Web Design FAQ1

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is a domain name?
A domain name is a sequence of letters and numbers which determine the address of your site. This site's domain name is "WebHostingRatings.com." You need to register a domain name before your web site becomes accessible at this address.

What domain name should I choose?
This depends on how you are going to use it. If you are going to be telling people over the phone, choose one that is easy to say and spell out loud. Above all, I would choose one that is memorable and not confusing.

How do I get my website listed on search engines, especially Google?
Modern search engines like to find your site naturally, through links to your site from other sites. Google especially relies on your incoming links to determine your popularity and relevance. For more information on submitting your site and how to promote your site through search engines.

How do I get more traffic from search engines?
Search engine positioning is a long-term strategy, and there are no quick-fix solutions in this area. To be really effective with search engine marketing, your site needs to be focused around the right keywords and keyword phrases. If you want to boost your traffic quickly, I would suggest checking out Google AdWords or other paid advertisement options. That said, these are the steps that would need to happen to really make it work:

What is shared (virtual) web hosting?
Shared (or virtual) web hosting is the most fitting way of hosting for 99% of web sites. It means that a web hosting company will have one or more servers (computers constantly connected to the Internet that run a web server software such as Apache or IIS) that will be running multiple web sites (it will be shared). Unless a web site is exceptionally busy or requires a lot of bandwidth, this is the least expensive way to get a real web site. You can still have your own IP address with virtual hosting and the site won't look any different to users. Other options are dedicated, co-location, or doing it yourself web hosting. In those options you have the whole computer to yourself and you can do things like install your own software.

Can I keep my domain name when I change a host?
Yes. We recommend that you register your domain name with a separate registrar before getting a hosting plan. Then, when you need to move to another host, you just need to point your domain's name servers to this new host. If you registered your domain name with a host and now you want to move, you should find your registration records or contact this host and ask them how to control your domain name. If you have a problem, you can usually see the name of the registrar by performing a "Whois" query on your domain name and contact them.

Does it make a difference what type of desktop computer I use?
No. This will only make a difference if you develop scripts that you want to use without changes on your web site. FrontPage extensions can also be done on Unix (or Linux) servers.

What is domain parking?
Domain parking lets you cheaply reserve a domain name for future use and display an "under construction" default page on it. You can register a domain and not park it anywhere but then your site will simply be inaccessible until you get a web host. Some registrar let you park your domain for free.

What is full-service web hosting?
"Full-service" can refer to a variety of services offered in addition to providing web space, transfer, and emails for a web site. For example, it could be 24/7 toll free phone support, web design services, or web site content maintenance services.

How do I upload my site?
The main method of uploading files to your site's account is by using FTP. When you sign up with a host, you will probably get an FTP account that lets you access files in your account (usually ftp.yoursitename.com, your main account name and password). Then you can use a built-in Windows or Internet Explorer FTP client, or some other software that supports FTP such as CuteFTP, WS_FTP, or Total Commander, to transfer files from your hard drive to your account. If you don't get an FTP account or if you prefer a Web interface, you can use your account control panel's File Manager instead. Yet another method is to use an SSH or telnet client software, such as SecureCRT, to upload using Zmodem protocol (sz and rz commands). All these methods will work fine, but we recommend using dedicated FTP programs as the preferred solution because these programs have the best user interfaces and support advanced options like setting file permissions and resuming aborted file transfers.

What is uptime?
Uptime is the percentage of time that a web site is working. For example, if some host has an uptime average of --%, this means . We monitor uptime of customer websites of many web hosts and we display this data on the host's details page.