The short answer
A website is a set of pages that anyone in the world can look at by typing an address into a browser. The pages are ordinary files, sitting on a computer somewhere that is switched on all the time and connected to the internet. When someone types your address, their browser asks that computer for the files, gets them back in a fraction of a second, and draws them on the screen as a page. That is all a website is. The rest of this guide fills in the detail.
Keep three ideas in mind as you read. A website has an address (the domain), it has a place to live (the hosting), and it has the thing itself (the pages). People often say “website” to mean all three at once, which is where the confusion starts, because you can own one without the others, and each one is bought, kept and lost separately.
The three things every website is made of
The clearest way to picture it is a shop. A shop has an address people can find, a plot of land it stands on, and the building with the sign, the door and the things inside. A website is the same three things.
The address: your domain name
The domain is the name people type, like yourbusiness.co.uk. The domain is not the website itself. It is a signpost that points to the website. You don’t buy a domain outright. You register it for a fixed period, usually a year or more at a time, and renew it to keep it. If it lapses, anyone can register it, and that includes competitors and people who buy expired names just to sell them back.
The domain also gives you your email address. [email protected] works because the domain says where email for that name should be delivered. This matters more than it sounds: a business email that ends in a free webmail address looks like a hobby, and a domain email looks like a company.
The one rule about domains that every business owner should know: register it in your own name, with your own email address. Not your web designer’s, not your nephew’s, not a company that has since closed. If it isn’t registered to you, you don’t control it, and you will find that out at the worst possible moment.
The plot of land: hosting
Hosting is the computer the files live on. It is called a server, and there is nothing exotic about it. It is a computer in a large building full of other computers, kept cool, connected to very fast internet and never switched off. When you “host” a website you are renting a small share of one of those machines to keep your files on, so that when anyone asks for your page, day or night, something is there to answer.
You never see the server, and you don’t need to know where it is, although for a UK business it is sensible for it to be in the UK or nearby, because a page loads faster from a machine that is closer. What you need to know is that every website needs one. A domain with no hosting is a signpost pointing at an empty field.
The building: the site itself
This is what people mean when they say the website looks nice or loads slowly. It is the collection of files that make the pages: the words, the pictures, the layout instructions and the small pieces of code that make a menu open or a form send. They are copied on to the hosting, the domain is pointed at the hosting, and the site is live.
Because the site is just files, it can be moved. If you fall out with your hosting company, the files can be copied to a different one and the domain pointed at the new place, and visitors will never know. That’s only true, though, if you have access to the files. Hold on to that thought, because it comes up again in the section on ownership.
Worth knowing
These three parts are bought and kept separately, often from different companies, and they expire separately. Most website emergencies we see are one of the three quietly lapsing: a domain that was not renewed, hosting that was on a former employee’s account, or files nobody can find because the designer has gone. Know where all three are and who holds the login.
What happens in the second after someone types your address
This part looks like magic from the outside. It is worth understanding, because it explains why sites are fast or slow, why a domain matters and what a browser actually does.
- The browser looks up the address. Computers do not find each other by name; they use numbers, a bit like a phone number. So the first job is to turn yourbusiness.co.uk into the number of your hosting server. This lookup is done by a system called DNS, which works like a worldwide phone book. It takes a few thousandths of a second, and it’s the reason a domain has to be “pointed at” hosting: pointing it means writing the right number in the phone book.
- The browser asks the server for the page. It sends a short message that says “please send me the home page”. The message travels across the internet, which is a very large number of cables and routers passing it along, and arrives at the server.
- The server sends the files back. First the page itself, then everything the page mentions: the layout instructions, the images, the fonts. A simple page might be a dozen files. A heavy one can be two hundred, and that is the single biggest reason some sites take five seconds to appear and others take one.
- The browser draws the page. It reads the files, works out where everything goes, and paints it on the screen. It also runs any small pieces of code the page includes, which is what makes a menu slide open or a map appear.
All of that happens in about a second on a decent connection. When it takes noticeably longer, one of the steps is slow: the server is far away or overloaded, the page has too many large files, or the code is doing more than it needs to. When we say a site is “fast”, we mean these four steps were kept short.
Pages, links and navigation
A website is one or more pages, and each page has its own address. Your home page is at yourbusiness.co.uk. A page about your services might be at yourbusiness.co.uk/services. The part after the slash is the page. The part before it is the site. Every page on the internet has one of these, and it is called a URL, which just means “the full address of this exact page”.
