Webtendant.com - Simple, low-cost web site management - easy-to-use content management system

Website Primer

You've decided that it really would be nice to have a web site - maybe for your new small business, or for that youth sports league that you got "convinced" to help run, or for your local church group.

So now what do you do? How do you get a web site? Where do you start? This primer will give you the basic information you need to understand the issues involved in "getting online".

A simple analogy

Maybe the easiest way to introduce the concepts involved in the online world is to draw an analogy to something most of us are quite familiar with: the telphone.

We're all familiar with how telephones work: You let people know your phone number, then when they want to call you they dial your number. There are 3 distinct items in play to make a phone call happen:

Phone Number: This is really all the caller needs to know
Service Provider: Some company needs to handle the call and route it to the receiver. This could be someone like ATT, SBC Global, Verizon, Vonage, etc. The caller doesn't need to know or care about this, but a phone number is worthless unless there is a service provider handling calls for the number
person or answering machine: this is what the caller hears when the call is connected.

Once you have these three items covered - once you have a phone number, an account with a service provider, and (optionally) an answering machine, you are all set to receive phone calls.

Now let's look at what it takes to have a web site. Again, there are 3 distinct items required:

Domain Name: This is like your telephone number. It's what your customers need to know to find you on the web. When someone types your domain name into a web browser, that name is converted to a URL and the browser will be pointed at your web site.
Web Host: Similar to the phone example, the web hosting company handles the request for your URL and stores your web site so that your customers can see your information
Content: This is what the user sees when they are connected to your web site.

So setting up a web site is a 3 step process:

Register Your Domain Name: There are hundreds of Registrars (companies that provide domain name registration services)
Select a Web Hosting Company: There are hundreds of web hosting companies.
Create Your Content: There are hundreds (or maybe thousands) of companies that will create a web site for you, for a fee. Or you could create your own site with a program like Dream Weaver or Front Page. The options are unlimited.

The Webtendant Solution

We know that your options for your web site are virtually unlimited. While this can be a good thing, it can also be overwhelming. Especially for someone who is just starting out.

At Webtendant, we do (almost) everything for you. We can register your domain name (but this is not required - you can register your own name - or we can work with a name that you have already registered). We host your site. We provide you with a pre-designed look and feel for your web site - clean and simple. And we provide you with the tools so that you can easily add your information to the site (this is something you need to do - who else knows what you want to tell the world!).

Please browse our site to determine whether Webtendant is right for you. If you have questions, please contact us. We're here to help.