PETER KELLY

Wether your a beginner or an expert with websites there are 3 important items you need on your checklist when setting up a website.
– A Domain
– A Web Host
– Good Content

Read our article to get yourself upto date with the latest know how’s and get your website up and running with out the extravagent costs.

Domain

In order for people to visit your website you need a domain and extension, the best domains are easily short and easy to remember. Having a domain that is straight to the point also helps with Search Engine Optimisation (“SEO”). For example my website peter-kelly.com if someone were to look at that domain they would first think its about someone called Peter Kelly. Which would you believe it, it is . When choosing a domain it is also recommended you choose the right extension for you.

There are loads of domain extensions like .com, .co.uk, .org, .me, .me.uk, .net etc. But most of these are unique to a country or purpose, although you could use a domain like peter-kelly.us which is the United States country extension. Anyone in the world could still access it no matter what country they live in. Choosing a extension which is common in the country that you are targeting your website at can help them remember yours.  (“Click here for the full list and description“).

Web Hosting

So once you have your domain you need somewhere that you can host your website files. This is where the web hosting item comes into play. There are a wide variety of types of website hosts and website hosts themselves. The most common types of web hosting are Shared Hosting, Resellers, VPS, Co-Location, Dedicated Hosting and the recent Cloud Hosting. (“For a description of each of these services courtesy of Wikipedia just click the links”). The most common is Shared Hosting and this is what we will be using for our example. This is where the website is hosted on a dedicated server along with possible hundreds of other websites, the server is managed by a company and all you have to do is maintain your own website.

Like anything there are lots of companies which are looking to cut corners where possible, and this is no different with web hosting companies. As web hosting is now as cheap as anything many people are now starting up their own business. Often these people rent cheap VPS”s or dedicated servers off a host that has their prices soo low they have to over fill their server with extra services to make a profit. This often leaves the customers with a slow and possibly inaccessible website.

When searching you should also consider location and speed of loading times to be an important factor, as search engines are getting more and more complex they are taking the location and speed of the website into account affecting rankings with search terms within the search engine. This should be thought about if you are a local company.

I am currently hosting my website with eleven2.com. Eleven2.com are a UK based company who are known for fast speeds, brilliant uptime and great support and in my checklist when searching for a web host that ticks all the boxes.

Content

Finally content. This may well be the hardest part to complete, for your website to get visitors new and returning visitors there has to be something they would be interested in and would want to see again. For example: Youtube.com the website hosts thousands of videos and allows users to interact with the videos and view other people’s uploaded videos. With the recent boom in internet usage and social networking rising at an astronomical pace. It was the 3 guys Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim who first cottoned onto this rapidly growing area that would catch the interest of a vast audience.

So when creating content have a layout that is easy on the eye and can be easily navigated. Having a site map located somewhere on your website allows your users and search engines to find your pages easier. When creating content you should take a step back and think would I visit this myself? If the answer is no or not for very long you need to rethink your content.