The Moving Parts to Your New Site

BONUS DAY 1:
THE NON-GEEKY GUIDE TO THE GEEKY PART OF
YOUR WEBSITE

The Moving Parts to Your New Site

In order to have a public website, there are a couple of things you need to have:

1) A domain name (such as www.yourdomainname.com) which you would have learned about in Day 2. You register this in your name so no one else can use it.

2) A website hosting account, where you build and store your web pages. The hosting company "broadcasts" them onto the Web for all to see.

3) And of course, all those pages we're going to build together, and their text, pictures, and functions we'll bring to life.

1) Let's Get a Domain Name

The only hard part of getting a domain name is thinking it up! Once you've thought it through, and know what name(s) you want, purchasing it is easy. We use GoDaddy.com because they are the cheapest option, and their domain name customer service is good. So:

A. Go to http://godaddy.com

B. Type the name you want into the huge box you see at the top of their home page, and click the green SEARCH DOMAIN button, like so:

Sometimes the name will already be taken, in which case you'll have to do a little bit of thinking about an alternate name. You can do this "Search Domain" multiple times to check out a variety of names if you need to. Once you find the one you want AND it's available for purchase, you'll see a screen like this:

Click the orange CONTINUE TO CART button to purchase it.

They may try to sell you other options along the way, like private registration (if you want to hide the fact that you own it), business cards, or hosting. IGNORE all of those options for now, and keep 'Continuing to Cart' until you reach a checkout page like this:

In the above example, I've used the little dropdown that says "1 Year" to choose, well, a one-year registration. You can choose as many years as you like. Click PROCEED TO CHECKOUT and you'll see a screen like the following:

If you've ever used GoDaddy before, you may have an account number and password. If not, you can always click 'New Customers/CONTINUE,' and follow their instructions to make an account. You'll end up on a final payment page like the one below. Double-check everything, click the checkbox on the right, and click PLACE YOUR ORDER. Done!

C) WRITE DOWN YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBER AND PASSWORD for GoDaddy, because we will need this when we're setting up your website.

2. Now, Let's Get a Website Hosting Account

***IMPORTANT NOTE: WE CHOOSE NOT TO WORK WITH GODADDY.COM and BLUEHOST.COM FOR WEBSITE HOSTING.

We cannot in good faith recommend their website hosting services.***

Think of a website hosting account like a TV broadcasting company, and your website is a fantastic program. YOU make the program, get it all beautiful and ready to go, and then a broadcasting company gives you a space that can beam it out to be seen all over the world.

We'll make the website together, and put it onto a hosting account, which can then be seen by anyone on the Web. Since "website hosting company" is kind of a mouthful, we'll call it "your host" from here on out.

The hosting company we like best right now is SiteGround. They are inexpensive, competent, have fantastic service, and we've yet to have the problems with them that we've had with other companies. Since we're not big on stress, we go with companies that don't cause anyone heartburn!

So, as an example, to sign up with Siteground, do this:

A) Go to their website at http://siteground.com

B) Choose the StartUp package. You can always upgrade later if you want to add another site or another domain.

Most of our clients with small sites will be fine with this least expensive option (on the left)

Click the orange GET STARTED button to choose it.

C. It will ask you whether you already have a domain name. You do - you just registered it. So click the appropriate radio button and enter your domain name in box below, then click PROCEED (you do NOT need to transfer the registration to Siteground) See below:

D. Fill in the form with your contact info, choices, and payment method. We've included a shot of the screen on the following page so you'll know what to uncheck (our sites have security and backups already built-in, so you don't need to pay for that)

Use your own information to complete the form, and uncheck the bottommost 'site scanner' option. Not required.

See the following graphic:

E. You'll be sent a confirmation email with important login information for your new account. Please save that, AND YOUR CHOSEN PASSWORD, as we'll need all of that when we start building your site.

Now that we have a name and a home for your site, all that's left to do is build it.

We're looking forward to helping you put all of your words, images, and thoughts together into a beautiful, functional, effective website. Talk to you soon!

File this completed worksheet away in your handy MY WEBSITE folder, using "Save As..." Be sure to keep track of the account name/number and password for both your domain name registration and your hosting account, as we'll need that to start construction.

Questions? Remember you can always write to us for guidance, clarification, or just a helping hand at . We'd be delighted to help you figure things out and put your mind at ease.