get your business onine

A quick introduction to the internet and how your business can benefit from it!

Get your business online

2 How to Get online

Conte

ntsthe internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrowBill Gates, founder of Microsoft

1: How to get online

2: Do more online

3: GlossaryConte

nts 1. Buy a domain name for your company .................................................. page 5

2. Buy hosting for your website ................................................................ page 7

3. Create web pages using a website builder

or a web design company .................................................................... page 9

4. Promote your website ......................................................................... page 11

e-Commerce .......................................................................................... page 15

Internet vs. Intranet ................................................................................. page 17

Search Engine Optimisation ....................................................................... page 19

Website vs. Blog ...................................................................................... page 20

Glossary of terms ..................................................................................... page 23

Get your business online 3

1: How to get online2: Do m

ore online3: glossary

4 How to Get online

Almost overnight, the internet’s gone from a technical wonder to a business mustBill Schrader

2: Do more online

3: glossary1: How to get online


1. buy a domain name for your companyWhat is a domain name?

A domain name is what gives a website

its own unique web address, enabling it to

be easily remembered and differentiated

from its competitors. The importance of

the actual domain name should not be

underestimated. It’s a powerful tool that

helps get the visitor’s attention and

provide a company with an online identity.

How do I select a domain name?

Selecting a domain name is the first, and

one of the most critical steps involved in

setting up an online profile for your

company. However before doing so, it is

important to familiarise yourself with the

domain structure. In the long sequence of

letters displayed in the browser, e.g.

http://www.yourcompany.com/uk/info/,

the domain name is “yourcompany.com”.

Within this structure, “www” is an

example of a sub-domain which can be

created and registered once the domain

name has been registered. Read more

about this on page 27. Furthermore, the

domain includes an extension to help

identify its formal purpose. Following are

some common extensions and their

formal purpose.

How do I buy a domain name?

1.Selectaname

This is your online identity; therefore

the name should reflect the company

and the services/products offered. To help

create a consistent business profile, and

to increase professionalism, you are able

to set up business email accounts which

include the same domain name. i.e.

www.yourcompany.co.uk and

[email protected].

2.Next,findoutifthedomain

nameisavailable

You are able to use “whois” in order to

gain an overview of all available domain

names. Whois is a query protocol, widely

used for checking available domain

names before registering them.

3.Buyyourdomain

Most people buy domains online. You can

use an accredited domain name registrar,

purchase your web hosting account and

domain name at the same time from one

Extension Purpose

.com Intended for commercial sites.net Intended for internet infrastructure and network providers.org Intended for non-profits.biz Intended for businesses.name Intended for personal pages.mobi Intended for mobile- device optimized sites..co.uk Country-code domains are intended to target local audiences more closely.

6 How to Get online

supplier, or purchase a domain from an

end-user or reseller.

4.Parkyourdomain

If you do not have a web host (see page

27), the domain registrar can “park” your

domain name at a temporary website set

up especially for you. Since setting up a

domain is the first step for many in

creating a website, most people don’t

have a website when registering their

domain and cannot point the domain

name anywhere. Therefore, the domain

registrars “park the domain” allowing

you to point your domain to a dummy

web page.

5.Thenextstepistofindtherightweb

hostandahostingpackagethatsuits

yourneeds

What is a URL?

A URL stands for Uniform Resource

Locator, which represents the global web

address of documents, including web

pages or image files. Each file available on

the web can be identified and accessed

through its corresponding URL.

Why is the URL important?

Along with your domain name, it is also

important to be aware of the significance

of the URL path, as both can impact your

online success by influencing the Search

Engine Optimisation (SEO). The URL styles

affect SEO in two ways; firstly, the words

contained in the URL can help the web

page gain higher rankings if they are

separated using hyphens (-) or underscores

(_) so that the software can distinguish

between them. Secondly, the URL

structure should be short and the words

should relate to the subject of interest.

Furthermore, it is important that the URL

is easy to print or write down.

