Are you using Google Apps for your online business? I hate the standard email packages which comes with any hosting account. I always wanted to use GMAIL for my business communications but sometime customers do not like the fact that some business is using FREE email address like you@gmail.com .. BUT it all changed…

Yeah with Google Apps you can have backend which is built on GMAIL , but in the front-end you could have you@yourdomain.com and so on! So you enjoy the both worlds!

I suggest you take a look at Google Apps today if you have not considered it before. For a business with up to 50 users it is free. So for a small business online with few employees this is not going to cost you a cent! Check out Google Apps here.

Today I am going to explain very general overview of a Website, its component and its stages of development and essentials. First of all let me start with three main components of a Website:

1. Domain Name – A Name like www.YourDomain.com (You Buy it!)
2. Hosting – Some space on a server which is 24/hours linked to internet. (You Rent it!)
3. Webpages – Yeah the Real Website, the pages which you want to show there.

Then we have about three stages of building a website or creating webpages like:

1. Design – Drafting and Finalizing the design of your website, the template
2. Development – Creation of webpages using the design and code
3. Testing and Uploading the finalized web pages to your web host.

Let’s talk more about components of a website:

Domain Name

Domain name is your website’s internet address. Just like your cell phone number it is address which is linked to your website so that whenever access that address in his browser your website is shown to him.

In technical sense, you know every computer on internet is linked to the Network through an IP…forget about it…i cannot explain this for now..sometime later..for now remember this is your website’s unique name just like your own cell phone number. You need to register this with a domain name registrar just like you do register/buy your cell phone number from a cellular company.

No there are no FREE domain names! You have to pay registration fee every year..it can cost you about Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000 per year (about $10) depending on the registrar you are using.

Yes sometime someone will offer you a free domain but you have to buy hosting or website services from them that is how they make money otherwise if they simply give away free domain names they have gone out of business in one week!

I Want a Personal Website & I do not have money to invest – I want everything free so does website domain name!!! Well for you my dear friend of college, first of all good luck with your studies. I am proud of you to see expanding your presence online. For you i recommend some free sub-domain!

Sub-Domains are Part of existing domains and companies can offer your free sub-domains at their websites. Like I own this domain www.Rboq.com , I can offer unlimited sub-domains to anyone , their domain name would be like this: for a friend with name Asad, it could be www.asad.rboq.com or in a correct way it would be http://asad.rboq.com

If you are serious in having online website i recommend own domain name. But if you just want a free ride for now, i suggest to get some free sub-domain with any reputable host online. For example Note: I have googled for some good sub-domain offers and sorry i could not find any legitimate so far…but here is best deal for you..go for latest model of website called BLOG

What is a Blog – Blog is just like a website in basic sense. It has everything in it for you to start with zero cost. You can have your blog live in one hour there are some of the big players online offering free, legitimate blogs. For Example Google’s Blogger or WordPress.com . How to create your own blog with Blogger or WordPress I will post about it in my next post, Insha Allah.

Ok what if you have credit card in hand, and ready to shell $10 for your great domain name right now, i suggest you buy through NameCheap , they are one of the best domain registrars online. I have registered and managed with them my own 50+ domain names and also many many domains of our clients are registered with them.

For now that is all, In next part I would share with you about hosting and then building a website… Stayed tuned!

Regards,

Mohsin Rasool