a geeky glossery
Geek Speak
Lots of words and phrases are flung around in the heady world of web design – you’ve probably come across a fair few of them in your hunt for the perfect web designer… I’d far rather talk to you in a language we can all understand so here’s a quick low-down on what you should know when embarking on this webby endeavour:
Domain Names and Hosting
Both these beauties are additional annual website running costs you need to take into account. The domain name is the web address that you want to use for people to find your site (ours is geekboutiquedev.buzz) – effectively you rent this name – paying a charge annually or biannually to keep using it. The domain name is only a name however, it’s like paying for the house number without renting the house – you need to pay for a host in order to publish material at your web address… There are literally thousands of different websites who would like to sell you domain names and hosting space – they can vary drastically in price and quality so we’ll be happy to point you in the direction of some fantastic companies that will suit your company best.
WordPress Websites and CMS
You may have noticed that lots of us pesky web design companies say that they use wordpress sites in their design – which also is (mostly) how I work! WordPress started life as a blogging platform and its awesome user friendliness meant that web designers started building more complex sites through wordpress programming. Using wordpress ultimately means that the website becomes incredibly accessible to its owner. Basic updates can be done by you without needing to fuss around with complicated coding which means your site will be cheap to run (no constant payments to the web designer to make simple additions) and always spankingly fresh and up to date!
SEO – what the heck is it and do I need it?!
So this stands for Search Engine Optimisation – which in normal language means making sure a link to your website springs up quickly when Joe or Jill Bloggs googles a phrase to do with your business. If you’re a hairdresser in Margate and someone googles ‘hairdresser in margate’ you want to be at the top of the list to make sure you get their attention first… This is pretty important for most businesses and I can make sure it happens for yours!
Responsive Websites
We’ve become a planet obsessed with screens: desktops, laptops, tablets, phones… Different screens can be very different in size and proportions which means any web design needs to be responsive – i.e. adapt to the screen it’s displayed on! We’ll make sure your website looks great on every device!
So how you have the lingo – let’s talk about you need! Contact me here..