Website Owners’ Q and A

You are ready to have a website. Hopefully you have reached this decision after researching options and have your own input. But to be truthful, many savvy business owners know that, just like your accountant, your attorney, and your banker, you now add a website specialist to your cache as a matter of sound business practice.

There are basic differences in how your business is represented online. For many businesses their website is a “brochure”, more introductory in nature. For other businesses their website IS their business. It is an e-commerce site. And there are the sites that are not like either of these; informational sites or sharing one’s personal interest in a blog.

Question: What is the difference between a website, webhost, domain, and URL?

Here is a simplistic explanation:

Website: A website is your personal home online. Your home, of course, is also known as your “domain”, and your domain, or home,has an: “address”. A URL always means an address. At first all addresses ended in .com; now there are several extensions and they often signify the origin of the address (.uk=United Kingdom, .au=Australia, .mobi=cell phone, etc.).

These domains constitute ‘virtual’ real estate, and must pay a sort of rent for the real estate, so there are: “Webhosting” services.

Question: What do I do first?

Answer: It is best to choose a domain name first. As an aside, a domain name ending in”.com” or “.net” is still considered to be best in the U.S., and lately there are arguments both for and against prefacing the domain name with “www”.   A simple way to resolve this is to have your webmaster do a “redirect”, so both with and without the “www” goes to one page, thus not diluting your traffic results or exposing hyou to any duplicate content problems.  (It’s always something, isn’t it?)

Choosing a domain name that is relevant to your website is important; the time you take at the beginning will be worth it.  This simply means your domain name will contain an important keyword that is relevant to your business.  If you are mainly a local businss, including you hometown name in your domain name will usually do it; i.e. “www.MontereyDressShop.com”.

Tips:

  1. Google actually, sometimes, notes how long you have reserved your domain name and rates you accordingly (so nosy).  Cough up the extra 50 bucks to get it for the next five years.
  2. I f you can, also reserve your own name as a domain name.  Invaluable for your blog.

Please consult a webhosting professional for advice on how to proceed. That done, you will need to find a reputable webhost, or ‘landlord’. Good webhosting companies encompass an all-in-one business solution to save businesses time and expense (I found this out the hard way; I registered my domains with a different host than where my websites were.  That means I have to point the nameservers myself because there is no support for domain names, and I would have to pay ANOTHER fee just to change them to the server host.  Learn from my mistake!  It is crucial to have a company that can meet your needs for:

  • Domain Name Registration
  • Website Design
  • Website Hosting
  • Website Maintenance

Question: What type of website is right for my business?

Answer: Here are 3 main types of sites to help you decide:

Brochure:

A showcase-type of site. it is more introductory in nature and features your services. It typically includes descriptions, features, and a way to conract with you or make an appointmet.

Educational:

A content website that is informative and tells visitors about your business also.

Ecommerce:

A website that is an extension for your physical store, or is your only store, selling physical or downloadable products.

Question: What do I want on my site?

Answer: You will also need to think about features you need and want on your website. Do you want to simply impart information, display products,invite participation, or have a combination of programs?

Here are some options to consider:

  • * Video/audio/photo uploads or downloads
  • * Amount of products you need to display
  • * Database management of inventory/information
  • * Content management to make updates/changes/corrections
  • * Sign-in /sign-up options for visitors and tracking of the information
  • * Customer feedback *

Question: How can I be sure visitors remember my site?

Answer: A lot of companies know about the magic of 7; a potential customer needs to see something 7 tmes before memory retention takes place. That is why a company logo is worth the minimal investment, and/or using the same colors throughout your marketing design is effective. So take the time to consider how you would like to “brand” your business for impact.

Tip:  I picked out a logo in the beginning, before I had any real business and I have never regretted it.  The logo is there ready to drop onto business cards, web pages, emails,…you get the picture.

Question: How big should my site be?

Answer: As to the website itself; how many pages do you need? Luckily, you can always add to your site with a competent webhost provider. Even if you are starting small with less than 25 pages, be sure your host can grow with you. It is a lot easier than uprooting your online business later. Look through websites you admire. See how they are laid out, i.e., ‘about us’, ‘contact’, how many departments, categories, images, etc., and compare to your needs. After you know the basics, you will be able to more effectiviely work with your website designer in creating your own piece of virtual real estate. Very cool.

Question: How do I even know anyone will see my site?

Answer: There are important tools that research words and phrases people type into their computers. These searched-for words and phrases are called keywords. Everything in internet marketing, or marketing on the internet, revolves around keywords, from the way a website page is built using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, studying keywords for use in advertising, analytics, and more.

Marketing professionals use multiple marketing and analytical tools to get you the maximum exposure for your site.

Tip:  Really, really think about using social marketing to your benefit.  Word of mouth beats anything else, and social marketing is just that, a “virtual” water cooler, meet-up place, hangout…you get your name out, follow up with consistently good advice, help, or services, and you will see your business do things you never expected!

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