We are living in the age of the internet. Everyone and everything needs to have a presence on the internet to be noticed by the world. For individuals, the purpose is served by social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. But businesses have to do something more, something professional, and that is making a website. The following text is a beginner’s guide and introduction to what a website is and how it works. Let’s have a look into it so that when you want to make a website for your business, you know what goes into making, running, and maintaining a website.

Domain Name

The first thing you need to get before even the process of building a website starts is getting a domain name. So, what exactly is a domain name? A domain name is the web address that users will use to get to your website. For example, www.facebook.com is the domain name of Facebook. Domain names can be bought in a few dollars from domain name providers. Domain names are sold for one year at a time and need to be renewed every year. Be sure to choose a domain name that includes the name of your business or is relevant to it. A good domain name is not only easy for the website visitors to remember but also plays an important role in search engine optimization of the website, more on that later.

Web site Hosting

So, now you have purchased a domain name, the next step in making a website is that of getting website hosting services. The website you are going to make needs to run on a computer, and that computer needs to be up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You just can’t use your own computer to host a website. You need to get website hosting services. Website hosting services cost an average of $100 a year, but you can also get hosting on monthly basis and the cost of hosting differs depending on the amount of data you have to upload to the website and the expected traffic on the website.

The difference in a landing page and a full website 

A landing page is a standalone page designed for a specific purpose, like marketing, sales, advertisement, or collecting information from users. A website, on the other hand, is a combination of a number of pages under a domain name. Landing pages are designed to convert visitors coming from social media or other source websites. On the other hand, websites contain a number of pages and may include an e-commerce platform and other things like blogs and videos.

The Home Page Essential Elements

The home page of a website is the page that opens when you go to the domain name URL of the website; in a web browser. It is one of the most important elements of a website and must be designed in a way that can create a good first impression. Some things you must include in the homepage of your website include but are not limited to

• Headline
• Sub-headline

• Primary Calls-to-Action
• Supporting Image
• Benefits
• Social Proof
• Navigation
• Content Offer
• Calls-to-Action
• Features
• Resources
• Success Indicators
• E-commerce

E-commerce is the name given to the sale and purchase deals done via the internet. Online stores are the major e-commerce platforms on the internet. In order to set up an online store, the first thing you need to do is to set up a website. Then you can make a sales page, link it to a payment gateway and you’ll be all set to start selling online.

Elements for your benefit — Email marketing data collection

When you have a lot of traffic on your website, you can use this traffic for your benefit. The simplest way is to add a page on the website that asks your visitors to provide their email addresses so that you can use them later for marketing and other purposes.

SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is a security feature used by websites to securely convey login details and financial credentials, like credit card details. SSL certificates work by using two pairs of keys. The person paying for a thing online has the public key for the recipient. When the payment is made, it is made via the public key, but it is encrypted and can only be decrypted using the private key of the recipient. If any information is then conveyed from the other side, it would only be decrypted with the help of the private key of the payer.

SEO 

SEO means search engine optimization. It is the process of making a website appears higher in the search results of a web browser, like Google. SEO is a very technical process, but the main part of it consists of adding stuff related to your field on the website, developing backlinks, and adding genuine and relevant content to the website.

In Summary:

Websites have become an essential thing for businesses and other organizations that interact with the general public. Making a website is a technical task, and we have provided you with the basics of the process so that you know at the baseline what goes into making a website. Always make sure the content on your website is genuine, authentic, and accurate, and doesn’t violate any rules of the area you are launching the website in.