Articles

Written by Martyn Ling, January 25^th, 2010.

Our Jargon Buster

There's so much jargon used to speak and write about websites but what do you do if you need a website but don't know the jargon. Our Jargon Buster will help you understand what you need to know.

Below you will find a glossary of terms - explained for the benefit of non-techies. Some techies might object to the lack of technical detail and precision. However, these explanations are intended to help normal people (ermm... are techies not normal people?) understand technical terms sufficiently to make well-informed decisions.

If some of these descriptions still assume too much knowledge about computers, please take a look at our Showroom Analogy that explains the website jargon using some more familiar concepts.

Website Hosting

Simply put, website hosting (or web hosting) is a service that provides a place for your website (its pages, images, etc.) to live. The web hosting companies own computers called 'servers', which are used to house (or host) your website. When a visitor wants to look at a page of your website on their computer, their computer gets the web hosting server to send the page and its content. The visitor's computer then shows the visitor the page.

Domain Name and Domain Name Registration

So, your website is housed (or hosted) on a server owned by a web hosting company. How does anyone know how to find it? Well, your website needs a unique name called a Domain Name.

For example, the Domain Name of this website is orthomeo.com. When someone types in orthomeo.com on their computer, their computer looks up the orthomeo.com website from an address book, admittedly a rather clever address book. The address book tells the computer the exact location of the server where the website can be found.

So, how do you get one of these Domain Names for your business? Well, you need to register a name that nobody else has already registered. It's important to choose the name wisely. We offer guidance in choosing a domain name as part of our Free Consultation.

Once you have your Domain Name registered, the 'clever address book' needs to be told about the Domain Name and the location of the server where your website can be found. When you purchase one of our website packages, the domain name registration and web hosting are included in the package, so we will set all that up for you so you don't have to be concerned with it.

Bandwidth or Monthly Data Transfer

Every time that someone visits a page on your website, the page and its contents are sent from the web hosting server to the visitor's computer. The size of the files (that make up the page and its contents) counts up towards your monthly bandwidth usage or data transfer.

Each month you have a bandwidth allowance. If you exceed your allowance, then the web hosting company will charge you for any excess. However, by choosing one of our hosting options, you have sufficient bandwidth that a small business is most unlikely to exceed its allowance. We'll also inform you if you should use up 80% of your monthly allowance and discuss options to avoid exceeding the allowance.

Website Analytics

Website Analytics (or web analytics) help you to monitor how well your website is working for you. Every time a visitor visits your website, information is collected about:

• What pages they visit.
• How long they stay on the website.
• Where they are in the world.
• How they found your website (did they type in your domain name or did they find you by searching on Google or another search engine).
• What words did they use in their search, if they found you through a search engine like Google.

With our website packages, we setup your website with Google Analytics* to monitor your website traffic and to automatically send you a monthly summary report. You'll also have a login to Google Analytics so that you can look at the results in more detail.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Once you have a website, you want people to visit it, don't you? Now, you can (and probably should) use traditional marketing methods to promote your business and its website. However, with a website there so many more potential visitors who could find it by searching on Google, Yahoo or other search engines.

So, how do you get your website to be listed by search engines and, what's more, how do you get your website to be listed on page 1 of the search results instead page 28. Well, Search Engine Optimization is the name given to a set of techniques, methods and tools that help to move your website up the list on search engines.

All our website packages provide Basic SEO, which involves registering your website with the major search engines and designing and structuring your site to be search engine friendly.

* Google Analytics is a free, web-based service for website analytics. We set it up to work with your website for you and then it's yours.