A Client's Guide to Building a Website

Beginning a website can be a daunting task for anyone, even the most seasoned design professional.  For clients, it must feel even more daunting, based solely on the brand new lexicon they are forced to learn. Domain name? Webhost? CSS?  Sometimes, I might as well be reading poetry in Vogon, as Neil French once suggested when I tried explaining this stuff to him.  As I’ve run into this issue with quite a few clients, I decided it would be easiest to write up this short glossary of web design terms, so they have an easy reference should the jargon in their task list get confusing. 

Here’s a list of terms that will come up when we discuss your web project:

Domain Name
A Domain Name is your website name. For example, my domain name is jakegarver.net. Also knows as a URL (uniform resource locator). You will need to purchase a unique domain name at the start of any web project.

Domain Name Registrar
This is the company from which you purchase your domain name, ie: Register.com, GoDaddy.com, or NetworkSolutions.com.  I recommend the last one.

Webhost
This is the company which owns the server on which your website files reside. Your website files must live on a server, which is connect to the Internet at all times. This server may also host your emails. There are thousands of webhosts offering very similar packages, though I use my own reseller hosting packaging on which I manage my client’s accounts. Also referred to as a Name Server, Domain Name Server, or DNS.

Wireframe
This is a blueprint of your website. Much like the blueprint of a house, a wireframe defines where the features or elements of your site live on the screen, but do not involve any design elements. Wireframes help designers and clients to begin the design process with a common plan, goal, and objective, ensuring a more successful result.

Navigation
The way people move through your site. Typically arranged in a horizontal bar across the top of the page.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. It is the coding language used as the basic framework for building webpages.

CSS
Cascading Style Sheets. CSS styles the HTML with colors, images, fonts, and interaction.

Search Engine Optimization
Also known as SEO, Search Engine optimization involves building a website in a manner that allows search engines to easy find and categories content on your website. The better organized and more original your content, the better ranking you will receive from search engines.  SEO is not simply running a piece of Google software; It’s a ground-up approach to site design, accompanied by proper site management using Google’s webmaster tools.

Content Management System
Abbreviated CMS, a content management system is a bit of software that allows clients to manage their website themselves.  Rather than paying a designer by the hour to make minor changes to text, a CMS allows the client to login to a secure area of their website, where they can make edits to the content without having to enter a line of code.  A good CMS will also allow for management of users, creations of new pages, blogging capabilities, internal website search, and so much more, all through a well-designed and easy to use admin portal.  I primarily use WordPress or Expression Engine as my CMS, but dozens of other solutions exist, all capable of managing your online content.

SSL Certificate
A Secure Socket Layer Certificate is a piece of software that encrypts the data send to and from your website. It is most often required for eCommerce sites, but can also be required for company intranet portals or online management tools. Requires purchase of a dedicated IP address from your webhost, which provides a unique IP address for your site.

Google Adwords
A great way to drive traffic to your site, Google Adwords is a program that allows you to buy certain keywords or keyphrases searched in Google. When someone searches one of your keywords, your text ad appears to the right, in the sponsored results section. If someone clicks your ad, you are charged a fee, which you can determine for each keyword. You can customize your ads by keyword, by cost, by location… dozens of variables… all changeable on the fly. It’s an incredibly robust and clever system that produces tangible and trackable results.