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Hosting and Domain Registration

Creating an online presence for your business opens up a whole new world. You reach more potential clients, but you also might have to learn a few new terms. Web hosting and domain registration are the first steps to both learning about the online business and getting your website up.

The Basics

There are millions or more websites on the World Wide Web. Each of these websites is hosted on a computer, called a web server, somewhere in the world. The web server is where the html files, graphics, forms, and charts live and they are specially programmed for the sole purpose of hosting web sites. This is the web host. And these servers, or hosts, are owned by a web hosting company.

The Web Host Company

You need a web host or a very expensive web server to host your website. While it is technically possible to host your own site, it is much more technical and expensive than most businesses are willing to invest. So you have to find a web host.

Features of web hosting plans that might help or hinder your website include:

• Disk Storage – this is the space allotted to your website by the hosting company. Personal websites might be able to get away with 50 or 100 MB, businesses should shoot for no less than 250 MB. They should go for more if a catalog and other e-commerce extras will be incorporated into the site.
• File Transfer – this is the number of free file transfers you are allotted each month. The more visitors you anticipate having, or if you plan on asking your visitor to upload or download files, the more file transfer GB you need.
• Email Accounts – this is the number of email accounts (you get to name them) included in the cost. You might need just one email account, especially if you are a very small start-up company. If you have a number of departments, you might need 10, 20, or even hundreds of email accounts.
• Start up Fees – this is the one-time cost to set up your web site. This does not include design or programming of your site. It is simply an administrative fee charged by the hosting company to flip the switch on your site.
• Cost per Month/Year – this is the bottom line cost of your web hosting.

Other features you might need to consider are online calendars, blog setup, mailbox size, web email support, FrontPage extensions (for design and programming in FrontPage), live chat support, incorporated hit counter, FTP access, database compatibility, shopping cart compatibility, secure server, CGI-BIN, Java supported pages, Perl, PHP, ASP and SQL compatibility. Some hosting companies also include free domain registration.

Domain Registration

You need to register your domain name so people know where to find you. What’s a domain name? It’s what appears after http://www. It could be MyWidgets.com or YourGadgets.net. It’s your virtual address.

Once your domain is registered, you own it for one year or more, depending on your contract. No one can evict you from your domain unless you miss your payment, which is usually an annual fee.

You aren’t bound to pick a .com domain name. There are many other extensions including .net, .biz, .us, .info and .tv. There are limited use extensions as well - .org for non-profit organizations, .ca for businesses based in Canada, .name for more personal sites, and .edu for websites that are education-based.

If you don’t yet have a domain name or web host, you might consider finding a host that offers free domain registration. Not only will you save the $30 or so required for domain registration, you’ll be able to pay your hosting and annual domain fee to one place – no need to remember two separate accounts.

You might also want a private domain registration, one where spammers and telemarketers cannot contact you. The Internet’s managing group – called ICANN – requires that every website lists contact information in a database called WHOIS. Spammers and telemarketers often look up contacts in the WHOIS database and private domain registration providers will insert their contact information to shield you from unsolicited email.