So, of course you know what a website is and if you’re a business owner or run a non profit, you know you probably need one. But do you understand how they work? Do you know what type of website you need or how you should go about setting one up?

Here I’ll break down what the necessary parts of a website are, the different types of websites, and the components that go into building one. By the end of this you should have a better understanding of what is involved with a website so you know what you’re paying for and why you’re paying for it.

Common Website Terms

First, let’s make sure you have a basic understanding of how websites actually work. This will help you understand what you’re paying for and why. There’s a few things that go into making a website work.

Hosting

Hosting is one of the necessary costs of running a website and the price tag can vary dramatically. Essentially, hosting is where the website lives. It refers to the actual server, or the hardware, that your website lives on. When you pay for hosting, you’re basically paying to rent the companies server space to run your website. The difference in cost depends on the type of hosting you are getting, server specs, support levels, etc. Below I’ll go over the basics of some of the most common hosting types you might run into when trying to decide on where to host your website.

Domain Name

Your domain name is the address that people type into the browser to get to your website. Without domain names, users would need to remember an IP address to visit your website. Who the heck would want to do that?! Instead, you register a domain name and the internet uses something called DNS (Domain Name System) to find your website. So, when you type a domain name into the browser, the browser uses DNS to find the IP address of the website you’re looking for. A common analogy is to compare DNS to being the phone book of the internet.

SSL

Secure Socket Layers (SSL) is a security technology that protects any data being transferred. Whenever a user fills out a form, logs in, or completes a purchase, that information is sent across the internet. SSL ensures that the data is encrypted so it can only be read by the intended recipient. This is important for keeping your users safe on your website. It’s also important for brand trust and ranking in Google and other search engines.

Different Types of Hosting

There are several different types of hosting you can choose from. Different types of hosting are better for different use cases. Let’s look at some of the basics.

Shared Hosting

This is the most cost effective option where many websites are running on the same server. So this means that you’re sharing the same server that other businesses have their websites hosted on. This is a great option for new businesses or websites that aren’t getting a lot of traffic or are just getting started. However, websites on shared hosting can potentially experience more down time or slower performance. This is because you are sharing hardware with many other websites, and increased traffic or performance issues on other websites that have nothing to do with yours can effect the performance of your website.

VPS Hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is similar to shared, where you’re sharing the same hardware as other websites, however, your website is essentially walled off from the others. You have your own dedicated resources (memory, storage, processing power, etc). VPS also tends to be more customize-able and configurable than shared hosting.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is when you have a dedicated server just for your website. This is a good option when you have a website that is very large, get’s a lot of traffic, has a large database, or just needs a lot of resources to run efficiently. This option does tend to be a bit more expensive than Shared or VPS hosting.

Cloud Hosting

With Cloud Hosting, think of it as being able to use multiple servers to host your website. This is a great option for large websites that have nationwide or even worldwide audiences. It’s also great for websites that really NEED to have zero downtime, as you can set up redundancy and scalability. Cloud hosting gets to be more complicated and can be quite expensive if you’re not careful. With Cloud Hosting you typically pay a rate based on the amount of time the resources are running. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are some commonly used cloud hosting providers.

Managed Cloud Hosting

Since Cloud Hosting can be very complicated to set up, there are Managed Cloud Hosting Providers. These companies are using Cloud Hosting technologies, but they handle the heavy lifting of getting everything set up for you.

Choosing the Right Type of Website

Website Building Platforms

Website builders are all-in-one tools that make it easy to create a website without needing to manage hosting, software, or technical setup. They usually offer drag-and-drop editors, built-in templates, and support, making them a good choice for businesses that want something simple and fast. Some builders are general-purpose tools used by many types of businesses, while others are designed for specific use-cases like online stores, or certain industries like restaurants or real estate. Examples you might recognize include Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and others, but the main idea is the same. They bundle everything together so you can build your site with as little technical knowledge as possible

Basic

  • General Purpose
  • For informational websites
  • Examples
    • Wix
    • Squarespace
    • Weebly

E-Commerce

  • Designed for selling products online
  • Sell Physical or Digital Products
  • Examples
    • Shopify

Specialized or Industry Specific

  • Platforms that offer features that certain industries might need like appointment scheduling, memberships, menus, donations, etc.
  • Examples
    • Vagaro
    • BentoBox
    • Teachable
    • GiveButter

Have you heard of WordPress?

