Basic Overview of Website Components

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In its most basic sense, a website is a presence on the Internet that people can visit and view.   Through an Internet browser, people can go to your designated URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and view data that you want to share with the world, such as information, pictures and videos. More complex websites can perform additional functions, such as selling products, interacting with visitors, performing calculations and registering users.

Regardless of the functions that a website performs, every website on the Internet requires a minimum of three (3) components. These required components are most easily correlated to having a home (regardless of whether or not you rent, lease or own).

To have a home, you must have these three things:

  1. A street address (i.e. 555 Main Street, Anytown, US 12345);
  2. The physical structure itself (four walls and a roof); and
  3. The land which the physical structure sits on.

Similarly, to have a website on the Internet, you must have these three things:

  1. A domain name (a registered address on the Internet), commonly referred to as your URL;
  2. A web application (what people actually see when they visit your domain name); and
  3. A web hosting service (the computer server that your web application resides on).

As you can see, the correlation between owning a home and having a website is as follows:

  1. Your domain name is your street address;
  2. Your web application is your physical structure; and
  3. Your web hosting service is the land that your physical structure resides on.

Without these three required components, you cannot have a website! Generally, each of these components are separate and have individual costs involved, as follows:

  1. Domain names are typically between $8-$12 per year;
  2. Website applications can either be a one-time cost ranging from $500+, or a monthly fee ranging from $15+/month, depending on the complexity of the design; and
  3. Website hosting services are usually a monthly fee ranging from $6+/month.

Please continue reading to find out more about each of these required components.

Domain Name (URL)

Imagine if you just made up your address to your home. How would your mail get delivered? How would Google Maps be able to give people directions to your house? Instead, every physical address is registered and assigned to a specific parcel of land, which allows the post office and Google to know exactly where that address is. Similarly, to have a website you must have a registered domain name, or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), so that when a person types in your domain name or URL in an Internet browser, the browser knows exactly where to direct that person.

Domain names can be purchased from a variety of authorized providers, such as GoDaddy.com and NetworkSolutions.com. These providers are referred to as Registrars, because they have been approved by the governing bodies of the Internet to register new Internet addresses. As you are undoubtedly aware, every address is unique (no two physical structures can have the same address). Identically, domain names are also unique.

Nameservers

Once you purchase a domain, you will need to tell the Registrar which web hosting service you want to direct people to when they type in your domain name. In most cases, this is done by assigning nameservers to your domain name.

A nameserver is a unique Internet address which represents the physical web server that your website application resides on. Nameservers are provided to you by your web hosting service provider.   Once you add your nameserver to your domain name, your Registrar will direct all traffic for your domain name to your web hosting service. To obtain your web hosting service nameserver, please read the Web Hosting Service section below.

Web Application

If you didn’t have a physical structure, when people visit your address all that they would see would be a plot of land. Identically, if you don’t have a web application, when people visit your domain name all that they would see would be a blank screen. What fun is that??

There are countless ways to create a web application, much more than can be listed in this document, so we’ll just list a few:

  1. You can use a service, such as WordPress.com, to create a template website application;
  2. You can hire a professional to create a custom website application, using development tools like PHP, .NET, Flash, WordPress.org or HTML5 (to name just a few); and
  3. You can point your domain to a service provider, like About.me or MeetUp.com.

Where most people get confused is they think that the web application and the web hosting service are the same thing, when they clearly are not. As pointed out throughout this document, the web application is what people actually see when they visit your domain name and the web hosting service is the computer server that your web application resides on.

To add to the confusion, most service providers (i.e. WordPress.com, About.me, etc.) bundle their services together into a single fee. This simply means that the fees that you would pay these service providers include both the web application and the web hosting services.

Web Hosting Service

A building cannot exist without the plot of land that it sits on, that’s just physics. Identically, a web application is pointless if it does not reside on a web hosting service, and vice versa. Once you have a website application, it must be loaded onto a web server that your domain name points to in order to be visible on the Internet.

There are several ways to have a web hosting service:

  1. You can pay a service provider, such as GoDaddy.com, HostGator.com, etc.;
  2. You can purchase and configure your own web hosting servers, using tools like Amazon.com; and
  3. Your web hosting service can be included with your web application vendor, such as WordPress.com, About.me, etc.

There are several things to consider when choosing a web hosting service:

  • Will the web hosting service be compatible with your website application? You can think of this as if the software you are buying run on Windows or Mac?
  • How much storage (disc space) will your web hosting service provide? Will that be enough for your web application to function?
  • How much bandwidth will your web hosting service provide? If you are planning on having heavy traffic on your website, will your web hosting service support that?
  • How reliable is the web hosting service? There’s nothing worse than having a website that is constantly unavailable because the servers keep crashing!

Once you select a web hosting service provider, they will provide you with the nameserver addresses that you need to point your domain to. The only exception is if you purchase and create your own web hosting servers, in which case you will also need to create and register your own nameservers.

Recap

As illustrated in this document, to have a website on the Internet, you must have these three things:

  1. A domain name;
  2. A web application; and
  3. A web hosting service.

Without these three required components, you cannot have a website! Generally, each of these components are separate and have individual costs involved, as follows:

  1. Domain names are typically between $8-$12 per year;
  2. Website applications can either be a one-time cost ranging from $500+, or a monthly fee ranging from $15+/month, depending on the complexity of the design; and
  3. Website hosting services are usually a monthly fee ranging from $6+/month.

MyDigiBrand Services

When you purchase a custom website from MyDigiBrand, two (2) out of the three (3) required components are included; a) the web application, and b) the first year of web hosting services. Each additional year of hosting is offered at a significantly discounted rate from GoDaddy (provided by Premier Business Network), one of the world’s largest web hosting service providers.

If you purchase one of MyDigiBrand’s monthly services, the web application and web hosting services are included in your monthly service fee. There are no contracts and/or long term commitments, and you can cancel your service at any time.

Unlike other providers, you cannot purchase your domain through MyDigiBrand, because we firmly believe that every domain should be registered and owned by our clients. MyDigiBrand is more than happy to purchase and configure your domain on your behalf, for a nominal fee.

Should you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 800-494-1405, or via email at info@mydigibrand.com.

Disclaimer: At MyDigiBrand, we assist small businesses and individuals with establishing and maintaining a powerful and engaging online presence via a strategic combination of a variety of third party products, tools and services. MyDigiBrand is proud to provide our clients with the information contained herein to assist them with managing and maintaining the services we have provided for them. Unfortunately, due to the sheer magnitude of features that are available through these third party services, MyDigiBrand cannot and does not provide training to our clients beyond what is available in these How To’s.

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