Top tips: the Do’s and Don’ts for domain naming

Do:

1. Keep it short and make it memorable and descriptive.

2. Choose the right extension for your business.

3. Register promptly – domain names are being snatched up fast.

4. Plan for the future.5. Know your target audience – ensure

the name is appropriate for them.

Don´t

1. Use confusing spelling.2. Choose domain names that are

similar to others that already exist.3. Choose words that when joined

together form unintentional words, such as “Jeans Wearing”, which can become “Jean Swearing”.

4. Avoid choosing a domain that infringes on copyright or trademark rights.

2: Do more online



buy hosting for your websiteWhat is web hosting?

Web hosting makes your website

accessible on the internet. This is essential

for your business, otherwise your website

will never be seen. How it works is that a

web hosting company will provide space

on a server which they own or lease out,

as well as internet connectivity. This

provides your website somewhere to be

stored as well as the internet connection

for it to be visible online. For example,

a business purchases the domain

www.yourcompany.com, however no

website can exist or be visible unless it is

hosted by a web hosting company.

In effect, the server just acts as a place for

web pages to live. It is where all the files

reside, and when someone knows our

address (domain name) they will come to

the house and we can show them around.

Every once in a while we either have to

clean the site (maintenance) or we have

to do some D.I.Y (server downtime) which

prevents people from coming in to look at

our house.

Do I need it?

If you want a website for your business,

you will require web hosting. Web

hosting provides a way for people to

access your website through the Internet.

Without it, there would be no way for

people to see your web page. Therefore,

a web hosting company makes it possible

for your website to be accessed by others.

Until you upload your website to a hosting

server it will not be visible to anyone else.

How do I arrange web hosting?

The most common option for small

businesses is to arrange web hosting via

an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Before

signing up with an ISP, it is a good idea to

check out some of the other websites

that the ISP hosts to get a feeling about

their network speed. Also, compare the

other sites against yours, to see if it looks

like you have the same needs.

What is the approximate cost?

Web hosting varies greatly in price and is

also free in some cases. At time of printing

this booklet, prices range from about

£2.95 to £15 a month, but can cost up

to £70 a month for specialist sites.

Free: If you select a free web hosting option,

you may suffer from adverts on your web

pages, poor reliability, slow loading as well

as limited features, bandwidth, and server

uptime. Free web hosting is a good choice

for personal web pages with very little

traffic, but not for business purposes.

Usefullinks:

www.whois.netwww.net2.co.ukwww.nominet.org.uk

8 How to Get online

Paid: With paid hosting you usually pay

anywhere from month-to-month to a two

year plan. The bigger the plan, the better

the deal you get. Because you are paying

for the space, there are no banners, no

popup ads and no email spam. Another

advantage with paid hosting is the option

of web blogs, picture and photo galleries,

along with tools to help you get started,

such as free site builders and free

templates for your website.

What is included?

Shared hosting is the most common and

also a very cost effective choice. With

shared hosting, your website gets its own

domain name, instant setup and is hosted

on a powerful server that is shared by a

number of other sites. Shared solutions

often offer multiple software solutions,

such as email accounts, databases,

website builders and various editing

options. In addition, you are generally

offered technical support.

How do I choose a web host?

Checklist:

– Ensure the hosting type suits your needs (free, shared or dedicated).

– Check if upgrading to a better server is possible.

– Ensure the provider accepts payment requirements that meet your needs.

– Check traffic volume restrictions.

– Ensure daily backup is included. – Check bandwidth or content

restrictions – ensure your content is allowed, videos, photos etc.

– Check that the required email capabilities are supported.

– Ensure that the required database access is supported.

toptipsforselectingawebhost:

1. Knowyourrequirements Then match the suppliers offer against your needs.

2. ServiceandSupport Consider what type of support you need and ensure it is provided.

3. Startsmall,planbig Don’t start out paying for excess services that you don’t actually need.

4. Performancemonitoring Try to obtain performance data on your proposed web host.

5. Testimonials Don’t be afraid to follow these up and ensure they are accurate.

Usefullinks:

www.thetop10... ...bestwebhosting.com/uk/

2: Do more online



3. Create web pages using a website builder or a web design companyWhat is a website?

A website is a space on the internet, where

a collection of pages with information

about a company can be stored. A website

usually consists of a main page with

several sub-pages. These pages will include

information about the company, services

offered, products, as well as contact

information. A web shop is often included,

allowing customers to purchase the

company’s products and/or services,

directly over the internet.

