The Whole Website Ordeal

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Okay, I now have a website created, but it's not on my own domain yet.  The designer just put it on his account until I can get my own.

Now, admittedly, I'm not net savvy.  My knowledge of websites is, at best, marginal.

So, I would like to ask, what are the steps I need to go through (in lamen's terms) to get all set up on a server and with my own domain?

((I know I've been posting a lot & I'm really not trying to be a pest.  It's just that I never had a place to ask these questions before))

[greyorm]

Step One: Register your domain.
This involves purchasing the rights to the chosen name of the website (frex: http://www.indie-rpgs.com or http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com) thus marking it as your "property" to do with as you wish.

This step is usually be fairly cheap, as low as $8-$10 a year.  Most places you can register your domain name through will also host the domain, but I'll cover that next.

Registering your domain can be accomplished via a number of routes, through companies such as http://www.godaddy.com/">GoDaddy or http://www.dreamhost.com/">Dreamhost.

One stumbling block you may run into when registering your domain is that they may ask for the server(s) your site will be hosted on.  You probably haven't purchased these yet, so don't sweat it...ignore it, you can fill them in later, once you've actually set up your host.

Also note that purchasing one domain, such as a .com domain, does NOT guarantee that you own other domains with the same name but different extensions (.net, .org, .biz, .etc).  You would have to purchase each seperately if you wanted to own them as well.

Finally, I would be very careful that whatever company you use to register your domain registers YOU as the owner, not themselves, or trouble could very easily arise in the future.

Step Two: Host your domain.
Registering a domain name does NOT mean people can get to it!!  To do that, you have to have your domain hosted, meaning that when folks type in your domain's name (your website URL (as in the above examples)), they actually end up there.

What hosting entails is purchasing disk-space on someone's computer and having that space (via a numerical address called an IP address) tied to your domain name.
Once the space is purchased, it takes about 24-48 hours for a new domain to propogate through the 'Net as a number of computers have to talk to one another and share the directions to your site (basically tying the IP address and the domain name to each other...saying "Hey, this can be found here!").

The cost for hosting can vary depending on what kind of plan you purchase with your hosting company (the folks whose disk-space you buy) it can range from as little as $10 a month to $60 a month.

Step Three:
Upload your pages to the space you bought at the hosting company via FTP.
Well, honestly your admin. should be doing this if you aren't computer saavy, or you should have a computer geek friend do it for you.

Ok, example, let's say I want a site for my (fictional) e-publishing company, called Windwalker Publishing.

First I check to see that a particular domain name is available, let's say I decide on http://www.windwalker-publishing.com.  I type that in at one of the many places you can do such a check (such as most domain registrar sites) and find it is available.  Great!

Now I set about purchasing rights to the sucker.
I have to set up a username and password, select how many years I want to retain rights to that domain (and thus how much I want to shell out...I can always purchase more years later).

For this domain, I would have to fill in my contact information...that is, information on how to get ahold of me as the owner of this domain.  It is VERY IMPORTANT that you DO NOT LIE on this, even though it is public information.  If something goes wrong with your domain name registration somewhere down the line and the registrar needs to get ahold of you, this is the only record they have.

Next I'll have to fill in my hosting information, but since I haven't set up a host yet (though I COULD have!!) I'll just leave it blank for the moment and fill it in once I've got one.
This usually involves inputing the names of two or more "Name servers" (computers) on which your domain will be stored: you'll get this information from your hosting company (the names of their DNS servers, specifically the ones on which your space is located).

Alright.  Now I have my domain.  Well, I have the rights to my domain name.

Now I need to set up my actual domain.
I'll need to purchase a plan with a hosting company, the cheapest plan available just to get started.  They'll take my name, my credit card number, a currently working e-mail address, etc.

If I'm not hosting with the same company I registered with, I'll have to do a "domain transfer."  This is usually painless and only requires that I go back and put in the "Name servers" at the place I registered the domain name, since I should now have that information.

Using information provided by my host, and working knowledge of a simple FTP program, 48 hours later I should be able to FTP webpages to my new site for all and sundry to gander at whenever they type in the domain name I've chosen.

Ok, that's about as simple as it gets...not really too hard.  Let me know if you need any clarification, or any assistance.

[Tim Gray]

Here in the UK, at least, the process is not quite like that.

You buy your domain name through one of the zillions of companies. (Don't automatically go for the dirt-cheap ones - they sometimes charge you for other stuff later, like transferring domains away. It may be worth browsing the forums of an internet magazine's site for pointers - eg over '.net' there's a lot of anti-Fasthosts sentiment.)

The domain package should include web forwarding. That means people type in your domain, eg http://www.massiverpg.com, and their browser is redirected to wherever the pages are actually held. The window at the top of the browser will probably show the *actual* address - or be "masked" to show the domain, but that can cause some problems with search engines etc and I don't use it.

If you have your web hosting with your domain registration company, you can actually link the two together so that your webspace is in your domain rather than redirected from it. If you can find a company that does a good package for both services it's probably the best way. (Browser window displays the domain name, because that's really where you are.)

[Ian O'Rourke]

Odd, I'm pretty sure Greyworm's explanation is exactly how it works in the UK.

Odd.

[J B Bell]

Tim Gray's description doesn't jibe with me either.  It sounds like he's encountered some host that doesn't handle virtual hosting correctly.  The redirection trick might have been necessary a long time ago, but anymore, redirecting should never be necessary, nor should it be an extra fee.  (Some companies will charge extra for your website to appear directly at www.whatever.com, as opposed to www.whatever.com/foo/, but that's unusual anymore.)
[Edit:  Matt's description below jogged my memory, and indeed, many domain registrars provide this service, so that for the super-cheap package, you can register a domain, and then set up with a freebie service such as angelfire.com.  The ip address you get goes to a server that does nothing but re-directs, and the end user ends up seeing your web page, though the URL will be ugly at that point.]

I'd like to heartily recommend easyDNS.com for domain registration and hosting.  They have a wide variety of services clearly explained, excellent support, and quite reasonable prices.  I've hosted a few domains with them for years and they have never disappointed me.

I can also recommend Southwest Cyberport for page hosting.  Best service anywhere, good prices, and they support nearly all the usual web goodies, plus email lists, etc., etc.  Now, I'm biased, I used to work there a few years ago, but I got to hear rave reviews of them a lot working there, so I think others agree with me.  Oh, and they have something that's a rarity:  shell access.  If your web designer is an ubergeek, they'll appreciate that.

--TQuid

[Matt Machell]

Tim's talking about the facility many domain registration companies provide, whereby they host the domain as a freebie, but they only host a frames page which you point at :www.geocities.com/myusername. It's a fairly common practice among cheap domain companies in the UK.

Matt

[Clay]

The description provided has been pretty long.  You actually have two options:

1. Get your designer to help you get it hosted, if they know how to do that.

2. Host it with cedant.com (and no, I'm not a shill for cedant).  They have a nice little form that will walk you through the steps needed to set up your account.  You'll have to get the designer to transfer the files for you, but setting up the hosting is easy.  This includes getting your domain name, which used to be a major pain in the tail.

I've been very happy with my hosting experience at Cedant so far.  It's been simple enough that my clients haven't felt intimidated at all.