Demystifying The Website Concepts in Zimbabwe

Owning a website today has become a vital, fundamental business aspect just good as having an office. Anyone who seriously wants to run or start a business grows from the briefcase type of business to finding a physical operational place.
 
The same today, getting   a business premise is as foundational as owning a website, we are now living in the digital age where millions visit you online via your website, at the click of a button interested parties can now learn more about you, your product or services.
 
What defies the odds is to see many people operating without this principal tool. In order to get things straightened up and demystify the website concepts,  we caught up with the Zimhosts.com Project Manager, Mr Pearson Pfavayi, an expert in webhosting and web designing concepts.
 
Tonderai Rutsito: (T.R) Mr Pfavayi, before we dive deep into the websites concepts for the benefit of readers out there tell us a bit about yourself.
 
Pearson Pfavayi: (P.P) Well I'm the project manager for one of Zimbabwe`s biggest website hosting  and designing company in Zimbabwe. We started off in the United Kingdom 8 years ago as pfphosts.com Webdesigners, where we have the actual servers located and today we have a Harare and Bulawayo branch hosting thousands of Zimbabwean websites and many other countries.
 

TR: So when you say you have the servers in the UK is that not a disadvantage for the local companies in terms of speed and page ratings for the local populace comparing to a Zimbabwean based company?
 
PP: Well I may start by asking you , have you ever used a Gmail account, is there any latency, is it any slower, is the speed difference any noticeable comparing to a .co.zw mail, obviously not. With technology everything really comes with great speed beyond geographical limitations
 
TR: Maybe before we even talk of the technicalities, let's explain to our readers, what is webhosting?
 
PP: This is basically the technology behind the storage of your website. This is where the actual website files are stored, on our servers.
 
TR: So what do I require so that I get a functional website?
 
PP: There are basically three simple things, first you need something that we call a domain name. This is the name that you actually type in a web browser to be able to reach a website, it's also commonly called the web address.
 
TR: So that's the name that comes after the www.
 
PP: Yes that's the domain, but for this you go through the registration process, if it's an international domain like the . coms, .net or the . org etc you can instantly register those with us directly  while local ones like the . co.zw, may take few days as it has to be validated by POTRAZ and ZISPA
 
 
TR: So basically when you register a domain that means it's now yours and you can't share that or have clashes, just like your phone number
 
PP: Yes once you register it you claim it for a year and this we charge only $15 the whole year, then comes the actual website design. This will vary with the clients` needs and the type of a website required from the kind of the data base to the style and appearance with other functionality like compatibility, security and usability among others.
 
TR: How about for starters, let's say I run an SME, and I need basic online visibility what package design would fit me?
 
PP: We have incredible offers for start-ups, these are just a $30 package website. It has all the necessary basic pages for you to go live in few hours the whole world will know about you. Of course this is our entry basic platform and we can have a blog, database driven or e-commerce based website which may costs thousands of dollars.
 
TR: A website for $30 is that a functional one?
 
PP: Ofcourse as our starter package it really serves the job, these are basically template based , we have already designed thousands of these which are all different. It's a convenient way for the client and its also faster for us to deliver, that's why we can afford to quickly give you that, but it also comes with all the basics like security and compatibility plus email accounts.
 
TR: What's the other  third component needed ?
 
PP: This is the webhosting now, so basically there is registration, web designing according to one`s needs then the hosting like I said the actual storage of the files. This however comes at a very cheap prize too depending with the category chosen, our minimum is just $6 per month to host your website and it comes with email addresses of your own choice.
 
TR: A bit on the email address, storage and bandwidth how much mails do I have and what kind of addresses?
 
PP: These are actually personalised emails at your own domain, for example, sales @xyz.co.zw, not the public mails like Gmail or yahoo. These are the professional tools you need for your corporate  image. You can have a minimum of 5 email addresses of your choice. Our bandwidth offers a very good contention ratio unless dedicated bandwidth becomes necessary and storage space is also unlimited online.
 
After such an insightful interview, owning a website is now a basic need which almost everyone can afford to have with the current offers in the market. The importance of a website cannot be understated and its time we all get connected to the global world.
 
Zimhosts Offices:
 
Bulawayo: Office 305,
                  3rd floor, LAPF house,
                  8th Ave, Btwn FIVE and Jason Moyo,
   
Harare: Regal Star House,
             Shop 6, Ground flr,
             Cnr George Silundika/ First Str, Harare

helpme@zimhosts.com, www.zimhosts.com, +263771 111 222 (tel & whatsapp), +263731 00 22 44, +2634 796528, +2639 883429, +2638644 096777