What is the purpose of a website?

Before setting up your own website, it is

recommended that you consider what

you hope to achieve. Consider the

message you want to communicate to

website visitors, as well as how you

are able to make it easy for visitors to

navigate around the site and find relevant

information. Various studies

have shown that you have less than five

seconds to convince a visitor that they

have come to the right place. If your

page isn’t clearly communicating that the

customer has actually found what they

are looking for, they are gone – for good!

How do I create a website?

You are able to create your website using

website builder software or through a

web design company. There are various

website builder software packages

available that allow you to utilise their

templates, modify and edit the content

and update the content of the web

pages at your own convenience, with no

technical or graphic design skills required.

Most hosting companies include a

website building program within their

hosting package.

You can also opt to pay a web design

company to create your website for a

more professional and unique look.

However, be aware that changes or

updates may need to go through them

at an additional cost, thus limiting

flexibility and creating a static website.

By selecting one of these options you

are not required to have any previous

computer programming or HTML

(a computer programming language)

knowledge. The acronym WYSIWYG

(What You See Is What You Get) applies

here as the content displayed during

editing appears very similar to the

final output.

What should I include on my website?

You can choose to include as much or

as little information as you like on your

website. The following is the essential

information that should be included on

a basic business website:

10 How to Get online

• Your company’s logo

• Your contact details

• Information regarding the products

and/or services offered by your business

• Basic information about your company

• A description of what your company offers

• Current campaigns/offers

Why do I need a website?

A website can help you reach the

following goals:

• Help customers find you in the offline

world – your office, your storefront,

your phone number.

• Help persuade customers that you have

the right service or product for them.

• Help sell products online – to retail

customers or other businesses.

• Advertise your company and/or products.

• Provide additional customer service

and support.

• Keep your customer base informed.

• Create an extended business card

for your company.

Top Tips: the Do’s and Don’ts for creating a successful website:

Do:

1. Have a clear goal for your website and market it to the target audience.

2. Develop the content with customers in mind, in a language that they understand.

3. Use consistent branding. Ensure the look and feel of the website is consistent across all pages and with all other offline marketing material.

4. Ensure Search Engine Optimisation. This is very important as a site that is not search-engine friendly will most likely be invisible in major search engines such as Google.

5. Use visitor tracking. Use a website counter from the moment you launch the website, even if you do not expect to receive large volumes of visits on the first day. This will allow you to monitor your website’s performance and growth over the initial critical months following its release.

Don´t

1. Create pages heavier than 50 Kb (including text, graphics and other files such as .class, .js).

2. Use fonts that are not supported by Windows operating systems.

3. Underestimate the importance of good usability. Ensure your site is easy to use and navigate.

4. Forget to test. Ensure your website is tested before it goes live and do not underestimate the importance of textual content. Proof read your content to make sure it does not contain spelling or typing errors.

5. Avoid downloadable files that are too large unless it is absolutely necessary.

Usefullinks:

www.mrsite.comwww.webeden.co.ukwww.doyourownsite.co.uk

2: Do more online



4. Promote your websiteHow do I promote my website?

In order to maximise the potential of your

website it is important to promote it. First,

make sure that your website mentions the

phrases you would expect an interested

party to search for and ensure they are

prominently used on the home page and

throughout your site. Ensure you are

consistent and “brand” your company by

using the same colours, logo, motto, etc.

everywhere on your businesses website.

Furthermore, you can promote your web

address in your email signature and on all

printed material. You can also add a

”Recommend This Site” link on your

website, so that if someone visits your

businesses website and knows someone

else who may appreciate it, this feature

will email the page’s link to a recipient.

How do I get visitors to my website?