Pages are connected by links. A link is a word or a button that, when tapped, takes the visitor to another address. The menu at the top of a site is a row of links. The blue underlined words in a paragraph are links. A button that says “Get a quote” is a link dressed up. Links are what make a website a web: a set of pages joined together rather than a stack of separate documents.
Navigation is the technical word for the menu. Its job is to answer “where can I go from here?” in one glance. A good small business site has a short menu with plain names: Services, Our work, About, Contact. A bad one has eleven items with names that need explaining. The number of pages is less important than the visitor always knowing where they are and where the thing they want is.
Two shapes are common for small businesses. A multi-page site has a separate page for each subject, which suits a business with several distinct services or a lot to show. A single-page site puts everything on one long page in a sensible order, and the menu simply jumps down to each section. For a trade or a local service with a handful of things to say, a single page done properly is often the better site: nothing to hunt for, nothing to load twice.
What a page is actually made of
You don’t need to read code to own a website, any more than you need to understand plumbing to own a house. But it helps to know the names of the pipes, because they come up whenever you talk to anyone technical. A web page is made of a small number of ingredients.
- HTML is the content and its structure. It is a text file that says “this is a heading, this is a paragraph, this is a picture, this is a link to the contact page”. Every page on the internet is, underneath, an HTML file. If you could see only the HTML, you would see your words in the right order with no styling at all.
- CSS is the appearance. Another text file that says “headings are this size and this colour, the menu sits at the top, on a phone the columns stack”. Change the CSS and the same words look completely different. When someone says a site has been “restyled”, this is what changed.
- JavaScript is the behaviour. Small programs that run in the browser to make things happen after the page has loaded: a menu opening, a form checking that an email address looks right before sending, a gallery sliding. A simple site needs very little of it, and a site with too much is slower for no benefit.
- Images, fonts and other files are fetched separately and slotted in. Images are almost always the heaviest part of a page, which is why the same photo that looks fine on your phone can make a site crawl if it is uploaded at full size.
- Forms are the part of a page that sends something back: a contact form, a booking request, a quote enquiry. When a visitor presses send, the browser passes what they typed to the server, and the server does something with it, usually emailing it to you.
That really is the whole list. Every website you have ever used, from a one-page plumber to a national retailer, is made of those five ingredients in different quantities.
Website, web page, app, social page: what is what
Several things get called a website that are not quite the same, and the differences matter when you are deciding what your business needs.
| Thing | What it is | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Website | A set of pages at your own domain, made of your own files, on hosting you rent | You |
| Web page | One page of a website. “Page” and “site” are often used interchangeably, but a site is the whole and a page is a part | You |
| Web app | A website that behaves like software: you log in and do things, such as online banking or a booking system. Most small businesses use web apps; few need to own one | Whoever built it |
| Social media page | A page about your business on somebody else’s website. Looks like everyone else’s page, reaches only people on that platform, and can be changed or removed without asking you | The platform |
| Google Business Profile | Your listing on Google Maps and in search: hours, phone, reviews, photos. Useful, and worth keeping up to date, but it is a listing rather than a site | |
| Online shop | A website with the extra machinery to list products, take orders and handle delivery. A subject of its own | You, with more moving parts |
Look at the right-hand column. A website is the one place online where you set the rules, where nobody can change the layout, bury your posts or close your account. The others are useful, and most businesses should have a couple of them, but they are rented rooms in someone else’s building. The website is the building you own.
The kinds of website a small business has
Not every business needs the same thing, and knowing the names helps you ask for the right one.
- A brochure site tells people what you do, shows some work, gives them a way to get in touch. This is what most trades, local services and professionals need, and it is what people picture when they say “a website”. It can be one page or a handful.
- A portfolio site is a brochure site where the work is the point: photographers, builders, designers, decorators. The pictures do the talking and the words get out of the way.
- A booking site is a brochure site with a way to book a slot, order a table or request an appointment without a phone call. Salons, clinics, restaurants, instructors. The booking part is usually a separate tool plugged in to the site rather than built from scratch.
- A landing page is a single page built for one purpose, usually to go with an advert or a campaign: one offer, one form, nothing else. Some businesses have several.
- An online shop sells products and takes orders. It needs product pages, a basket, a checkout, stock, delivery and returns, and it is a considerably bigger undertaking than the others. If you sell a few things, a brochure site with a “contact us to order” route is often the right first step.
