articles (guidance and tips and tricks for successful websites)
You cannot plan to have a website simply because "everybody has one" these days. However, it is common sense that a business with a website is perceived in a different way compared to a competitor who is not even present on the web or who advertises an email address of a free provider, like Hotmail.
A domain name is much like a trademark or a licence. It is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. It is part of web addresses (like webteam.com.au) and email addresses (what follows the @ symbol; for example, webteam@webteam.com.au).
Let's imagine that you decided to choose the most popular option in the Australian web market – having a domain name ending in "com.au" (for alternatives, such as "net.au" or "org.au", visit http://www.auda.org.au/domains/au-domains/). In the case of "com.au", these are the first steps to follow:
- Think about the best domain name for your business – for example, yourbusiness.com.au or a similar name, followed by ".com.au".
Please note: There are no proprietary rights in a domain name. Nobody owns a domain name. People, businesses and organisations have a licence to use a domain name for a certain period or time. Also, nobody has an automatic right to a domain name, even if the domain name is your company or business name, or a registered trademark.
- Having your preferred domain name in mind, it's time to check its availability (whether the domain name hasn't been registered by any other business, organisation or person yet).
Let's imagine your preferred domain name is available.
.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space. In 2000 the Australian Government formally endorsed auDA as the appropriate body to administer the .au domain space.
Although the application and registration process is controlled by auDA, the organisation has authorised registrars that provide services to people who want to register a domain name in the Australian domain space (that is, a domain name ending in ".au"). There are competing registrars, but the basic service – a two-year registration – is offered by all of them. The difference is on the price, packages and extra services.
In mid October a two-year registration fee varied from $26 to $140.
Registrars issue domain name licences to registrants. They decide whether or not your domain name application meets the auDA policy rules. You have to prove that you have a relation with the name you want to register – through your ABN number, for example. The whole process can be done online and usually takes up to 48 hours.
This step can only be executed after the domain name registration is completed.
Most of the commercial websites that you have ever visited are hosted on computers (called web servers) that belong to web hosting companies. Web hosting clients simply upload their web content (text, images, animations, etc.) to a web server, which should ideally be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, no matter where your users are, when they are online, they will be able to access your website. The web hosting company also receives email addressed to your business and stores it until you download it.
The best way to choose a web hosting company is to follow the recommendation of another person or business. Why?
Unlike the registrars in Australia, currently 23 in total, there are many web hosting companies, with different services and fees, both in Australia and overseas. It does not matter that you have an Australian domain name; your website can be hosted anywhere in the world. There is not much difference between selecting a local (Australian) or foreign hosting provider. From the point of view of people looking at your website or sending you email, it makes no difference where you are hosting, and it is not noticeably slower to have your website in the USA or right here in Melbourne.
What to take into consideration?
- Web space – how much space you will have to store your web pages, including text and image. If you are planning to have a basic website, without videos and large documents, focus on at least 50 Megabytes (MB) of disk storage space.
- Data transfer – it is basically all the communication between your website and its visitors. It is all the content transferred from the web hosting company servers to your visitors' computers – be it text and images of a web page or an online form filled by your visitors to request some information about your business. As an average, one Gigabyte of bandwidth is usually enough to transfer 25,000 page views per month, so an allowance of 5 Gigabytes (GB) per month is a good start.
It is important to know what happens when the data transfer allowance is exceeded. Will your website become slower (it will take longer than usual to load text and images), will your website become inaccessible or will you have to pay for additional data transfer? If so, how much? (this is the most common option offered by web hosting companies)
This step can only be executed after the web hosting company sends you the username and password to access its server. This is usually done after your credit card payment is confirmed. All the orientation to set up your email accounts is usually provided by the web hosting company.
This is our favourite bit! We hope you can count on us to help you have a unique website, a website that really works. What is a website that works? Please take some time to read the article Four questions you should ask yourself to have a successful website. It has useful information – no matter whom you choose to create and develop a website for your business.