There are various ways you can get people

to visit your website. You can run banner

and skyscraper ads on other websites that

are relevant to your target audience.

These ads promote your business in the

same way as an ad in a magazine or

newspaper, but run on the internet instead.

Your banner ads should link back to your

website when someone clicks on them, so

they can find out more about your offer.

An important aspect that should be

taken into consideration is Search Engine

Optimisation (SEO). This is the process of

improving the volume or quality of people

visiting your website from search engines

such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft

Bing. The goal is to get your website listed

on the first page of search results when

customers search for particular terms.

Search engines rank all websites based

on their content and the relevance of this

content to the search term. For further

information about SEO, refer to page 19.

How do I accept payments online?

If you would like to offer payment by

credit/debit cards online, you will need to

enter into a service agreement with a

payment service provider. Payment service

provider’s act as web based payment

terminals which take care of the entire

payment process and ensure the security

of the transaction against fraud and other

types of problems. You can contact

WorldPay or PayPal to find out more

about how they can help your company

by allowing you to get paid electronically

in a number of different currencies, and

how they benefit your customers by

providing a faster and safer payment

method where customers do not have to

re-enter their details every time they buy.

Usefullinks:

www.paypal.comwww.rbsworldpay.com

12 How to Get online

toptipsforpromotingyourwebsite:

1. Ensure your site is search engine friendly (read more on page 19).

2. Summit your site to the major indexes such as Yahoo and Google.

3. Submit your site to Google local business. This makes your site eligible to rank in the local business section which is displayed towards the top of Google making your company very visible.

4. Place your business website

address on all your printed literature; business cards, brochures, news-letters, letterheads, email signature, ads – everything!

5. Subscribe to Google AdWords. This allows you to connect with potential customers when they are searching for products or services and you only pay when they click on your ads. You create your own ad, choose keywords and decide where your ad

will be displayed, allowing people to click and connect to your business.

My notes:

2: Do more online



14 Do More online

the internet has been the most fundamental change during my lifetime and for hundreds of years. Rupert Murdoch


1: How to get online3: glossary

2: Do more online

e-CommerceWhat is e-Commerce?

e-Commerce refers to the buying and

selling of products or services over the

internet. e-Commerce has expanded rapidly

over the past five years and is predicted to

continue at this rate or even accelerate.

Therefore, in a world where “everyone”

is searching for information on products

and services on the internet before they

purchase them, it is easy to get left behind

if your company lacks a web presence.

How do I make it easy to use?

The ease of use of an e-Commerce site is

an important part of its success and an

important part of a company’s online brand

image. There are three main factors of the

shopping process that influence how easy

and enjoyable the customer finds it to shop

on an e-Commerce site; the shop front,

shopping cart and payment software.

Shop front

The shop front is the interface presented

to the customer. The design of the shop

front should make shopping intuitive,

with the customer knowing at all times

what stage of the buying process they are

at. Always give the end user the ability to

search your site to locate the product.

Shopping cart

This is the software that facilitates easy

selection and payment for products

purchased by a customer from an

e-Commerce website. Once the goods have

been selected, the customer should find the

checkout clearly sign posted, so that they

can proceed to pay for the goods. The

system should process the order promptly

and provide you with a summary, including

any packing and shipping requirements.

It should also generate a printable receipt

and allow you to send a confirmation email

to the customer.

Payment software

Most customers will wish to pay for

their purchases with credit or debit cards.

However, you should also consider other

payment options.

How should I structure my

e-Commerce store?

The types of products that people are

buying often defines how people shop

for them, this should be taken into

consideration when creating your

e-Commerce store; how do you make

your products appear relevantly to your

customer base? This question along with

how you structure the interaction

between product and consumer will

largely affect online sales. Most shopping

cart solutions allow consumers to shop by

category or keyword.

Usefullinks:

www.businesslink.gov.ukwww.mamut.com/uk/web/

16 Do More online

How do I implement e-Commerce?

