Taking your Business to the Web

Step 4: Place Your Pages on the Web Server

‘Download’ is the process where you receive information onto your computer (i.e. view a web page online). When you send information (e.g. your credit card details when purchasing online), the term is called ‘upload’.

Consequently, when you are ‘sending’ pages to a web hosting server, you are ‘uploading’.

Uploading is done with FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software which can be downloaded from many different vendors online. Some downloads may be free, but by using FTP software that you pay for, you will often be guaranteed a better quality product.

To find free FTP programs you can visit sites such as C|Net's Download.com -- you can also find trial versions of programs that are not free. That way you can try before you buy.

If your are using a Web design program like FrontPage or Dreamweaver, you can transfer your files from within the program.

When you sign up with a web hosting company, you will receive unique connection details which you will configure into your software to allow you to connect with the server. When you make any changes to your website (no matter how small), you simply use the software to upload your web pages, images, etc (files) from your computer (where your website is stored) to the server.

The time it takes to upload files to the server will depend on your internet connection speed. If you have broadband, it will take a matter of seconds for each file to upload. However, if you use a 56k dial-up modem, the file may take considerably longer.