<strong>Hosting a website</strong> is the <img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-439" title="hosting website structure" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/businesswoman-with-cloud-computing-300x219.jpg" alt="hosting a website" width="300" height="219" />perfect way of positioning your company online so prospective clients can locate information about your products and services.  If this is your first website or first time setting up a website online it may seem confusing and challenging.  However, <strong>hosting a website</strong> is much easier than it appears.  There are only a few components that are involved in hosting your website online:

1.) Your domain: <strong>Branding is the first key</strong>.  Selecting a good domain name can make or break the success of your website.  You want to choose a name that reflects your company name.  I would also avoid using the "-" character.  If you use a "-" in the domain name you'll find you have to spell out the website whenever you share it with someone.  You should also avoid weird spellings so people can share your website address with others without having to write it down or spell it out.  If you fail to do this you may end up sending traffic to a competitor or similar website that is spelled correctly or doesn't use the "-" character.

Example of bad domains:

itx-design.com

itxdesignz.com

These examples would force you to explain the spelling or usage of the "-" and you can't be sure that others that refer people to your website would take the time to spell out the domain.  This can cost you a lot in valuable referral traffic to your website.

2.) Creating your website:  This is another important step, however in a lot of cases the domain name often beats the website in importance.  The design of your website is very subjective and although you may love it and one of your visitors may like it, there's always the possibility that someone else may dislike it.  Due to this I'm not going to focus on the core elements of design, however we should discuss the various design options.  Your first option is to hire a design company that will create a custom website design for you.  This is the best option if you have a budget of at least $2000-$3000 and you want a custom look and feel to your website.  We provide custom design solutions and we would be happy to create a custom designed website for you.  However, most companies that are familiarizing themselves with the web are working within a budget and you should know that there are other solutions out there that are more cost effective.  The second option would be to purchase a website template for your site.  You can use a number of website template services such as templatemonster.com or themeforest.net.  Both of these sites allow you to choose an already developed website template for your site.  You can purchase a website design template and then you're able to make your site look just like the template.  Some design work or expenses may be required but it's much more cost effective compared to having a website design company custom create a website for you.  The last option is to design you website yourself or you can use a content management system like <a title="WordPress" href="https://itxdesign.com/wordpress-hosting/">WordPress</a> that controls the look and feel of your website.  If you don't understand these options or if you need assistance in selecting the best option for your business please contact us.  We would be happy to explain these options in more detail.

3.) Picking a web host for your site - Which Web Host:

ITX Design has been in the web hosting industry for over 10 years and we pride ourselves on offering the best solutions in web hosting and design.  The key components that you should take into consideration when selecting a host are:

Web Hosting Plan - is it unlimited and will it support your visitors - ITX Design provides web hosting services for <a title="Unlimited Web Hosting" href="https://itxdesign.com/unlimited-web-hosting/">unlimited web hosting</a>.  Unlimited web hosting ensures you can support all of your website visitors or clients.

Experience - Ensure your web hosting company has been in business for at least 5 years.  History is often the precursor to the future and you want to ensure you have a company with a proven track record that will be in business tomorrow.

24x7 Technical Support - Try contacting your new host at all hours of the night.  Do they provide a 24x7 support solution and can you reach someone at anytime day or night?

Telephone Support - Everyone provides help desk support but when you really need help can you call them 24x7 for web hosting support and service?

4.) Monitoring your website traffic:  Once you've completed the steps above and your website is online you should monitor your website traffic closely.  Our  business web hosting services provide <a title="Unlimited Web Hosting" href="https://itxdesign.com/unlimited-web-hosting/">unlimited web hosting</a> and web hosting technical support.  However, even though it's unlimited you should monitor your traffic to establish a traffic baseline.  You should document your average number of visitors, how they're getting to your site, and how many pages they access so you can track your marketing and the benefits that it provides.  Without this information marketing is futile and there's no way to determine the value that's added by marketing or sharing your site with others.  As soon as your website is online you should save a snapshot of your current traffic levels, keywords, and search results.  Then you should market or share your site and compare the new results to the saved records to determine the effectiveness of your advertising campaign.

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