The key tool for delivering e-Commerce

services is the business website. Before you

can implement e-Commerce functionality

your website must be specified, designed,

hosted and maintained. The next decision

is finding the “shop” package that best

suits your needs. Shop packages allow

you to configure product information

and the look and feel of the shop.

There are many different e-Commerce

software solutions available on the market

that combine ease of use, flexibility and

security with all features included that are

needed to manage a successful online store.

What next?

It is important to understand how the

website will need to be maintained on a

day-to-day basis and to take into account

various marketing and security issues.

Sitemaintenance

Changes in product details, special offers,

up-to-date advertisements and sales

information, will all need to be

maintained throughout the life of the site.

Customerfeedback

It is important that the site evolves to

meet the needs of your customers. There

are a number of actions you can take to

encourage customer feedback, including

carrying out surveys and incorporating

feedback forms into the site.

Marketing

No matter how well designed your

e-Commerce site is and how competitive

your products and prices are, if the

customers are unaware of its existence

then you will fail to exploit its potential.

toptipsforsucceedingwithe-Commerce:

1. Think like a consumer: Put your products in more than one category. Consider up-sell and cross-sell opportunities by offering products that make logical sense together.

2. Keep it simple: Simplify the checkout process and display clear pricing and shipping information.

3. A picture is worth a thousand words: Use product pictures and not too much text, people tend to scan, not read.

4. Market your site once it’s live: It’s not enough to just build a site, it is important to make an effort to market and promote your site to new and existing customers.

5. Make payment processes easy: You can accept credit card payments with either PayPal, WorldPay or an online merchant account.



2: Do more online

internet vs. intranet?While the internet is a global system of

interconnected computer networks serving

billions of users, an intranet is a private

network that uses internet protocols

to securely share an organisations

information and operational systems

with employees. An internet site stores

information related to the company

history, products and services, locations,

contact information, and possibly a

method to enter order or request

information. Therefore the main

difference between the two is that the

internet is a network between the

organisation in question and the external

world, whereas an intranet is a network

within an organisation and is often used

as the company’s internal website.

How do I set up an intranet?

1. Firstly you need to have a server with

web server software – you can choose

to install it on the internal server or

use a third party host. You should

take into consideration the following:

Convenience– hosted internally just

links to documents in place; hosted

externally requires you to move

documents to the external server

and maintain them there.

Security – hosted internally your

intranet content and documents are

all within your firewall, controlled by

your network. Hosted externally –

well who knows?

Cost – hosted internally you pay a one

time fee for a tool to help build and

maintain your intranet or you can pay

for off site hosting.

2. Decide how you want the intranet

to function and which features will

be available.

3. Decide what the intranet pages will

look like. Template designs are

commonly provided.

4. Create web pages to display content

to the end user. There are various

intranet tools available that allow

you to add content by simply filling

in the blanks and easily publishing

documents, for example, Instant

Intranet Builder T(IIBT).

tip!Read the comparison table for Internet v.s. Intranet on the next page!

18 Do More online

Aspect Internet Intranet

BusinessGoals Communication, support marketing activities, sell products.

Broad goals including, but not limited to communication of information, improving staff efficiency.

Audience External users. Potential and existing customers. Internal employees.

Efficiency Pages must be displayed in a reasonable time frame, however, messages and graphics may purposely be introduced to make a point even though the pages are delayed in being presented.

The primary goal of the site is to improve staff efficiency. Unnecessary content deters from productivity.

Content Narrow, centred on key products and services. Broad, varied types and content focused on the tools needed to perform the job.

Presentation Appearance or Pizzazz is very important Consistency is more important than appearance.

Authors Often centralised. Often decentralised.



2: Do more online

search engine optimisation (seo)Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the

process of improving the volume or

quality of people visiting your website

from search engines such as Google,

Yahoo and Microsoft Bing. The goal is to

get your website listed on the first page

of search results when customers search

for particular terms. Search engines rank

all websites based on their content and

the relevance of this content to the search

term. This is extremely important in

getting your website seen by your

customers.

Why should I improve SEO?

Improving the SEO of your web pages will:

• Improve the page’s search engine

rankings, making it easier to find

potential customers.

