The thought of building a website around a topic of interest may have been intriguing you for years during these uncertain times. Many of our readers are considering building a website, but don’t know where to start. Well, first, it is important that you actually know what a website is composed of and the difference between Domain Registration and Web Hosting. When you purchase a website domain, like CNN.com, you are actually leasing an internet address or an “IP Address.” IP addresses are a long series of numbers that access a specific place on the Internet, but instead of people typing in IP Addresses (e.g. 192.162.1.122), people who want to visit your website will type in the name associated with this address (e.g. ESPN.com) rather than the IP Address numbers. What you may not realize is that you do not actually own a domain. Domain URLs (like ESPN.com) are all leased through ICANN, the “Internet Corporation of Names and Numbers.” In fact, what you will be purchasing is a lease on the name. All domains are leased for a year to multiple years at a time. Therefore, when you pick out your website name (e.g. SnoodleTheDoodle.com), you will be leasing this for one year or a number of years from ICANN. All companies, like The Digital Engine or GoDaddy, through whom you register your domain name, pay the same fee to ICANN for the domain registration process. Again, your “Domain” is just the name of your website’s numerical address, which is where it is located on the Internet.
Alternatively, web hosting is an account on a computer (aka server) that stores and serves website files via the Internet. Consider this metaphor: If the domain was a home address, then web hosting is the “country” where you website lives (or is “hosted”). To manage a website, like you will be taught to do in The Digital Engine courseware, you need both a domain AND web hosting to operate it. Unlike paying for a year or years of domain leasing, web hosting is paid in monthly increments. There are different types of web-hosting, which equate to more or less room on a server, as well as faster or slower servers to deliver content at different speeds. Right now, as you consider building a website from the ground up, a super fast server is not needed, which is why we offer the most basic web hosting service at the lowest cost to get you started. However, someday, when you possibly have millions of users on your site, you would need to upgrade your web hosting account; but again, that would not be not needed now.
The Digital Engine has step-by-step instructions on how to purchase and setup up your basic web hosting plan. We will also assist you in picking your domain name, which you will research in one of our first assignments (if needed). Once you have the purchase process complete, our next set of step-by-step directions will get you started building a website from the ground up and teach you how to set up the mechanics of your website to become a lead generator. When this level of our courseware is complete, you will have a fully functional website that is all yours! We can’t wait to help you or your students get started. If you are interested in considering The Digital Engine, we have a demo course that will allow you to see and work with some of the content. Or if you are ready to get started, feel free to contact us. We will set you up to begin our dynamic and creative course to get you started marketing your ideas, products, or services.
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