail, letters, and even rent a billboard with your address (URL). You get a lot of visitors and everything is great right? That's true, but some of the visitors have trouble remembering your address and then let' say your parents decide it's time to travel to a warmer client for the winter and they move the motor coach. So even if your visitors remember your address (URL) and return, they can no longer find the motor home (web site). This is where a domain name helps dramatically. A domain name is a simple to remember URL that is unique to you, such as www.yourcompanyname.com. Edutech Website Designs has a domain name of www.edutechconsulting.com. As you can see, our Domain Name is unique to us and easy to remember. So purchasing a Domain Name solved one of your visitor's complaints which was that they could not remember your address (URL). But what about moving that motor coach (website) to a new parking location (a new host)? How will you resolve that problem? Once again, the Domain Name will solve this issue. When you purchase a Domain Name, you specify the physical location of your hosting site. If that location changes, you just need to notify the Domain Name registrar. Think of it as 'call forwarding' - your site visitor goes to www.yourcompanyname.com and is automatically 'forwarded' to your website hosting company but they always only see your Domain Name ( www.yourcompanyname.com ). One additional advantage is that you can safely advertise your Domain Name ( www.yourcompanyname.com ), knowing that it will always direct your visitors to your site regardless of it's physical hosting location. One last benefit is that some Hosting packages include e-mail addresses which when combined with your Domain Name allows your visitors and customer to e-mail you at an easy-to-remember e-mail address such as yourname@yourcompanyname.com. Domain Names can be rented for 1 year, 2 year, or 3 year timeframes. Edutech Website Designs can help you search for a meaningful Domain Name and help you register your domain name.

Search Engines

How do potential visitors find you if they don't have your website address? They'll use a search engine. A search engine is similar to a phone book. Potential visitors enter a word or phrase to search for. Edutech Website Designs can help you increase the number of hits on your website from the major search engines on the Internet.

We hope this helped explain the basic steps required to get your website on the Internet. We'd be happy to help you accomplish any one of these steps or all of the steps in this process. Please visit our Quotes Page to submit a request for a free online quote. You can also visit our Contact Us page if you have additional questions about how Edutech Website Designs can help you.