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Taking your site to the forefront of the Web!
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Your Own Place on the Internet - Website
101
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Part THREE
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Choosing where to Host the site
Finally, you have picked a domain name and registered it. You have chosen someone to design the Website and worked out what it will look like and do. It is now time to determine which company will Host the site, in other words, which company will store the site on its computers that are connected to and always available on the Internet.
In making this decision it is important to involve the site designer up front. They probably have some companies with which they have done business and that they would recommend you use. These recommendations are based on some important factors, which may include support for the programming language in which your site will be designed (all hosts do not support all designs), ease of access to make changes and modifications to the site, or upload it, history of availability, and general good working relationship. Cost is also, always, a factor and matters to both you the customer and the designer, as they wish you to have a favorable experience.
That said, one hosting company with whom WE have had good experience is Active Host (http://www.activehost.com). There are some options in existence that charge less per month to host a site, however this company supports all of the advanced programming languages as well as providing both e-mail addresses tied to a site name and support for secure transactions, transferring of funds and confidential information, online. Prices are reasonable and competitive, and they are very good to work with. Very important to note is that sites hosted by this company, as well as their related e-mail accounts, have a very good history of being up and available for access. This is not as true with some other companies.
An account can be established with a Hosting company by either the designer or the customer. Often the designer fronts this cost as part of a monthly maintenance charge. If the customer establishes the account this allows them to be the ones to establish Website e-mail accounts themselves, instead of having this need to be done for them. Again, establishing the account is through a credit card, and usually automatically billed by the hosting company to the account.
Moving your registered domain name to a hosting company usually takes 3-5 days. However, once a host is established the Website can be placed there and accessed using an IP address, that is a series of numbers such as http://66.165.159.33. This enables both the designer and customer to review, comment upon, and modify a Website before it is opened up to the public. This is an excellent means to interact regarding the Website from differing geographies, saving the need for, and associated delays from, repeated face-to-face meetings during the creative process.
This primer is designed to be detailed and objective, as well as educational. However it is also created with a hope and assumption that further contact regarding creation of a Website for YOU is desired. Therefore please do not hesitate to contact us at email@bigbadwebs.com to answer further questions or begin the process of getting your enterprise out on the Internet and into the hands of its many users, your desired contacts.