A webhost is where your website is actually located. All your files pictures, movies, flash animations and text will be stored on the webhost and it will also be responsible for creating your email accounts.
Basically you cannot have a website without a webhost. And if your webhost goes down for any reason then your website will become inaccessible.
I often get asked why both a domain name and a webhost are needed?
The webhost and the domain name share a very intricate relationship, but put simply the domain name is the pointer to your webhost. For example, when you type in on your PC the domain name for my company www.debosoft.com.au, the internet will work its magic and direct you to the actual webhost where the files are stored for DeboSoft’s website.
See drawing below for how it works:
Here are some tips when looking for a webhost
• A webhost should include a statistics program in the fee
• Who does the backups of the webhost? You need to find out if the webhost will backup your website or if the responsibility falls on you.
• Find out how many email addresses you can have.
• Read reviews and testimonials about the webhosts reliability. A great place to start is here http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-threads.cfm?f=116
Remember a lot of the details about a webhost can be extremely technical so its best to talk to a web designer or better still the webhost provider direct if you are unsure about their written offer. Planning your website
The first question you need to ask is “what do I want my website to achieve?”
It could be just one reason such as helping customers to access delivery information 24/7 or in fact a whole range of goals such as increasing sales by distributing products online or keeping customers informed about new services with a monthly newsletter.
Once you have written down your objectives you need to stick to those goals. Of course it’s very tempting to add extras to your website such as a flash animation but if these additional features don’t help with your initial goals, then put them aside.
To achieve your website goals, you will need your website to perform a variety of functions. For example if you wanted to keep your customers informed, you will need a newsletter facility. If you want to sell products online then you will need a shopping cart, internet merchant account (talk to your bank about this), payment gateway and secure web hosting.
Now comes the hard part - deciding what pages you need and writing content for them.
Using pen and paper, write down all the sections you would like to have on your website such as About Us, Contact Us, Services and Products. If you can, break down these sections further – e.g. make a dedicated Products page. However the trick here is not to have too many sub sections and to not crowd each page with too much information.
You need to make sure you have content for each page planned. There is no point having a web page with the text “page to be updated soon”. If you don’t have content for a page, then remove the page entirely until you do.
Some may disagree but I believe you are often better off not having a website than putting up a “website coming soon” page.
Always remember content is the single most important factor for your website’s success.
Your content needs to be clear, simple to read and to the point. There have been numerous surveys undertaken that have shown people simply scan websites for the information they are after. If they don’t find what they are after in 10 seconds they quickly move on.
So what is the best way to structure your content so people can find what they are after?
In our next Your Web column, DeboSoft Partner Mel Proctor will talk about Web Usability i.e. making websites as easy to use as possible. | 
