Glossary

  1. Domain Name – your name (address) on the internet – should be tied to your trading name or what you do.  Needs to be “renewed” every year.
  2. DNS – Domain Name Service / Directory Name Service – is to the internet what a phone directory is to you.  When you type in a domain name / address this tells it where your files are stored.  Normally set via account above.
  3. Hosting Account – Somewhere to keep all your “stuff” – this is where your pages, images, files etc really are (item 2 tells item 1 to look here).  Will have a user name and password to manage the account.
  4. FTP – File Transfer Protocol – a method of uploading and downloading large files quickly to and from your hosting account.
  5. SQL – Structured Query Language – a “database” to joe public.  Lets you keep things in a database and manipulate the data.  These days most sites need at least one just to hold the pages.
  6. Blog –  Can be used like a diary.  Many templates available, including free ones.  Very easy to manage and fairly intuitive to learn.
  7. CMS – Customer Management System – software that makes it easy for the customer to manage their own stuff (Joomla).
  8. Email accounts –  Better to have an email address  @yoursite.com than a google or yahoo or hotmail etc account.  Can have any name you like such as yoursite.com as this prevents anyone else having the same email address as you