setting up a website

Setting up a Website

Choosing a Domain Name

Coming up with a good domain name requires a combination of strategy, imagination and good linguistic design practice.

You’ll find some basic pieces of advice all over the Web, and it’s worth mentioning those right away. Ideally, your domain name should be:

- Short - Catchy and memorable, - Easy to pronounce, - Easy to spell, - Not too similar to competing domain names, - Not a violation of someone else’s trademark.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/02/the-effective-strategy-for-choosing-right-domain-names/

Discoverable domain name: found by someone who doesn’t know about your website but is doing web searches on keywords and phrases related to a specific topic, or by typing those words and phrases directly into the navigation bar of the browser. Discoverable names are generically descriptive.

Ex: buy.com, diapers.com,


Brandable domain name: establishes a distinct identity and communicates indirectly to evoke interesting ideas and feelings. Provide a unique character string unlikely to be found anywhere except in documents that mention that particular website. That means people who know the name of the website can easily use a search engine to navigate there. Ex: Twitter, Squidoo, Boing-Boing, Woot, Amazon, Zappos


Come up with a few ideas and then check to see if your domain name ideas are already taken.

Putting Names Together

Because you won’t be looking for a single-word name (unless you have big bucks to spend), you’ll have to build your name out of pieces. There are several different ways to do that:

Blend - Examples: Microsoft, FarecastA blend combines a part of a word with another word or word part. The name Microsoft combines the “micro” part of “microcomputer” with the “soft” part of “software.” When blends involve a surprising overlap in sound between the two words, they’re a form of wordplay. Farecast is like that. It combines the words “fare” and “forecast,” and “fare” resembles the first syllable of “forecast.” When you create this kind of blend, be sure to avoid awkwordplay: don’t pile up consonants in ugly ways (like in the name Syncplicity), and don’t use important words to replace syllables that aren’t emphasized (the way the names Mapufacture and Carticipate do).

Compound - Example: YouTubeTwo whole words, often two nouns, stuck together. Don’t let anyone tell you that this kind of name is a “fad” and will go away. This has been the most common way to coin new English words as well as to create new names, and that’s unlikely to change in the next few hundred years.


Tweaked word - Examples: Flickr, ZuneSometimes you can find a good domain name that’s basically a real word, but changed in some small way. It might have a modified spelling, like Flickr, or it might have a changed or added sound, like Zune (from “tune”) and iPhone.

Affixed word - Example: Friendster Some names are new words created by sticking a prefix or suffix onto an existing word. Friendster, for example, is “friend” with the suffix -ster attached. Biznik is “biz” with the Yiddish-derived suffix -nik (as in “beatnik”).

Made-up name - Examples: Etsy, OdeoSometimes you can find a name that is, or seems to be, completely made up. For example, Etsy is an online hand-made goods marketplace, and Odeo is an online music website.

Phrase - Example: Six ApartWords put together according to normal grammatical rules. Phrase names can be similar to compounds, but have a different pattern of syllabic emphasis. In compounds, the emphasis goes on the first word, the way we emphasize “white” in “the Whitehouse.” In phrases, the emphasis often goes on the second word, the way we emphasize “house” in “a white house.”


Choosing a Hosting Service

PriceThis is the aspect most of us will look at first when choosing a hosting provider; however, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. When you see price differences it’s helpful to remember the old maxim that we get what we pay for. Jumping on the cheapest offer you see isn’t necessarily the best idea, especially if you rely on your site to make money. Things like non-outsourced support and quality hardware cost money, and a hosting company that charges $1.99 per month likely won’t offer these features. Take a closer look at the features that each host provides, and THEN compare prices.

Tech Specs / LimitationsTake a good, honest look at your site and figure out what you want it to do. If you’re hoping to host a blog, an e-commerce site, rich content, and videos, then you shouldn’t go with the cheapest hosting package you can find. A cheap hosting plan probably won’t have the RAM, processing power, and disk space to serve all these needs, and you’ll spend more time dealing with downtime or load issues than you would like. Look to see what you are getting with the cheap host and what features are included in the cost. Do they charge for additional domains, support, backups, etc.. Call them. Ask questions. Tell them what you envision your site’s needs to be. Just don’t take it for granted that they take your site as seriously as you do.


http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/10-important-factors-to-consider-before-choosing-a-web-host/

Tech SupportIn most people’s opinions, this is the big one. When my site, for some unknown reason, goes down, can I call up and get a real, live person on the phone? And, more than that, can they find out what’s wrong and fix it, or at least tell me what I need to do to get my site back online? Before going with a host look into their reputation for customer support. See what kinds of different ways you can contact them when you need support – email, toll-free phone, chat, and so on. Are they staffed 24/7? Do they outsource support?

You’ll find that, like in price and technical specifications, all hosts are not equal. Some hang their hat on their support crew, and some view customer support as an afterthought. Steer clear of the latter.



Features / Add-OnsThis area of consideration comes down to the following question – What makes this hosting company special? What extra incentive do they provide to make hosting your site with them just a touch more attractive? Whether it’s multiple data centers, energy-saving practices, or additional features such as regular data backups or free domain privacy, hosting companies often offer more than just servers. If you see one that offers something you need or find important, that can be a good indicator that you should look into using that company.

Customer Reviews / Satisfaction / ReputationThis is one of those factors that you’ll have to get a little creative to get the real story on. Do a Google Blog search for a particular hosting company, or look them up on Twitter – whatever you have to do to see what their current (or former) customers are saying about them. Are they easy to contact for support? What’s the average time it takes to respond to a ticket? When they find a problem with a site, what’s their course of action? This is one of the great things about social media – ask a question about a company, and you’re more likely than not to get a few answers.

Control Panel / User InterfaceEven if you’re the least tech-savvy person in the world, there are some things – installing WordPress, setting up email, setting up FTP accounts – you should be able to do without calling your hosting company’s support line. Does your provider use cPanel or Plesk to make updates and modifications easier, or do they use some clunky interface that no one can figure out? You’ll most likely be the one working with it, so if you can’t figure it out, then that’s going to be a problem.

Scalability / Room to GrowFinally, an important thing to consider about your hosting provider (and the plan you choose) is whether or not they fit into your plans for the future. In other words, what you consider adequate hosting now might not meet your needs two years from now, once you start selling your wares online and getting some good traffic to your site.



Most hosts use cPanel to control the settings and domains for your website(s).

http://kb.westhost.com/questions/468/Introduction+to+cPanel

cPanel Basics:


http://kb.westhost.com/questions/468/Introduction+to+cPanel

The easiest method of getting files onto your site, and once there, changing them is using a FTP (File transfer protocol) client.

FTP works by transferring files from your computer to your site.

For PC you can use FileZilla which is a free FTP software.

For Mac Users try:

1. Cyberduck; free FTP software designed for Macs2. Transmit – FTP software you purchase designed for Macs

To use your FTP client you will need an FTP address of your site plus login name and password for it. All of it should be in the Login Information email you got after registering your hosting account with your hosting company.

Upload your files with an FTP

For more information: http://premium.wpmudev.org/manuals/wpmu-manual-2/introduction-to-ftp-and-using-ftp-clients/

http://premium.wpmudev.org/manuals/wpmu-manual-2/introduction-to-ftp-and-using-ftp-clients/



Upload your files with an FTP

Setting up and dealing with domains and hosts can be a hassle. Just remember, once it’s all set up you can focus on the best part: the design.

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