Elements of A Website That Are vital to Success
You must learn about the basic elements of a website before to you begin to build one. I'm sure you have heard about domain names, hosting accounts, html, FTP, and so on, but what does it all mean ? How does it all come together to create a website? Well luckily for you I am about to explain the elements of a website.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is the specific URL or address where your website can be located. Your domain name is connected to your hosting account where all the files that your website is made of exists. When your domain name is entered into a browser, the files on your hosting account are read by it and your page is then displayed. For example the domain name of this site is www.goodextraincomeideas.com . This is one of the first elements of a website you will need in order to create your website. Obtaining a domain name is easy and generally costs between $5-$10 per year to own. I suggest godaddy.com as a domain name provider. They are well known and have been in the business for well over 10 years. Plus they have good prices. You should choose your domain name wisely. It is one of those elements of a website that you do not want to change in the middle of building a website. That could really hurt your search engine rankings !
What is a Web Host or Web Server?
A hosting account (also known as a web server) is what determines the very existance of any website. It's basically a computer with a mass amount of memory where every file that your site consists of is stored. As you can see, it is one of the most important elements of a website. There are several different types of server packages that you can buy, but you will most likely just need a basic setup. One of the best places to purchase a hosting account is at website palace. They specialize in providing cheap quality server space. Once you have purchased your server space, you will need to connect your domain name to it by editing the DNS server names. This can be done by logging into your hosting acount.
What's An HTML Editor ?
An HTML editor is neccessary to create your layout and to ad your content to each page of your site. Let's say that you wanted to create a navigation bar on the left, a footer at the bottom, and a header image at the top of your site. You would create these things in your HTML editor of choice.
There are several different HTML editors that you can choose from including free ones and ones you have to purchase. I personally use dreamweaver to create my website designs, however you can use free editors such as coffee cup, Kompozer, and pagebreeze. They are all similar in many ways. Most of these editors are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors. The idea is for you to be able to create an entire website by typing and using your mouse. Although these editors do a fairly good job you will still need to learn a little HTML and CSS .
HTML and CSS
HTML and CSS is definitely on of the most neccessary elements of a website that a person must learn when designing their own website. Editors do a fairly good job but there are times when you need to use some HTML and CSS. You might want to make a custom column or add a specific function to your text. This is when this knowledge comes in handy. You can either buy books to learn this or you can read the many pages and articles online that teach this stuff for free. Either way you must learn some of it in order to create your own website from scratch.
What Is FTP?
FTP also known as File Transfer Protocal is how you upload your files. It's basicaly a software program that allows you to transfer your website files from your computer to your webhost. There are many of these programs out there to choose from and there is no need to pay for one. A good one to use is Filezilla. It's free and only takes a couple minutes to download and begin using.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization or SEO is the practice of properly building a webpage/website to achieve high rankings in the search engines. This is very important when it comes to getting traffic. Basically it goes like this. No traffic. No sales! There is always paid advertising, but it can ad up quick and with all the free traffic that the search engines have to offer, it would be crazy to not learn SEO! SEO consists of keyword research, correct meta tag placement, keyword density, internal linking of your site, backlinking to your site, and more. It can be time consuming to learn all this especially without having any support, but once it is learned and applied, the rewards are endless!
Is There An Alternative Route to Learning and Using The Elements of A Website?
People have been using the methods mentioned above to create websites for many years. Building a website that way does work, but the downfall is that it takes a pretty large learning curve and you must learn everything by yourself. Not only do you have to create your site, but you also have to learn how to drive traffic to it. A lot of folks think that "If you build it they will come". This is not true. The good news is that there is a much simpler way around this huge technical learning curve.
I started out back in 2008 using a hosting service called Site Build It. The reason I chose SBI instead of the coventional method is because it takes care of all the technical work and busy coding work for me. Site Build It is not your average web host. They take care of setting up your domian name, setting up your hosting account, and creating the layout of your site. They also offer several tools that help immensely with finding a niche, keyword research, and keeping track of your web site statistics such as page rank and traffic to your site. This is a huge advantage because since content is king in the online world, it allows me to focus on creating content and promoting my web site. SBI has also taught me the proper SEO methods that I need to get lots of free traffic to my site. Plus there is plenty of support for when I run into any problems. I can proudly say that this web site is hosted by SBI and has become a success! I am now making a part time income from this site which is slowly growing month by month and I'm looking forward to making a full time income in the near future !
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