Frequently Asked Questions
When you visit a Web site, what you are doing is sending a message to a Web server (which could be physically located anywhere from New Jersey to Australia), asking it to send you (or serve) a certain set of files, usually text and pictures. These files are displayed by your browser program, but not permanently saved to your computer's hard drive (unless you choose to save them).
Basically, a domain name is an easy-to-remember name, made up of letters and/or numbers, that points to a particular IP address. The gadget that translates domain names into IP addresses is called a Domain Name Server, or DNS, your hosting service has one and every domain name points to a particular Web site.
Internet e-mail can help meet many of a small business's communications needs.
Web hosting is simply the storage and delivery of your Web site to people requesting your pages across the Internet.
Once you know what you’re trying to accomplish, you can map out a plan of attack. Think of your Web site as an electronic magazine and you’re the editor. A good magazine editor always starts with the needs of his readers and then develops content tailored to the magazine’s audience.
Once your site is registered with the search engines, it will probably take a few weeks for your site to be displayed in the Web sites’ indexes.
The only challenge (and it’s not even that difficult - just takes creativity) - you’ve got to choose a name that hasn’t already been taken. Select a name that is easy to remember and easy to type. Millions of domains have already been registered and thousands more are being taken every day. Once you’ve thought of a domain name that you like, you’ll need to register it. And we can help you search for the address of your choice and then register it. If you’re not ready to build a Web site right now, you can "park" or hold your domain name on our Web servers so that nobody else takes it. And if you already have a domain name, it’s really easy to transfer it to our servers.
Using HTML, you can create pages of text with various types of formatting, similar to that created with a word processor. More exciting, you can include hyperlinks, which can lead to just about anything, just about anywhere.
Remember that an HTML file is just a set of instructions for creating a page on a computer screen. Makers of browsers can have their products interpret those instructions in whatever way they choose.
There are millions of Web users out there, using the whole gamut of computer equipment to connect to the Web. Windows, Mac, Unix, desktops, laptops, TVs, you name it. There are also many different types of browser programs out there, and all display Web pages in slightly different ways. In fact, the two major browser makers, Microsoft (Internet Explorer) and Netscape (Navigator), have intentionally increased, rather than reduced, the differences between their browsers, so that web pages designed for one browser may not look correct in the other. To further complicate matters, not only have the browsers each been upgraded to new versions several times, the language of HTML itself has been revised as well, and is now in version 4.0 with plans to change to XHTML in the near future.
This chaos of different operating systems, different browser versions and different kinds of HTML code means that designing for the Web is a much less exact science than designing for more traditional media. As a Web publisher, you can never be sure how your material will appear on every system out there. You must also think about the intended audience for your site, and take their technological limitations into account when designing Web pages.
The United States has several top-level domains (some non-US sites use some of these domains too):
Q--What is the difference between the Internet and the Web?
A--The Internet refers to the public global network of computers. These computers can exchange any kind of data in one of many different ways. The Web refers to that subset of the Internet which may be accessed using a Web browser, mostly consisting of pages of text and graphics written in HTML. E-mail, newsgroups, and online gaming are examples of Internet applications that aren't necessarily part of the Web (although they can be).
Q--What is a Web site?
A--A Web site is nothing more or less than files sitting on the hard drive of a Web server. A Web server is simply a computer that's permanently connected to the Internet, and has an application running that allows anyone else connected to the Internet to transfer files from the Web server to their own computer.
Q--What is Visitor Traffic?
A--The number of people who visit your site. The more of this you get, the better. Whether you're selling something online, putting out information about your company, or whatever, more traffic means more potential sales. If you don't promote your Web site, your traffic will probably hover around zero.
Q--What is Web Site Promotion?
A--Anything you do to increase your site traffic. This includes site submission, advertising, sending out press releases, etc.
Q--How will having a Web site increase my business?