A common mistake is to ask for the biggest kind because it seems safer. A business that needs a brochure site and gets a shop has a lot of machinery to maintain and nothing to put in it. Start with what the business does today. A site can grow later.
Understand it now? We can build it for you.
We design and build small business websites with no build fee and no design fee. You tell us what the business does; we do the rest, and you see it before it goes live.
How websites get built
There are four ways a small business ends up with a website, and each suits a different kind of owner.
You build it yourself with a website builder
A builder is a tool, usually used in your browser, where you pick a template and drag things about until it looks roughly right. The pitch is that anyone can do it, and that is true in the same way that anyone can plaster a wall. The result depends entirely on your eye, your time and your patience, and most owners find that the evenings add up and the result still looks like a template. It’s a reasonable choice if you enjoy it, and a poor one if you are only doing it because you think it is the only affordable route.
A content management system
A content management system, usually shortened to CMS, is software installed on your hosting that lets you edit pages through a dashboard rather than by touching files. WordPress is the best known. It is powerful and flexible, and it is what a great many sites run on. The trade-off is that it is software, and software needs updating, securing and occasionally rescuing. A CMS suits a business that will change its site often and has somebody to look after it. A site that will mostly stay the same does not need one, and is faster and safer without.
An agency or freelancer
Somebody designs and builds the site for you, to your brief. This is how you get a site that looks like your business rather than like a template, and it is how most good small business sites are made. The variables are the skill of the person and how well you brief them: the more clearly you can say what the business does, who it is for and what you want a visitor to do, the better the site.
A free build
A newer route, and the one we offer: a person designs and builds the site, as an agency would, without charging for the design or the build. The business model is the relationship, not the invoice. Ask the same questions of any free offer, including ours: who owns the domain and the site, who does the work, what the site needs once it is live, and what the catch is. A straight answer to all four is the sign of a fair one.
What makes a website good
Now that the parts are clear, here is what separates a good one from the rest. None of it is about how clever the design is.
- It works on a phone first. Most visitors to a small business site are on a phone, often outdoors, often in a hurry. A site that was designed on a big screen and squashed down to fit is the most common failure there is. A good site is designed for the small screen and then given more room, not the other way round.
- It loads fast. Under two seconds on a phone, ideally under one. The four steps from earlier all kept short: a nearby server, few files, small images, little code. Speed is not a technical nicety. It is the difference between someone reading your page and someone giving up.
- It says what you do and where in the first line. A visitor should be able to say back to you, within a few seconds, what the business does. “Welcome to our website” is the opposite of this.
- It has a phone number a thumb can reach. And a contact form that works, and an email address. The point of the site is that people get in touch.
- It shows real things. Real photos of real work, reviews with a name attached, a picture of the person they will be dealing with. Stock photos of handshakes tell people you had nothing real to show.
- It can be found. The next section covers this. A site that search engines cannot read is a brochure in a locked drawer.
- It is yours. Domain in your name, files you can get at, no contract you cannot leave. Covered further down, because it is the one that catches people out years later.
How people find websites
Nobody types an address they don’t know, so a website is found in one of three ways: someone was given the address, someone followed a link from elsewhere, or someone searched. The third is the one that needs explaining.
Search engines run programs, usually called crawlers, that follow links from page to page across the whole internet, reading everything they find. What they read goes into an enormous index, which is a bit like the index at the back of a book, except that it covers every page they have ever seen. When someone searches for “electrician in Bath”, the search engine looks in its index for pages that appear to be about electricians in Bath and shows the ones it thinks are the best match, in order.
Three things follow from this, and between them they cover most of what a small business needs to know about search.
- The crawler has to be able to reach and read your site. It reads words, not pictures. A site whose text is inside images, or that is so slow the crawler gives up, or that is built in a way the crawler cannot follow, is invisible no matter how good it looks. This is why the words on your pages matter, and why headings that say what the page is about are more useful than clever ones.
- Your pages need to say, in plain words, what you do and where. If your page never says “electrician” or “Bath”, it will not appear when someone searches for those words. This is most of what people mean by SEO, which stands for search engine optimisation and is largely the discipline of saying clearly what you do so that the index files you under the right heading.
- Other people mentioning you helps. Links to your site from other sites, your Google Business Profile, directories, local news, suppliers. Each one is a signal that you are real and relevant. Reviews do the same job.
What does not work is the thing people are sold most often: tricks. Stuffing pages with the same word forty times, buying links, hidden text. Search engines have spent twenty years learning to spot all of it, and the sites that rank well for a local search are, almost without exception, the ones that plainly describe a real business in a real place and have been around a while.
