Websites - What is involved in owning one and my services offered.

Domain Name

This is the "https://www.mywebsite.com" name that people will put in the address bar. You get your domain name by buying it and registering it through a business called a domain name registrar. In england I have been recommending people use a company called fasthosts.

Some web developers may offer to buy the domain name for you -> but then they will own that domain name. If you are nervous about choosing and buying a domain name I will guide you through the process. It is best for the business owner to have personal control over their domain name.

Normally, there is a registration fee and then a yearly fee, but unless a really expensive domain name is chosen, it shouldn't be that much.

Domain Name Servers/Services - often shortened to DNS

You may have heard of the term "IP Address". This is a numerical address that has two versions. The version called "ipv4" has numbers in the following format - 123.234.255.123. For someone to get to your website there needs to be a "record" which maps your Domain Name to its corresponding IP address.

Often the company that registered your domain name provides DNS services, so that you simply add the IP address of your website to there.

How I help my clients manage the above two things

For the second part, this often is something that seems complicated, but this can be done either by simply giving me your username and password for the registration company - then I will update the records - and then you should change your password afterwards. Alternatively - video calls where screens are shared - I can tell you precisely what to do.

Hosting Servers

This is basically a computer that I would manage which sits at the IP address we register with DNS. When someone wants to visit the website their computers/mobiles or tablets running a browser like chrome, will simply ask the computer to send them the website. This computer has to be kept secure to prevent unauthorised access and prevent hackers from taking it over.

I tend to charge between £36 and £100 a year to host the website depending on how much content, images etc are in it.

Website Code

These will be the "files" of the website. These are what the Hosting Server sends to people's computers/mobiles or tablets to be seen by the visitor. Once a website is "built" I will give you the "files" of the website for your records and to safegaurd your website.

This means that if - God forbid something happened to me that you would have the "code" of the website as well as control of your "domain name and dns" above. The reason why many developers do not share these things is because they are afraid they will lose business too easy.