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Today it can be cheap and easy for pretty much anyone to have a website, but there are some things you need to know to navigate the waters. Whether it's a personal website or a small business website, the process is the same. I'll give an overview of how it works and where to start.
A website, whether it's a personal website or a small business website, is basically a set of files shared across the internet by a server, which you access via your PC's web browser. For the system to work, a couple things need to happen. First, the files have to exist on the server. Second, your PC needs to know how to find them and how to ask for what it wants.
Generally, the first thing you do when you want to setup a site is to reserve a domain name. I recommend GoDaddy for domain name registration. You can search for available names and, when you find one you like that's still available, you can register it for a set period of time. It's like a lease that you will have the option to renew at the end of each period. The company you lease it from is called your registrar and that will be the company that will hold your registration until you move or cancel it.
The next thing you need is someplace to store and deliver your site. This is the service provided by a web host. Your host will provide you with a place to keep your files and a way to access and update them. There are many good web hosts with various price and service offerings. You can shop around and find the right one for you.
So how does it all work together? The piece that ties your domain name to your actual site is your DNS record. Your domain's DNS record is hosted on a Name Server and can be hosted with either your host or your registrar. What name server your domain uses is stored as part of your registration record by your registrar.
Your DNS record is basically a cross reference between your domain names and the IP addresses of your site. IP addresses are long numbers that point to specific computers on the internet. They are like phone numbers, giving each computer on the internet an easy and reliable way to find other computers on the internet. They don't generally make much sense to people, which is why we use DNS as a cross reference.
So here's the basic process. A potential site visitor sits at his computer and knows he wants information from a particular site so he clicks a link or types into his browser address bar http://www.mobilitechs.com ;) The browser looks at the domain registration to find out what name server can tell it where to look for these files. The browser goes to the correct name server and asks, "What IP corresponds to www.mobilitechs.com?" The name server responds with an IP the browser can use to find the exact server that hosts the site. It then goes to that server directly and asks, "What files do you have to share with me?" and the server responds by sending the site files requested by the browser.
In summary, to setup a site, you need a host to store and serve your site files, you need a registrar to register your domain name, you need a name server (provided by either your host or registrar), and you need your site. I'm not going to get into how to write a website here, but there are many good resources out there already.
Obviously this is a very simplified explanation, but hopefully it gives you a way to visualize what's happening behind the scenes of your browser and the internet.
Mobilitechs is an IT consulting firm serving Lancaster, PA and Reading, PA. We can answer any questions related to domain registration and personal website and small business website hosting as well as other IT support and maintenance services. |
