The Internet is a crucial platform to get any business onto, increasingly people turn to Google rather than Yellow Pages or online directories like Yell and so getting a commercial, professional and easily found website available on the Net is a great way to bring in business no matter what it is you do.
Whilst the things the web can do are really incredible, it actually works very simply. A website is just a group of digital files; pictures and words, stored (or “hosted”) on a big chunk of memory called a web server that’s connected 24 hours a day to a broadband line. When you type a website address into your computer, it calls up the relevant web server, which sends all those picture and word files down the broadband line to your computer.
So the first step is to get those digital files together in the right format for the Internet, you’ll almost certainly need a graphic designer and web copywriter to finish off this part but you can get a lot of it done yourself. Collect together lots of images and photos of your product or your team providing its service, write a few notes on your key services, unique selling points and company history so you can pass it on to the professionals as they come on board.
Eventually, your designer will give you a CD with your website on it, at that point you need your web hosting and your domain name; the www.yourwebsite.com address bit. These two things are typically hired from the same company; expect to pay around £10-20 for your website address every year, and £100-200 for hosting on its own. Add-ons such as e-mail, admin, updating and so on typically cost extra but it’s a good idea to get the full package; a great looking website is ruined by a Hotmail e-mail address!
Shop around for a service you like, sign up and typically your host will provide you with details of how to load your files onto their server and within hours everything should be running perfectly.
Some website design companies offer all-in-one packages which can save you a lot of money and stress; you’ll deal mostly with an account manager who will arrange for a copywriter and designer to put a site together, then make all the necessary arrangements for them to go onto a web server with a good domain name, all for a set annual fee and set up charge. These services are ideal for most small businesses who want something that does the job online with a minimum of fuss, as ever take a good look at previous work by the company and how professionally they conduct themselves, some of the biggest in the market supply remarkably shoddy and unprofessional websites, whilst the mid size companies churn out great looking sites that top all the Google searches.
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