A website presence is pretty much an expected element in today business world. You could almost guaranty you will be asked at some point “What’s your website address?” and without one could result in you losing the customer.

Here are some helpful pointers about building a web presence.

Get a domain name

Today, if you have a business, you must establish a web presence. It has become so much easier and there is simply no excuse not to have at least your business contact details online at yourcompanyname.com which is also called your “domain name”. Domain name registrars such as www.godaddy.com or www.registerfly.com allow you to check if a name already exists and sometimes give you alternatives.  To get a full list of registrars check www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html.

You may consider purchasing a few catchy names aside from one that contains your company name and redirect them to your main site.  Each name will set up back approximately $10 a year.  For instance, if you are an embroidery digitizing service you may want to purchase www.embroiderydigitizer.com or www.digitizingservice.com but these ones will almost certainly be unavailable so you will have to get your ideas flowing.  Because the keywords embroidery and digitizing are in the domain name, people searching for this type of service will likely find your site using a search engine.  Your main domain name should include your company name, for instance www.quaintcountrydesigns.com.  Bear in mind that you will need to obtain email hosting for this as well and your email address may be kate@quaintcountrydesigns.com, that is a lot to type for some people, so keep it as short as possible without sacrificing easy name recall.  When you send emails as a business you will not want to use a hotmail or bulk mail account because spammers and scammers and fly-by-night operators use these free services. 

Get a web host

Once you have registered a domain name, you will need to find a web host.  Web hosts are companies who literally have stacks of computers constantly connected to the Internet so that when you “upload” your files onto these computers, anyone in the world can read them.   These “files” are usually HTML files or simply text files with instructions for your web browser on how to display them.  You connect or point your domain name to your web host by a very simple set up provided by the domain name register from whom you purchased your domain name from.  Pointing your name to your web host may take up to two days. 

There are several considerations when getting a web host.  You need to ask yourself if you just want a web presence or wish to sell online.  There are numerous web hosting packages and the process of selection can be a daunting task. More often than not, domain registrars also offer hosting packages that can range from three dollars to thousands of dollars a month.  Cost all comes down to what we call “bandwidth” or the amount of data streaming in and out of your website, and web space, or the amount of data you need to store in your website.   Most hosting companies will allow you to upgrade your package as your needs grow so just start with a basic package and get your web presence started as soon as possible.  If you decide later to start an online store, you can upgrade your account.

There are many web technologies to choose from and this can be another confusing issue.  PHP/MySQL, .NET, ASP, ColdFusion are some of the head-scratching choices that you will face.  These will give you more flexibility as your content grows but when you are starting, you will not be needing more than plain HTML and CSS which you can use with almost all hosting packages.  HTML (hypertext markup language) and CSS (cascading style sheets) will be discussed later in the article.

Create your website

Now for the fun part - creating your web pages.  Before you begin, think about what is important – content, content, content.  People go to your website seeking information about your business and I cannot under stress the importance of simple and clear navigation and page design that has minimal distractions such as animations, backgrounds, large fancy buttons so that the focus is content that is easy to read.

Get found

Remember that when someone looks for something on the Internet, they begins their search using a search engine like Google or a directory like Yahoo!.  What you put in your website is important for this reason.  Search engines send out “spiders” to crawl the Internet and look for information.  If your website contains the information there is a good chance your website will come up on the search engine listing.  Learn more about search engine optimization by checking out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization . It certainly is not good enough just to have a website, in fact, it would really be pointless if you are not able to draw some amount of traffic and develop an audience.

DIY or Hire

It seems even grade school students today can create entire websites on their own.  But even if they have the technical savvy, they do not necessarily have the wisdom to consider factors like usability, elegance, and simplicity that should be the hallmarks of a professionally designed website.  It is your business image you will be toying with so make the right decision.  This does not mean it needs to cost an arm and a leg.  Some web hosts even offer online web page creation wizards that assist you in creating a simple website to get you going.  You can also purchase professional-looking website templates and customize it for your use.  If you don’t succeed you can always try the second option – hire a web designer. 

Homepage

I’m sure we have all heard of the phrase “first impressions last”.  Well, that’s why you have to take extra care when you create your homepage.  You can always put plenty of content on other pages so keep the homepage quick-loading, the content concise, the layout elegant and simple, and the navigation clear.  Make the more important elements immediately visible and don’t clutter it with animated images that bear no importance to your business and grab attention to where it’s not needed.  Make sure your contact details are either on the homepage or only one click away from a button immediately visible when your page loads in the browser.

Content with content

Why would a person want to visit your site anyway?  Think about that!  They would either want to know how to get in touch with you, see if you have a product or service they need and what they cost, browse new products or services, find information on how to fix a problem they have with a product they purchased from you, avail of discount offers or free downloads, search for jobs, or learn a thing or two.  You need to drive traffic to your site so think about your content in that perspective and build the site accordingly. 

Plain HTML or HTML with CSS – a Tech-Tip

Gone are the days when you would needed to envelop each sentence or paragraph of text with <font> tags that are a nightmare to maintain.  The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is the better way.  You can create extremely quick loading but elegantly designed pages using CSS.  Have a look at http://alistapart.com/ to find a wealth of information on website creation, and appreciate the page-load speed of CSS.  The beauty of CSS is that you can change elements in your style sheet and it will apply across your pages because all pages use your style sheet file as a formatting source.  A single source means you get a consistent format throughout your website.

Web Design Software

You can create an entire website using only Notepad, but you would have to be some kind of a geek.  A popular software package that allows you to design or code your website is Macromedia Dreamweaver (http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/). It can give you a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) view of your work and has a toggle which allows you to see just the code.  It also contains an FTP client which is a subprogram that will allow you to download and upload your website files from your web host.  You will also need a graphics application to manipulate images you wish to embellish your site with.  Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Fireworks, and even the lower priced PaintShop Pro are some of the software packages that will not only help you edit, crop, adjust color but also allow you to optimize your images for the web and choose an appropriate format – jpeg or gif.