When it comes to websites, most people have probably heard of WordPress. WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that allows users to enter their own content into an admin backend. When the page loads, it pulls the data from the database and displays it. Using a CMS like WordPress is very popular and makes up a good amount of the internet. WordPress is the most popular CMS, but there are plenty of other ones out there.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

For WordPress specifically, there are two main options for setting up a website.

WordPress.org
  • This is the WordPress software that most professionals use.
  • It’s free, but you need to host it somewhere.
  • You can install any themes or plugins you want.
  • Highly customizable and ideal for businesses that want to grow.

WordPress.com
  • This is a paid service built by the company behind WordPress.
  • They host the site for you.
  • More limited unless you upgrade to higher-priced plans.

I personally have not looked at WordPress.com in a very long time, so I don’t know much about it. All of the WordPress sites I have built use WordPress.org.

Static Site Generators

As you’re researching your website options, another term that you might stumble upon is “Static Site Generator.” Think of an SSG as a tool that builds your entire website in advance, creating a finished set of simple, ready-to-display files. The biggest advantage is speed. Unlike many traditional websites that need to search a database to gather your content every time a visitor arrives, SSGs skip this process. They take your content (which you can manage using a “headless” CMS or simple text files) and turn it into plain files published directly to the internet. Because there is no database search and nothing to “build” on the spot, these websites are typically significantly faster, more reliable, and more secure.

However, you will need a developer to set up and make any changes to the fundamental structure, page layouts, or visual styling of the site. Once it’s built, adding or editing your text and images is still easy, but adjusting the design requires technical expertise. Also, if you make changes to the content of a page, that page needs to be regenerated. This is usually automated and doesn’t take very long, but you won’t see your changes immediately.

Custom Development

A web developer is someone who knows how to write code in the various coding languages that make up the internet. They are able to build custom solutions for you when the generic, off the shelf solutions don’t quite get the job done. Hiring a developer doesn’t mean that you’re starting from scratch though. The last thing us developers want to do is re-invent the wheel. Web developers can be hired to extend the functionality of many existing CMS’s and platforms. Taking WordPress as an example, developers can build custom themes and plugins for your website. They can also help to integrate third party services with your website. I’ll delve into this in more detail in the future.

Other things that go into building a website

Building the website isn’t even half the battle. There’s a lot more that goes into having a great website.

You can’t have a website without content

A successful website requires content; and plenty of it. The text (or also referred to as “copy”) for the pages and articles, images, videos, email newsletters, and more are all needed to make a website work. In the beginning phases of planning your website you’ll want to think about this. Who will be responsible for the content? Do you want to use social media to help grow your brand? What kind of content is the best medium to tell your story?

Another key factor of content is SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the art of getting your website to show up in search results. Eventually you will probably want to hire an expert to help with this. There’s a lot that goes into it and it’s important to get it right if you want to get the most out of your website.

Maintenance of a Website

After you have your website set up you will need to maintain it. Technology is always changing. Software gets updated. Security vulnerabilities get found and patched. Themes and plugins need updating. Many companies and web designers/developers will offer some kind of a maintenance package where they take care of updating all of these things for you. They often include some kind of security monitoring as well, although you can also purchase that separately from security professionals. The cost of maintenance will depend on the size and complexity of your website.

Just the tip of the iceberg

So as you can see now, there is a lot that goes into building a website! Hopefully this gives you a basic enough understanding so that when you’re out shopping for someone to build you a website, you know what you’re actually paying for!