In this section we look at finding a location on the Internet to store the various files that make up your web site so that they are available to users surfing the web, usually referred to as web hosting.

We also look at selecting and obtaining a meaningful name for your web site in order to allow surfers to find you easily, e.g. yourbusinessname.com. These are called domain names. We also take a look at electronic mail (E-mail).

A Web Site Explained

Why Have A Web Site?
In order to succeed in today's world, you must have an Internet presence. More and more people log on to the Internet everyday and there are billions of users world-wide! Unlike normal printed media, web sites are not limited by factors such as cost of printing, size and weight. Plus they are interactive, easily updated and always available.

The web has been put to many creative uses, from selling t-shirts to fighting propaganda wars. In the broadest sense, a web site is simply a gateway to your business, organization or thoughts. It provides instantaneous communication to anyone with an Internet connection.

What you do with your website will be as unique as you are. A church may use it as an evangelistic tool; a politician may use it to gain support for his platform; a small business may use it to collaborate on projects or sell products. The world is quite literally at your fingertips.

For businesses there are many pros to selling online: a worldwide or nationwide customer base, easier tracking of orders and the relatively low cost of creating an online "store front." Your store is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and your customers never have to wait in line.

What is a Web Site?
A web site is a collection of files that can be downloaded and viewed in a web browser such as Internet Explorer. These files consist of the actual web pages and also any associated content like images, video clips, or even small applications that run within a web browser (Java Applets, ActiveX, Flash etc).

For these files to be available for web surfers to view they must be stored on a computer that is always connected to the Internet and is running web server software. Additionally this computer (Web Server) would need a fast enough Internet connection to sustain multiple connections (Web Requests) at one time. Generally a home Internet connection would not be suitable for this task and it would be usual to store your web site files using a Web Hosting Service.

Domain Name Registration

What Is A Domain Name?
As mentioned above, the files that represent your web site are stored on a web server. Computers on the Internet are identified by a unique set of numbers called an IP (Internet Protocol) address, e.g. '212.163.124.250'. For a web browser to connect to your web site it must know the IP address of your web server. Whilst you could type your web servers IP address directly into your browser, they are hard to remember and prone to user error, this is where the Domain Name System (DNS) comes into play.

Similar to a phone book mapping names to phone numbers, the DNS system maps meaningful and easy to remember names to an IP address. When a user types a domain name, e.g. www.google.com, into a browser address bar it will request the appropriate IP address from your Internet service providers DNS servers, and upon receiving a response will connect to that IP address to request the appropriate page or resource.

The domain name itself is an alphanumeric unique name that identifies individual web sites on the Internet. The domain can be of any length up to 67 characters, which includes the 26 letters of the English alphabet, numbers 0-9, and hyphens (-).The domain name cannot begin or end with a hyphen but, can contain one or more hyphens.

The domain names have a suffix or extension, also called a TLD (Top Level Domain), which is usually based on the type of organization it is associated with. The most common TLD's include, but not limited to:

	.com	Commercial Business Domain
	.net	Commercial Network
	.org	Non Profit Organizations
	.edu	Educational Institution
	.gov	Government Agency
	.mil	Military

Additional domain name extensions include : .biz, .bz, .info, .tv, .name and other location specific extensions such as .ru for Russia etc.

How Do I Get A Domain Name?
ICANN are the organisation that run the DNS system and hold registration information for domain names that have been already registered. You cannot "buy" a domain name, you must register it for a period of at least one year, and in some cases two years. If you do not re-register your domain name at the end of this time it will become available for another person to register and use.

You can use a Domain Name Search Tool to see if your choice of domain name is still available to register. Use the following guidelines when searching for domains for your web site.

