Malvern Web Solutions

What is a domain name, and do I need one?

Computers on the Internet are identified by a number (known as an IP address). These are not easy to remember, and the situation will get worse as the Internet grows and the numbers get larger. The solution is the domain naming system (DNS), which allows an address to be associated with a unique name. For example, this website is located on a computer with the address 77.72.202.100, but you probably got here by typing or clicking on www.malvernweb.co.uk. DNS works just like a big telephone directory, spread all around the world.

So will you need a domain name? The answer is of course yes, because without one it is almost impossible for people to find your website or send you email. Once you've purchased your own unique name, you can keep it forever (subject to regular renewal fees).

What sort of domain name can I have?

The most common names for UK use end in ".co.uk" or ".com". The rules on these are fairly relaxed - for example, there is no restriction on a private individual holding a ".com" name. However, cyber-squatting (the process of deliberately obtaining a domain name because it is likely to be associated with some other company or product) is not allowed. For example, if your direct competitor is "Joe Bloggs the plumber", you are not allowed to register "JoeBloggsPlumbing.com", just so that he can't have it!

The choice of domain suffix is quite wide. In addition to the ubiquitous ".com", there is now ".info", ".biz", ".mobi", ".tel" and many more, including those associated with individual countries such as ".tv", a major source of revenue for the tiny islands of Tuvalu.

What do you mean by "hosting"?

The Internet is a network of interconnected computers. Many of these computers are running websites. Hosting is the process of displaying a website so that other users of the Internet can visit it. Anyone with an Internet connection can host a basic website, but it requires specialist knowledge and equipment to do it properly.

Where can I host my website?

In theory, you could host the website yourself, on your own PC. However, you probably don't want to! Hosting a website requires a computer to be switched on 24/7. A commercial website requires a robust connection and a guaranteed power supply. Most domestic computers and broadband connections are not really suitable. Also, most websites are hosted on computers running Linux or Windows Server operating systems, the administration of which is not for the faint-hearted.

You could use the free webspace that your ISP provides, but they don't usually offer you any clever dynamic content - for example, you couldn't run a mailing list database, and your contact form would not be very sophisticated. Worse, they probably won't let you use your own domain name, so you'll might end up with something like mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/fredsflowers, rather than the more professional www.fredsflowers.com.

If you run your own business, you could probably host your website on your server in your office. However, for security reasons it is best to have a dedicated computer isolated from the rest of the computers in your office, so it might end up costing more than you think.

Thus, the best option is to choose a dedicated web hosting provider. Malvern Web Solutions use a specialist UK-based hosting company to host all our websites.

Can I change my own website, or will I have to pay for every minor change?

All of Malvern Web Solutions' sites use a Content Management System. This means that you can, if you want, edit and manage your own website, including adding new pages or menus.  If you choose to do this, there will be a small additional cost to cover setup & training. You're welcome to mix and match - leave the big or complicated changes to us, but look after the day-to-day stuff (running a blog, for example) yourself.

Will my website and email be available 24/7?

The Internet is a complex entity, comprised of many thousands of interconnected computer networks. There is usually more that one route between any two points, and therefore it is fairly robust. Your website will be hosted in a custom-built data centre, with multiple connections to the Internet and its own backup power supply. The computer hosting your website will host many other websites too, and is optimised for reliability and non-stop working.

Having said that, it is still possible for your site or email to become temporarily unavailable due to hardware or software failure, and Malvern Web Solutions can accept no responsibility for any potential losses incurred during such downtime. To minimise such risks, we use a small specialist hosting company with dedicated 24/7 UK-based expert support (unlike some of the really large providers and ISPs, whose support is off-shored, and there are two levels of support to get past before you get to the real experts). Complete outages of MWS sites are very rare, and maintenance is proactive rather than reactive.

You can always see whether our websites and email are performing correctly by checking the server status page. MWS web sites are hosted on the "coombes" server, on the "UK Reseller" tab.

I don't need a website, but I need business email. Is this possible?

That's no problem. We can supply an email-only package with your own domain name, for a very reasonable rate. Our email systems include a choice of access methods (including webmail) and of course have anti-spam and virus scanning built in. Perhaps you'd like to combine email with a single page website or one of our starter packages - it doesn't cost much extra!

What about PHP and MySQL?

Lots of other web design & hosting companies emphasise lots of complicated things that most small businesses in need of a website don't understand, and certainly don't care about. At Malvern Web Solutions, we believe the important thing is that your website conveys the right information and messages about your business. The underlying technology is much less important, and should not be the concern of our customers.

However, to reassure you, we do use all of those things that other companies use - PHP, MySQL, AJAX and so on - which means your website will comply with all the common industry standards.

Why are some companies so cheap?

Some website hosting companies offer free or nearly free hosting packages, sometimes even including a free "build your own" website. How are they able to do this?

Quite simply, such companies usually have vast data centres, crammed full of websites... sometimes tens of thousands of websites on each machine. In order to keep the price so low they have very few staff, who may in fact be located on the other side of the world. Their websites are a great way of getting something on the web quickly, but there is often a limited choice of styles and very little help if you get into trouble. If you want something unique to your business, this is probably not the best way to go. More worryingly, all is usually well until something goes wrong, or you want something out of the ordinary. It can often take several days just to elicit a response from such suppliers.

Malvern Web Solutions use a UK-based supplier for hosting our websites, with 24/7 UK support. The response time to enquiries is measured in minutes. Although we sometimes use "off the shelf" templates to form the basis of our websites, they are all individually tailored to our customers' needs.

In the medium to long term, the high-volume, low-cost suppliers could actually end up costing you more.