Do you want a website?

If you want a website for your company, before hiring a web designer, the first three things you need to know are that you will need:

+ A domain name
+ To make your files
+ A server to store them

Now, some details about the previous items:

A domain name

A domain name is the right of using a yourname.extension. There are a few extensions available, depending on the kind of website you intend to build:

+ .com or .biz for commercial sites
+ .net for collaborative sites
+ .org for (usually non-profit) organizations
+ .edu for educational organizations
+ .gov or .gob for governmental bodies
+ .info for personal sites
+ .mobi for those sites aimed to being seen from a mobile telephone
+ .ws for websites in general

Besides this list, you must also know that each country has a country top-level domain extension (or TLD). .ni is the country code for Nicaragua, for example.

You must rent the use of your domain name before making the rest of your site. Else, you can end up building a complete site for a domain name someone else owns.

To rent a domain name, you need to register the name you want to use before any of the ICANN's registrars. You can also purchase your domain name to another person, but in such a case, make sure the registry is also properly transferred to your name before the respective ICANN's registrar.

You have to pay to make use of a domain name. It is not free. The cost depends on each registrar. Our recommendation? Visit their websites, compare prices and then buy. Those who offer the domain name for free will likely try to register it under their name to hook you as a permanent costumer.

As a final tip, do not let your web designer rent the domain name for you. He will likely register under his name, not yours, and that will make him the international legal owner of your domain name. Be careful.

You will need to make your files

Making a website is not a very difficult task. Write your texts, design your graphics, photographs and layouts, assemble the web-page files and interlink your contents. That is it. You only need to be aware of this:

Copyright laws are fully in force and enforceable in the web business. If you copy someone else's website, you can be detected, accused of piracy and sent to a trial. Write your texts for all your web pages, or request all the permissions you will need to use third-party works on-line. If you want to save time, you can also use some works published under a Creative Commons license.

You will need a server

Once you have all the web pages of your website done, linked and tested, you will need to place them on a server to make your website available to the public (in one word, publish it). To do it, you have two options: You can either buy, set up and maintain a server in your company, or you can pay for space in another company's hosting service, by far the most preferred option. If you will hire a hosting server, the most important things to concern about are two:

+ How much web space you will have; and
+ How much bandwidth you will have for your site

From these two, the most important is the bandwidth. It measures the amount of data users will be able to open from your website without uncomfortabilities. Compare prices taking this into account and choose your best option.

Just in case, the domain name does not need to be registered in the same place as the hosting service. They can even be on opposite sides of the world and you will not have any problem.

By the way...

Getting your web design degree from an online university is the best way to learn all about making websites. See which online college degrees will help advance a career in web design!