First and foremost, I know absolutely nothing about buying a home or selling a home or making pretzels. We all have our area of expertise, mine happens to be website development.
Here are some basics to consider when first grappling the tasking of putting your business online.
Search Engine Optimization Requirements
- Spider and Crawler Accessible
- Optimization for Linking
- Keyword Rich
- No Frames and Limited Flash Files
Design Requirements
- Clean
- Not too many words
- Heavy on mission statement and testimonials
- Simple
Your Goals
- Grab in customers
- Increase familiarity with your name/presence
- Provide a handy, comprehensive tool for your customers in one place, instead of sending them away to competitors
Alright, now I will get into the nuts and bolts of a website and website ownership/maintenance. I want to educate you on this a little bit so you are familiar with the different elements required.
If you were to type in Google.com you are directed to the website. That name you type in is called a domain name. It is the first, simplest, and probably cheapest part of website ownership. You must register a name in order for it to direct to your website.
Then, if you wanted (just an example) xyzcompany.com and xyzcompany.net, those are two different domains and two different associated registrations. A domain name registration costs approximately $8-$35 per year, depending on which company you choose to register it through. I can help you with registration later if you so desire.
To review, in registering your domain, it is just the name. Think of it like buying rights to use the name on the internet or purchasing a title. I can help you purchase your domain, but to get an idea, go to one of the aforementioned websites and just search for a name you would like to see if it is available.
Now then, you have your handy domain ready, but remember we said that domain was just a name? It just directs to a site… The site has to be HOSTED somewhere. One purchases hosting with a cheap web hosting company, typically on a monthly basis. A cheap hosting company merely offers access to a computer located at a data center that is ALWAYS on, is hooked up to a super-fast, dedicated internet connection, and whose sole function is to host (or store) websites. When you type in www.Yahoo.com (the domain name), you are being redirected (behind the scenes) to a data center where the site is hosted.
Hosting is not terribly expensive, especially with a cheap web hosting company but it is a little bit of a commitment. It can vary in pricing from $12 per year to several thousand dollars per year. The reason one would choose a larger, more expensive hosting solution is in consideration of HUGE websites and a larger visitor basis. For example, if Amazon.com had a very cheap web hosting company, their website would crash almost instantly because of all the visitors they receive. This concept is called load balancing.
That’s the basic building blocks of a website. Now let’s assume you purchased hosting from a cheap web hosting company and a domain name. The actual meat of the site, what the customer sees when they type in your domain name is what has to be built and maintained.
The site is built and then UPLOADED (transferred) to the host. One can use Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Contribute to build your site. These are extensive software packages that allow the user to view the site from all different angles (from the customer’s point of view as well as from a back end point of view). However, there are a slew of other web design software packages currently available to design your site. These happen to be the most popular.
These are the fundamentals of bringing your brick and mortar business to the internet. There are many other cost benefit situations that should be analyzed before entering your credit card and getting started. You can always contact a recommended affordable web hosting company, as often times they offer comprehensive starter packages and advice for first time buyers or non technical users. A good low cost web hosting company will not try to force you into buying more than you need and will offer gentle guidance towards the right solution for your business. There is an initial investment for any online initiative. All professional sites have some type of start up cost, however minimal it may be. Keep these things in mind and you will have a successful web site in no time!