• Increase the overall number of visitors

to your web page.

• Increase the number of site visitors who

are genuinely interested in the products

and/or services you’re selling.

The most important elements you

should work with are:

• Choice of search words

– Use the words customers are

most likely to use, not your own

• Use search words within links

– Search engines place a heavier

weighting on search words within

links than within regular text

• Remember that menus are links

– Generally best to use relevant

search words for the menu text

• Use META tags

– Use relevant search words on

each web page as META tags

• Repeat search words within the text

– Repeat (mind not to overdo it)

relevant search words within the text

• Divide and conquer

– Avoid loading up a page with

many different search words.

Try to cultivate your pages in a

way that each page has a main

focus on one search word

• External links

– The more links from other

web pages that link to your

home page, the better the

ranking you will have within

search engines

Usefullinks:

www.google.com/webmasterswww.google.com/analyticswww.seomoz.org/tools

20 Do More online

website vs. blogA website represents a centrally managed

group of web pages containing text,

images and all types of multimedia files

presented in an easily accessible and

aesthetic way, while a blog is a type

of website, usually maintained by an

individual with regular entries,

commentary, and descriptions of events

or other material such as graphics or

videos. The term blog comes from “web

log” – a space online which can be used

like a journal. Both websites and blogs

are published on the web and can be

read using a web browser, giving them a

similar feel and user experience. However,

they have very different purposes as

highlighted below.

Website:

• Relatively static

• To provide specific information

• Advertise your company and/or product

• Provide additional customer service

and support

• To provide static information

• To describe the products and/or

services a company offers

• To increase sales

Blog:

• Dynamic

• Required to constantly provide

new information

• Rely on fresh content

• Share information

• Opinion based



2: Do more online

My notes:

22 GlossAry

if you have a website, it makes your small business look big. Natalie Sequera, spokeswoman for the Claris corporation




Topic Description

Application Computer Software used to carry out a particular task. Another word for program. This is used a lot in the world of computers.

Backup A backup is a copy of one or more files created as an alternative in case the original data is lost or becomes unusable. There are many ways you can do this; from using an external storage device, such as an external hard drive, flash memory device, another computer, or online backup applications.

Bandwidth Bandwidth refers to how much data you can send through a network or modem connection. It is usually measured in bits per second, or "bps." You can think of bandwidth as a highway with cars travelling on it. The highway is the network connection and the cars are the data. The wider the highway, the more cars can travel on it at one time. The same principle applies to computer data - the more bandwidth, the more information that can be transferred within a given amount of time, so no waiting in traffic.

BannerAd Whether we like it or not, the Web, like TV is run by advertising, and just like television, this is fertile advertising ground. Banner Ads contain text, images, and sometimes animations. When a user clicks the advertisement, they are redirected to the advertiser's website.

Bookmark Just like a real-life bookmark, an Internet bookmark acts as a marker for a website (in Internet Explorer, they are called "Favourites".) This way, you don't have to go through the process of typing and remembering the Internet address each time you visit one of your favorite sites.

Glossary of terms

24 GlossAry

Topic Description

Broadband Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband, is internet access over a connection that is much faster than ordinary modems, such as ADSL or cable. Using the highway comparison, Broadband is what the highway is made out of, its nice new tarmac in comparison to cobble stone.

Browser A Web browser is a program for looking at the internet, often just called a "browser," It is the program people use to access the internet. It interprets HTML code including text, images, hypertext links, Javascript, and Java applets. Some common browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Opera, Apple Safari and Firefox.

Blog A blog is basically a journal/diary that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.”

Byte Byte is a small amount of data equal to 8 bits. While bits are often used to measure data transfer speeds, bytes are used to measure file sizes, hard disk space, and computer memory. Larger amounts of data are measured in units such as megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes.

Cookie A little file that websites store on your computer so that if you visit the website again, they know what you did last time. When you visit the site after being sent the cookie, the site will load certain pages according to the information stored in the cookie. For example, some sites can remember information like your user name and password, so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit. While cookies have many benefits, some people don't like to have their information recorded. For this reason, most Web browsers have an option to accept or deny cookies.

