Website Owner’s Guide for Non-Techies
Many of my clients come to me for help because they lack either the technical skills or the time required to create or maintain a website or a blog. Whether you handle these tasks yourself or you choose to outsource them, there are a few basic terms and facts you should be familiar with.
Blog:?A blog is a specific type of?Website, where new content is continually added to previous content, rather than replacing it. Most blogs allow for communication between the author and his or her readers, in the form of comments.
Browser (or Web Browser):?A software program used to display?Web Pages. Internet Explorer was the most widely used until it was phased out a few years ago. The most popular browsers right now are?Chrome,?Safari, and?Firefox. It’s important to realize that?Web Pages?may display differently in different browsers.
Domain Name:?The name that identifies a?Website, e.g. janetbarclay.com. A domain name is purchased from a domain registrar such as?MyDomain?and must be renewed annually, usually at a cost of around $10.00 to $15.00 per year. Your domain name needs to point to your?Web Hosting?in order to function.
Downloading:?The act of transferring files from the Internet to a local computer.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol):?A method for?Uploading?and?Downloading?files over the Internet, usually using software such as?Filezilla.
Hosting (or Web Hosting):?Just as files are stored on your personal computer, every website must be stored on a computer on the Internet. You need to purchase this service from a hosting company such as?InMotion,?SiteGround?or?WP Engine?(affiliate links)?– think of it as renting a home for your website. Fees for hosting vary widely, depending on the features and amount of storage you require. You can sometimes find free web hosting, but keep in mind that free services are usually funded by advertising which will appear on your website.
HTML?(HyperText Markup Language):?A set of codes used to structure text and multimedia documents and to set up links between documents. It is used to build websites. HTML codes are what you see when you view the “Page Source” of a web page.
Metatag:?Coding on a web page that is used to give?Search Engines?information about that page. The most important are the Title tag (which appears at the top of your?Browser?window while viewing the page) and the Description tag (which may appear in the search results).
Permalink:?A?URL?that points to a specific?Blog?post, as opposed to the main page of the?Website. The permalink appears in the address bar at the top of the?Browser?window. You can see that the permalink for this post is?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/website-owners-guide-non-techies-janet-barclay.
Search Engine:?A computer program used to search and index the millions of pages of available information on the web. Although?Google?is the most widely used, there are many others, including?Yahoo?and?Bing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):?A strategy used to increase the likelihood of your?Website?coming up high in search results by making it more visible to?Search Engines.
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Uploading:?The act of transferring files to the Internet from a local computer. Some websites have uploading features built in, but others require that you have?FTP?or SFTP?access.
URL:?This is the web address you give people so they can go to your website, e.g.?https://janetbarclay.com/?or?https://janetbarclay.com/website-care-plans/. Please note how this differs from the?Domain Name.
Web Page:?A single document displayed on the Internet.
Website:?A collection of related?Web Pages?belonging to an individual, a company, or an organization.
WordPress:?Free software used for creating both blogs and websites. When installed on your?Web Hosting?account, it can be completely customized in terms of both design and function. You can use WordPress at?WordPress.com?without purchasing web hosting or a domain name, but it is much more limited, unless you upgrade to a premium account.
If there’s terminology that puzzles you which I haven’t included here, you may be able to find a definition on?W3Schools.com?or?Build Web Site For You, which I found helpful while creating this post. For further clarification, feel free to leave a question in the Comments.
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Janet Barclay simplifies WordPress website ownership for women with service businesses by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their sites so they can focus on what they do best.
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