The padlock, and what it means
You will have noticed a small padlock next to the address in your browser, and warnings on sites that don’t have one. The padlock means the connection between the visitor and your server is encrypted: scrambled so that nobody in between, on the coffee shop wifi or at the internet provider, can read what passes back and forth. The technology is called HTTPS, and the certificate that makes it work is often called an SSL certificate.
For a brochure site with no login and no payments, the encryption itself protects little that matters. The padlock still matters, for two reasons. Browsers now flag sites without it as “not secure” in red, which is a poor first impression for a business that wants to be trusted. And search engines prefer sites that have it. Any competent host or builder provides the certificate as standard, and it should renew itself without you noticing. If you are ever asked to pay extra for one, ask why.
Who owns what, and what keeps a site alive
If you read one section twice, make it this one. This is where businesses get hurt, usually years after the site was built, when everyone has forgotten the details.
The domain
Registered in your name, at a registrar you have the login for, renewing automatically to a payment method that will still work next year. If a designer or an agency registered it for you, ask them to transfer it to an account you control. A good one will do it without fuss. Check today. It takes five minutes.
The files
You should be able to get a copy of your website: the HTML, the CSS, the images. With a hand-built site that is a folder of files. With a CMS it is the files plus a database export. Ask whoever built the site for a copy, and keep it somewhere sensible. It’s your insurance against everything else going wrong.
The hosting account
Know which company hosts the site and have a login. It’s fine, and common, for your developer to manage it day to day, but the account should not be one that disappears if they do. The same goes for the email: if your email lives on the same hosting, losing the hosting loses the email, which is usually the more painful of the two.
What keeps it alive
Every website in the world has running costs, however it was built and whoever built it. The domain has to be renewed and the site has to live somewhere. That is true of a site you built yourself, a site an agency built, and a site anyone gives you free. An honest provider tells you what those are before you commit, in plain words, and does not spring anything afterwards. When you are comparing offers, that conversation, or the absence of it, tells you most of what you need to know.
Worth knowing
A useful habit: keep one document, on paper or in a note you will find, with the registrar, the host, the login email for each, and where the site files are. Most of the emergencies we help with start with “it was set up years ago and nobody remembers”.
Words you will hear, translated
A short glossary of the words that come up in every conversation about websites, each in one plain sentence.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Domain | Your address on the internet, such as yourbusiness.co.uk. Registered for a period and renewed. |
| DNS | The worldwide phone book that turns a domain name into the number of the server it lives on. “Pointing” a domain means updating this. |
| Hosting | The computer, rented by the share, where your site files live so they can be served at any hour. |
| Server | Any computer whose job is to answer requests from other computers. Your hosting is a server. |
| Browser | The program that asks for pages and draws them: Safari, Chrome, Edge, Firefox. |
| URL | The full address of one exact page, including the part after the slash. |
| HTML, CSS, JavaScript | The three kinds of file a page is made of: content, appearance and behaviour. |
| CMS | Software on your hosting that lets you edit pages through a dashboard. WordPress is one. |
| Responsive | A site that rearranges itself to suit the screen it is on, so it works on a phone and a desktop. |
| HTTPS, SSL | The encrypted connection shown by the padlock, and the certificate that enables it. |
| SEO | Making a site easy for search engines to read and clear about what it is, so it appears for the right searches. |
| Crawler | The program a search engine uses to read pages by following links. |
| Cache | A saved copy of a page kept close to the visitor so it loads faster next time. Also why a change sometimes does not show straight away. |
| Landing page | A single page built for one purpose, usually to go with an advert. |
| Analytics | Counting visitors: how many, where from, which pages, on what device. |
The short version
A website is a set of pages anyone can look at by typing an address. It has three separate parts: a domain, which is the address; hosting, which is the computer the files live on; and the site itself, which is the files. When someone types the address, their browser looks up which computer to ask, asks it for the files, gets them back and draws the page, all in about a second. The pages are made of content, appearance and behaviour, plus images and forms, and they are joined by links. It is different from a social media page or a Google listing because it is the one place you own. It is found by people who were given the address, followed a link, or searched, and searching works because programs read your words and file them. The padlock means the connection is encrypted, and every site should have one. Register the domain in your own name, keep a copy of the files, know where the hosting is, and understand what keeps it live. Do those things and the website is yours, in every sense.