	Try to represent your company name, brand or product. We are ASCII Software Ltd and so have registered the domain asciisoftware.com. If your company or brand name has already been registered you could try variations, for example we could have considered asciisoftwareltd.com if our first selection was unavailable. You could also separate words using hyphens (-), e.g. ascii-software.
	Try to include Keywords related to your business or organisation. This can help with your placement on search engines. We go into more detail on search engines in Part 3 of this guide. We are a software related company and have software as a keyword in our domain name.
	Try to keep it as short as possible. Shorter names are easier for your customers to remember and are not as prone to user error when typing them in at the address bar on a browser. Strike a balance between making your brand or company name clear, including keywords and keeping it brief.
	In most cases it is advisable to register multiple TLDs, for example if you managed to secure the domain name example.com you should consider registering example.net, example.org or a location specific TLD like example.co.uk. These can all help increase traffic and catch users that may type in your main domain name incorrectly.

While you are Registering A Domain Name you may be asked to supply the DNS names and IP addresses of the Name Servers you wish to use for the domain name. Name Servers are responsible for supplying information for your domain such as the IP address of your web server, the mail server for your domain and other information. Usually your Web Hosting Service will host your DNS and will supply you with this information.

Web Hosting Services

What Is A Web Hosting Service?
There are two main types of web site hosting service, Dedicated hosting and Virtual web site hosting. Dedicated hosting, where a single web site has its own dedicated server, is usually only required by the more power hungry web sites with many databases or media streaming etc., Virtual hosting whereby many web sites share a single server, is the more usual kind of web hosting package and significantly reduces the overall cost of running your web site by sharing the overall cost of the web server amongst the other subscribers.

How Do I Use My Web Space?
Once you have signed up for a Web Hosting Package your service provider will set up the appropriate DNS records for your domain name, and if you obtained your domain name separately, supply you with the Name Server details for you to give your domain name registra. Once this is all updated it can take up to 24 hours for this information to propagate to all DNS servers on the Internet. Once it has, entering your domain name into a web browser will redirect the user to your web space located on your web hosting server.

Next you must upload the files that make up your web site from your local computer to your dedicated area on your service providers web server. Most service providers allow for the use of a FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client to connect to, and upload files to, your web space. They may supply a FTP client or they can be downloaded freely via the Internet. You then simply select the files you wish to upload and they will be transferred to your web space, making them available on your web site. We take a look at the actual creation of these web pages and files in Part 2 of this guide.

Electronic Mail (E-mail)

Your Electronic Post Office
E-mail is simply the shortened form of Electronic Mail, a protocol for receiving, sending and storing electronic messages. E-mail has gained popularity with the spread of the Internet. In many cases, e-mail has become the preferred method of communication.

How To Use Your Email
Most web site hosting packages will include an E-mail facility. This will usually allow you to set up one or more e-mail addresses, often using your own domain name, e.g. yourname@example.com. Accessing your e-mail will depend upon your service provider who will either allow you to log on using an E-mail Client program like Microsoft Outlook Express, or access your e-mail account via a web aite, perhaps even both.

Some E-mail Tips & Advice

	Use meaningful and easy to remember account names for your e-mail accounts, for example sales@example.com or webmaster@example.com etc.
	Check your incoming e-mails at least once a day and respond to customer e-mails as soon as you can and in a professional manner.
	Do NOT open files attached to e-mails unless you trust the source and are expecting the attachment. Many viruses and other maleware are spread using e-mail. If in doubt, delete the e-mail without opening the attached file(s).
	Try to avoid adding your e-mail address in plain text to your web site as special programs have been produced to scan web pages looking for e-mail addresses (Spam-bots), the result: A ton of spam and unwanted e-mail! Ideally add a contact form to your web site to allow surfers to contact you. If you must add your e-mail address to your web site consider adding it as an image instead of text as this is far harder for these programs to interpret.
	Do NOT send SPAM (Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). If your web hosting provider receives complaints they may cancel your service as this will be against any self respecting service providers terms & conditions of use.
	When sending e-mails to your customers always try and use a subject line that they will recognise as NOT spam, for example: 'Bob, regarding your account 12345'. Also try to address a person by name and sign your e-mails. We have seen some terrible examples of three word responses from some very large apparently customer focused companies, don't make the same mistake and take those extra few seconds to come across as friendly and professional with a personal approach.

Introduction       Part 2 - Creation