What is a Website?
Essentially, a website is a way to present yourself online. Your website is a place on the internet where anyone in the world can visit whenever they want to find out more about you, ask you questions, give you feedback, or even buy your products. Think of the internet as the world's biggest trade show, and your website is your booth.
What is a Domain Name?
Your domain name is your address on the web. Just like people use your phone number to call you on the phone, your domain name allows people to access your site on the web.
Clever, simple, or easy to remember domain names are most desirable as they can play a large part in attracting visitors to your site. Most domain names in New Zealand end with ".co.nz" (such as proweb.co.nz), but other extensions such as ".net.nz" and ".org.nz" are also available. Other country extensions such as ".com", ".com.au" are also available.
In addition domain names can be used with your email accounts allowing you to send and receive email with addresses such as user@domain-name.co.nz.
Why do I need a website?
Five years ago having a website was a vanity.
Two years ago having a website was trendy.
Today having a website is a necessity.
People are using the web for everything from researching school work to buying dinner. It's quick, it's convenient, and you never need to leave your desk. Even people who prefer to shop off-line are researching products on the web. These days when people are trying to find you, the first place they look is on the web - and if they don't find you, they will probably find someone else!
What can a website do for me?
Your website can be used for a large number of tasks such as:
- Making public announcements
- Providing support to your customers
- Receiving feedback from your visitors
- Sharing/distributing files and images
- Interacting with your business processes
- And, of course, selling your products
Those might not sound impressive, but don't forget that you'll be able to do those things for people around the world at any time of day or night. You have the potential to become a house-hold name 10,000 kilometres away.
How does a website work?
A website is simply a collection of files that reside on a server computer connected to the internet. When someone visits your site, they are actually contacting that computer, and that computer (called a Web Server) gives the visitor the files they want to see. It sounds very simple, but most normal computers don't have the power or the software needed to constantly respond to all the requests made by all the visitors to a site. And even if they did, they'd need an extremely fast connection to the internet to keep up with all the requests. Most people and small companies don't have the resources to run a web server, and that is where web hosting provider ProWeb comes in.
If you require support please contact us.