Welcome to RL Hanson-Online's FAQ's and Cllient Technical Support Information!
We are confident that the following information can serve as a valuable tool for information and troubleshooting for the most common topics and tasks.
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A: Websites require domain name registration, hosting for your files and a web designer or web editor to create the files for your site.
For an ecommerce site you will also need a merchant account, a payment gateway, and a shopping cart installed.
Q: What is domain name registration?
A: You have to register a domain name through a national registry to obtain a web address (www.domain.com).
Think of this as registering a business name with the state(s) you wish to operate in. It's a similiar situation with domain names.
In fact, ICANN, the organization responsible for the stability of the Internet, requires that each domain name registrant be given the opportunity to correct any inaccurate contact data (WHOIS data) associated with a domain name registration once year. WHOIS data is the legal name, address, phone and email of the registrant of a domain name.
Q; What is hosting and how does it work?
A: Hosting is storing your website files on a server which displays the information from those files on the internet when a visitor types in your web address.
Think of the process as having a large file cabinet. The file cabinet stores the files that describes your business (domain name). Each time a potential client asks about your business, you would open the file cabinet, retrieve a file, and show it to your client. If they asked for what services you provide, you'd open the file cabinet and retrieve the file that explains your services.
The file cabinet would be your server/host, the files would be each page of your website.
Q: What are the elements of an ecommerce site?
A: In order to sell items online, you have to have a program in order to store the information about your products (price, description, size, etc.) and display them on your website. This is a shopping cart - it also processes the online order, obtains the customer information and then sends the payment and order information to your merchant account.
Your merchant account is similiar to a broker who interacts with credit card companies on your behalf.
You also have to have a merchant gateway which actually processes the credit card information through the credit card companies.
