If you're interested in having your own personal or business website and have no experience with hosting a web page you might have a hard time figuring out what you need to get it done. It really isn't that hard or complicated if you know the basic steps and resources you need to have your presence on the World Wide Web. There are 4 basic parts to getting a web page hosted.
- Web Pages (HTML)
- Domain Name Registration
- Web Hosting
- Putting Your Pages On A Web Server
Web Pages
Web Pages are created using HyperText Markup Language, abbreviated as "HTML". Html is an easy language to learn. It consists of "tags" that are used to control and display text and images on your web page. Tags are special html commands that tell the browser how to treat the content they surround. Tags are surrounded by "<" and ">".
An example of a tag is the paragraph tag,
This signals to the browser that the paragraph is over. Even though html can be easy to learn it is often much easier to use an html editor that allows you to create your web pages without having to type in the html code yourself.
"What you see is what you get" editors, or WYSIWYG for short, allow you to use a word processor style interface to type your content and place tables and images into your web page automatically. There are numerous WYSIWYG editors on the market, Adobe Dreamweaver being one of the best, and Microsoft FrontPage being one of the most common as it comes with some versions of Microsoft office. Also many web hosting plans include free web site building software with your hosting service.
Domain Name Registration
Before you can have a web site, you need a web site address. This address, or Uniform resource Locator (URL), is called a domain name. You have to register domain names with a domain name registrar. Domain names are typically registered in yearly intervals and belong to the party who registered them for as long as they continue to renew the registration.
The cost of domain name registration normally ranges from between $10 - $20 annually. However many web hosting providers will register your domain name for a discounted price or for free when you host your site with them. Some even give you the domain registration free for life!
Web Hosing
Web hosting refers to the act of having your web page files stored on a web sever. A web server is a computer with special software designed for reading Hypertext Transfer Protocol Requests (HTTP) from the internet and sending web files as HTTP responses so that web browsers can display them.
A web server has to be connected to the internet with a specific kind of connection, and must be continually operational so the web pages are always available. These servers have static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that HTTP requests are directed to.
When the web server software receives a request, it checks its registry to ensure there is a domain name hosted there that matches the request, and then looks for the specific requested file in the domains folder, where if it is found it is sent back to the requesting browser.
Web hosting is very affordable. Many hosting plans today will offer you unlimited room on their hard drive and the ability to receive unlimited traffic to your site for around $5 a month. When you add in that many hosting providers are willing to register your domain name for free and offer you web site building software for free, you can get a professional looking presence on the web for around $60 a year.
Getting Your Files on your server
When you create your web pages with software on your own computer, which is pretty common, you will need a way to put these files on your web hosting server. The manner in which you have to accomplish this is through File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
FTP clients are software programs that are designed to make a FTP connection to a server and allow you to transfer files from your computer to the server pretty much like you would transfer files from one folder to another on your own computer.
My favorite free FTP client is an add-on for the Mozilla FireFox browser. It is called FireFTP. Just go to the Tools menu and select Add-Ons and search for FireFTP. It is a very functional FTP program that will suit your needs nicely. You will need your web hosting accounts username and password, as well as the FTP address to use a FTP client, which is normally either your domains URL, or its URL with "ftp" instead of "www" like, "ftp.yourdomainname.com".
If you use the site builder software that comes with your web hosting service you don't need to worry about an FTP client. When you create a page with this software it will automatically save the file to your web folder. Now That's Easy!
Summary
If this is new information to you and seems complicated, don't worry it really isn't. Once you have done this twice you will be a pro at it and realize how easy it is. If you are serious about having a web site, find a web hosting provider that provides domain registration (almost all of them do) and pick your domain name while signing up for their hosting service. Then after you have created your account, sign on to their online control panel and start playing with the web site builder. When you save the web page, boom, you are on the World Wide Web! Have Fun!
Visit WebRelatedStuff.com for information and tutorials on Web Site Hosting, Domain Names and Web Page Design
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Akkerman
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