Domainregistration Domain registration is the process by which a company or individual purchases a website domain, such as www.mamut.com. Once you have completed the domain registration the domain is yours for the period of the contract. Before registration expires it must be renewed, or the domain reverts back to being available to the general public.




Topic Description

Domainextension Domain extensions help identify a domain’s formal purpose. Common extensions include .com, .net, .org, .biz, .name, .mobi and .co.uk.

Domainname A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the internet. This is what gives your website its own unique web address.

Domainnameregistrar

This is an organisation or commercial entity, which manages the reservation of internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of the designated domain name registries and offer such services to the public.

e-Commerce Electronic Commerce, commonly known as e-Commerce, includes the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-Tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-Tail using web shops. Many retailers have an electronic commerce presence on the internet.

Firewall A firewall is a part of a computer system or network to block unauthorised access to your computer while on the internet.

Homepage Simply used to refer to the front page, or main web page of a website. The homepage automatically loads when a web browser starts or when the browser’s “home” button is pressed.

HtML HTML is a computer language devised to allow website creation. HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web — by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you to the next page.

Hyperlink A hyperlink is a word, phrase, icon, etc. in a computer document on which a user may click to move to another part of the document or to another document.

Internet The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.

26 GlossAry

Topic Description

InternetServiceProvider(ISP)

An Internet Service Provider is a company that offers its customers access to the internet. The ISP connects to its customers using a data transmission technology appropriate for delivering Internet Protocol datagram’s, such as dial-up, cable modem and wireless high-speed interconnects.

Intranet An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet Protocol technologies to securely share any part of an organisation’s information or operational systems within that organisation. Sometimes the term refers only to the organisations internal website, but may be a more extensive part of the organisation’s information technology infrastructure. It may host multiple websites and constitute an important component and focal point of internal communication and collaboration.

MEtAtags META tags provide information about a given web page, most often to help search engines categorise them correctly. They are inserted into the HTML document, but are often not directly visible to a user visiting the site.

PaymentServiceProvider

A Payment Service Provider offers merchants online services for accepting electronic payments by a variety of payment methods including credit card, bank based payments such as direct debit, bank transfer, and real time bank transfer based on online banking.

Protocol In computing a protocol is a set of rules which is used by computers to communicate with each other across a network. A protocol is a convention or standard that controls or enables the connection, communication, and data transfer between computing endpoints.

Rootdirectory A root directory is the top directory in a file system. In a computer file system that is organised as a hierarchy or tree, the root directory is the directory that includes all other directories.

SearchEngineoptimisation(SEo)

Search Engine Optimisation is the process of improving the volume or quantity of traffic to a website from search engines.

Server A computer or computer program which manages access to a centralised resource or service in a network.




Topic Description

Subdomain Sub-domains are used to organise your website content. They are just like folders under your root directory, but they will have a special URL to access them. For any domain you can create as many sub-domains as you like.

Uniquevisitor This is a statistic describing a unit of traffic to a website, counting each visitor only once in the time frame of the report.

URL A URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, which represents the global web address of documents, including web pages or image files. Each file available on the Web can be identified and accessed through its corresponding URL.

Visitor A visitor is a statistic describing a unit of traffic to a website.

Webbrowser A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.

Webhost Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing internet connectivity, typically in a data centre.

Webhosting Web Hosting is a service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website available via the world wide web.

Website A website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed relative to a common URL. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the internet or a private local area network.

WWW The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks.

artbox

want to get online?This introductory guide will provide you with the

basic information required to get your business

online, from setting up your businesses website

and web shop, to making it visible to potential

customers.

More than 400,000 customers simplify their workday with solutions from Mamut

Our award-winning software for small businesses covers accounting, invoicing, sales, CRM, websites, e-commece, stock, payroll & more.

Further information about Mamut and the company’s products can be found at www.mamut.co.uk

Copyright 2010 Mam

ut. All rights reserved.

get your business onine

Documents