If you are running a business of any kind you should have a website. If your company doesn’t have a presence on the web, you are probably losing out on valuable business opportunities. But not everyone who owns a business is tech-savvy or knows all the ins and outs of creating and maintaining a website, and I am going to publish a series of articles to help technically challenged people create their sites. In this first article, I will cover domain names and web hosting.
Your domain name is the web address of your website, sometimes called a ‘URL’ (uniform resource locater), for example the domain name of America Online is ‘www.aol.com’. Your website should have a custom domain name to give it legitimacy and help it show up in search results. Choosing the right domain name is important, as it should not be too general or too specific. For example if you own a local business, let’s say Joe’s Towing in Aurora, Illinois you wouldn’t want something too general, such as ‘www.getatowtruck.com’ or something too specific, like ‘www.joestowingauroraillinois.com’, you want a URL that identifies the city you are in and the services you offer. Make it as brief as possible. This way it will be easier to remember and the search engines will have an easier time bringing it up when your customers search for your type of business. A good domain name for this example would be ‘www.auroratowing.com’. Sometimes the domain name you want will be taken, so you have to come up with a clever but similar one, like ‘www.towingaurora.com’ or ‘www.aurorailtowing.com’. You get the picture.
A web host is a company that maintains the actual data on your website. All the text, pictures, etc. have to be hosted somewhere on the net, and web hosts provide this service for a small fee. If you are working with a web designer, they will probably be able to tell you how much space you will need to reserve. You probably will be fine with a basic package.
Domain name registration and web hosting service are relatively cheap; your website should cost you $ 20 or less per month to maintain. Always make sure to look for coupons online when you are shopping around for domains and hosting.
Johnnie Kay is a small business entrepreneur who has created several websites.
