What are the requirements to create a website
So, you have a business idea or have already set up a business. You need a website for your business web presence and to promote it.
What do you need to have, to build a website?. A website consists of the following
- Domain name
- Web Hosting
- Business email address
- SSL (Security Socket Layer)
- Web Designer
Your domain name forms the URL of your website. Eg, the domain name of this website is www.outrightwebsoutions.com Often, the business name is used in the domain name. For a website in Kenya, you may want to consider registering both the ‘.co.ke’ and the ‘.ke’ versions of your domain name. One can be used as the primary domain, to create the pages of your website and the other can be pointed to the same website. Owning both versions of the domain name is for the protection of your branding.
You can register your domain name/s with a domain registrar yourself. Each domain is registered for a year or for multiple years’ term. This is a recurring expense for as long as you want to keep your website and associated services up.
A web or website host is a company that owns servers located within the country or overseas. You purchase a hosting account, which gives you the server space for your website files to be stored on. These files can then be accessed and browsed by all visitors to your website 24/7. There are three common hosting types:
- Shared hosting – this will be the cheapest option offered by a web host. Your website will share the server with many others, often 200 or more. Comparing it to a housing situation, it is like ‘flatting’ whereby you get a room but share the house and the facilities outside your room with the other flatmates.
- VPS hosting – it is still a shared situation, but you have more capacity to run your website depending on how much you are willing to pay to upgrade your plan. This is like having an apartment in a building to yourself. This costs more than shared hosting.
- Dedicated hosting – your website will reside on a server all by itself. This option is usually for very large companies. You have complete control. This is like having the whole building to yourself, no need to share. Expect to pay several hundreds a month.
Web hosting is a recurring expense, usually charged yearly, for as long as you want to keep your website and associated services up. You can register and maintain a web hosting account yourself with a hosting company or you can have a hosting account with outright web solutions. With the former, you will deal with any issues with the host yourself and with the latter, you deal with us.
It is optional to have your domain name email address, such as info@outrightwebsolutions.com’. Having one will add that bit of professionalism. Some are perfectly happy to have a free web-based email address, eg @gmail.com. Domain name based email addresses can be set-up through your domain registrar or other independent companies. Or, you can get a Google’s G-Suite account, which will enable you to control and create as many email addresses as you wish. Any of these will be a recurring expense.
Security Socket Layer has become a requirement for all websites and not just the ones that do transactions. SSL encrypts uploading and downloading of website contents, making it safer for everybody. Your website URL protocol will change from http to https. If your website has no SSL, the browser will flag is as ‘not secure’. Your web designer can install a free SSL or purchase and install one for you. For a normal information website, a free SSL is sufficient.
Some people are able to design their website themselves. Others opt to sign up with companies providing easy, drag-drop website builders like Wix. This could work, but We have encountered several cases where the websites are not effective, and they end up asking us to either do some tweaking for them or re-build their websites. That sis why it is important to engage a professional web developer to design the website for you. Read more on how outright Web solutions can help you with web development and maintenance