From time to time people ask us about how they can “put a website online”. For us, it’s a piece of cake because we’ve done it a million times. But for someone who has never created a website before and put it online, it can be confusing. What does it mean to “put a website online” anyway?
Consider this to be a primer on moving a site online. Sort of a “website basics for Dummies” kind of blog post.
You basically need 3 things:
• Hosting
• Code
• A URL (or “domain name” or “website address”)
Think of it like a neighborhood: Hosting is the property that you will build your house on and the code is the house itself. But how do you get people to find you? You get an address from the post office and you put your address near your front door or on the mailbox so people can see it.
In a really basic way, it’s the same for websites. You buy hosting, which is basically a big empty piece of virtual land that you can do something with. Then you add files of code (html, php, css, etc.), very much like the framework of a house. And, you buy a URL from a domain seller. Then, you put them all together.
Usually you’ll get the domain and point it to the hosting (how you do that is for another lesson). Then, you gather the code (how you build that code is for another lesson, too) and you upload it to the hosting.
The result? When someone types your domain into their browser, their browser takes them to your host and it interprets your code and shows them your website. Easy!
Of course, if this were a real life example, they’d just be looking at an empty house. Once you have those hosting/code/URL elements in place, you need to add content (text, graphics, video, etc.) to your website so that people have something to look at when they get there.
And how does WordPress and WordPressInASecond fit in?
WordPress itself is the code you can upload to some hosting. Add a domain and voila, you have a website!
And WordPressInASecond shows you how to get the hosting, WordPress code, and domain name all working together really, really fast. (Oh, and we even have some hosting solutions to make it even more convenient for you!)
