Domain Name
The domain name is your web address (URL). It’s like the front door to your business.
A good time to purchase a domain name is when you set up your business, so it matches your LLC, or DBA.
Choose a name which is the same as your business name or a close as possible or use a brand message. E.g. myspecialtours.com
Not long or complicated.
Purchase yourname.com, yourname.net. Consider purchasing common misspellings
.com is most common, - .org for organizations and nonprofits - .net and others are not as preferable
Keep Your Domain Safe and Secure.
Use a reputable registrar such as Godaddy, Register.com, Name.com, etc.
Best if not the same company as your web host.
Use a different company for domain than web host so if you have a dispute with you web host they don’t control your domain too, that way you can move your domain to another host and start over if needed.
Don’t give out the password to your registrar to developers or anyone you hire to help you with your website.
Treat Your password like a toothbrush.
Pick a good one
Don't’ share
Change Often
Finding a Web Host
Your domain name points to a server owned by your web host - called a named server.
Web Hosts Companies can be:
Companies that provide pre-built website templates or stores: WIX, Weebly, Square Space, GoDaddy, Shopify, Etsy etc.
Web Hosts can be companies that provide a platform for you to use to build your sites such as: Nexus, BlueHost, Inmotionhosting, Siteground, AWS,
You need to tell your, domain registrar, the named server, a setting usually under DNS -- call web host for help. Don’t give this job to a web developer it is like giving them the keys to your front door
Choosing the Best Web Host
Size of your website - 5 basic pages or many pages (disk space)
Large (1 million) or Small ( 10,000) Volume of visitors (bandwidth)
Features:
Security
Ease of use - type of Dashboard (cpanel, plesk, prebuilt)
Installation services (Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal)
SSL and Server Speed
Managed Web Host Services ( Updates, Maintenance)
Pre-built all inclusive ( WIX, Weebly, SquareSpace, etc)
Most small business don’t need a large website, 5 -7 pages with at least 350 words a page
SSL ( https) is very important- most web hosts provide free
Prebuilt Designed or Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
How many special features want?
- buying and selling online,
- ads,
- social media, blog,
- videos,
- widgets?
- How frequent are changes?
- Fees?
Watch for hidden fees , e.g. a fee to accept payments, a fee to add a shopping cart ...
If you need a lot of customizations WordPress rather and a pre-built site is better
Pre-Built Platforms
Look at the demos offered by prebuilt companies - try it out!
Prebuilt templates offer less customization but are best for:
Low or lack of technical knowledge
Little or no “back end” maintenance
Small uncomplicated websites
Shopping sites ( businesses often have a pre-built store and a separate website)
You can always move from a pre-built site to a more complicated one as you grow. The domain remains the same you just point it at a different web host.
Pre-Built Platforms
There are many companies with pre-built options.
Some examples include:
Wix
Sitebuilder
SquareSpace
Weebly
Boldgrid
Jimdo
GoDaddy
Shopify
Platforms Used to Build Websites
One-third of all the websites in the world are WordPress
WordPress is available at many managed web hosts - they do updates and maintenance for you.
WordPress offers flexibility and customization with an easy to use interface for users.
Other similar but more complicated platforms are Joomla and Drupal and Magento for shopping site
These platforms use a database to store and serve your data to visitors
WordPress is very popular because Joomla and Drupal and more complicated to set up and maintain. There is a WordPress Meetup and community in Ann Arbor to help you.
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