Does it feel like someone is speaking a foreign language when they start talking about the internet, their website, and how it works? Here are some quick definitions of terms that will help you better understand and be better at keeping up in conversation.
DOMAIN: A domain is an addressing construct for identifying and locating computers on the internet. Domain names provide a system of easy-to-remember internet addresses, which can be translated by the Domain Name System (DNS) into the IP address used by a network. An example is www.oldcity.com.
HOSTING: Hosting is a service provided by a vendor which offers a physical location for the storage of web pages and files. A web hosting company can be thought of like a landlord – they rent physical space on their servers allowing web pages to be view on the internet.
BACKLINK: Links from other website pages to yours, used to increase a site’s popularity with search engines and to get more people to visit your site. The quality of a backlink and its anchor text is factored into Google’s algorithm when deciding how much importance to place on it and therefore where to place it in search engines.
BLOG: a blog, short for weblog, is an online journal or diary and a very popular current method of sharing your thoughts with the world. It is also very popular as a marketing tool. An Example is http://oldcity.com/city-blog.php
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A content management system (CMS) is a back-end tool that allows publishing, editing and modifying content on a website. Using a CMS can make it easier to change the design of a site independent of the site’s content or pages. A CMS doesn’t require downloading software to your computer and can be used from anywhere with an internet connection, making it a user-friendly and streamlined way to manage your website.
DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM: Domain Name Systems (DNS) are the Internet’s equivalent of a phone book. They maintain a directory of domain names and translate them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. This is necessary because, although domain names are easy for people to remember, computers access websites based on IP addresses.