A--Use the Web to increase your business! The Net is ideally suited for one-to-one marketing that delivers useful content to individuals who want it or who have even specifically requested it.
Have you checked to see who among your competitors is on the Net already? If you can get on-line before your primary competitors, you have the advantage! If you don't maintain a key presence on the Internet, whether your business is on-line or off-line, your competition will devour you.
Most people will visit your site when they are seeking further information on your products or services and want to avoid any sales pressure. Put your url (Internet Web site address) on all your literature.
Build your image as a knowledgeable source of information.
Give your visitors a reason to come to your site. New products, upcoming trade shows, special news and pictures. People always look at pictures first! Include photo's of your products, your office or building, the staff or crew.
Using the Web as your sales tool will augment your sales efforts and generate qualified leads, and it's at work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Q--How do domain names work?
A--Finding a particular Web site is like finding someone's telephone number. Every Web server in the Universe has a unique number that identifies it, called an IP address. An IP address looks something like this: 192.41.2.10. Occasionally you'll see one in a Web address (a Web address is called a URL, and always begins with http://). For obvious reasons, nobody wants to have to remember numbers like this, so early in the development of the Web, the system of domain names was devised.
Q--Do I need to include my e-mail address on my Web pages?
A--Electronic e-mail is a powerful tool for any business. E-mail enables employees to communicate with each other, helps
you send files from one location to another and many other benefits. By including a yourname@yourWebsite.com link on your Web pages you will have an opportunity to bring potential customers and/or sales leads directly to you!
The Web may be the part of the Internet that attracts all the attention, but in many ways, it's electronic mail that gets the job done. E-mail is the most frequently used part of the Internet. E-mail is also the part of the Net with the widest reach and popularity.
Q--What ways can I increase traffic to my new Web site?
A--These days, everyone seems to have a Web page or a Web site. Just because you have created a Web page doesn't mean that anyone will visit it.
The reality is that of the millions of Web sites only a relative handful actually attract a steady readership. Capitalizing on available resources and knowing how to promote your site is the key to increasing your Web traffic.
Q--What is Web Hosting?
A--A Web site is simply a collection of individual Web pages stored on a large computer called a Web server. And a Web page is a computer document written in a Web publishing language called HTML. When someone types in your Web address, the Web server sends the desired Web page along with any associated images that are displayed on the requested Web page to the customer over the Internet.
Q--What is a Web Site's Goal?
A--Here are some common goals for Web sites:
Q--What is a Web Site's Target Audience?
A--Here are a few good questions to ask yourself:
Q--What is a Web Site Submission?
A--The process of notifying the various search engines and related sites about your Web site.
Q--What is a Search Engine?
A--Sites that people use to search for information on the Web. This is the primary way that people find Web sites, so a Web site owner needs to know as much as possible about search engines and how they work. Although some popular sites such as Yahoo are more accurately described as "directories," the term "search engines" is often used to include all sites that act as tools for people to find other sites.
Q--How Do Search Engines Work?
A--The key to attracting new customers to your site is registering your Web site with popular search engines (Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, Alta Visa, etc.). Search engines use "keywords" to match customer interests to Web sites that satisfy those interests. You’ll want to ask a few customers what keywords they’d use to characterize your business. Soon you’ll have a keyword list targeted to your business. These keywords are then added to your Web site's pages in the form of META tags.
Q--What is the first step to starting a Web site?
A--The first step is really simple. You need to name your Web site. Customers are going to use your Web site address (called a domain name) to find you on the Web.
Q--What is HyperText Markup Language (HTML)?
A--HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is not a programming language. It's more properly described as a markup language, or a page-description language. What it does is allow you to create pages of text, images and other elements, that can be viewed using a software application called a browser.
Q--What is a .com or .net?
A--A typical domain name comes in two parts, separated by a dot. The part to the right of the dot is called the top-level domain, and you must choose a top-level domain according to what country you're in, and what kind of organization you have.
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