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Why have a web site.
The amount of people using the internet is growing at an average of 25% per year.
Over £14,000,000 is being spent each year via the internet.
Because of new security and encryption methods more and more people trust the internet to make purchases and manage their bank accounts and finances on line.
Now is the time to have a web site for your business, even if you are a sole trader or have a small business, a web site gives your potential clients information about your business in one convenient place. The amount of information you can provide is limitless, you can imagine the cost of a full page advertisement in a local paper, or even a TV advertisement, the cost of producing flyers can also be expensive so including your web address on them can improve sales.
With a web site you can place a small advertisement in a local paper, radio or TV at minimal cost that points potential customers to your web site, your web site then gives them all the information they will ever need to know about your business. Your web site can also allow you to sell any products you have direct to them there and then, or allow you to take potential customers details via a database linked to your web site.
Having a website is becoming more and more a compulsory part of business and an invaluable marketing tool. Customers are increasingly more aware of the internet and will often use your website as a first port of call. A good website will allow customers to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.
There are different stages to planning and developing your site;
Planning your website.
When planning your site you need to remember that your visitor needs to be able to identify with the site, your main page should grab the readers attention in the same way that the front page of a news paper is designed to grab the attention of passers by on a news stands.
You need to consider the following:
- Is your website for information only.
- Are you going to sell a product via your website.
- Do you need a database linked to your website to store customer information.
- What level of security will you require for your site.
Once a person is using your site they should not be flooded with large number of links, all information should be split into relevant sections.
Websites for information only can be low cost and not to difficult to design yourself, but you will probably find that the time taken to install the software then learn how to use it can take up valuable time that could be used running your business.
Selling products via your website can add more cost, because you will probably need to install third party pages designed for the job, building your own e-commerce web pages can be very complicated.
You will also have to sign up with a company to deal with your debit and credit card transactions, you will also find with e-commerce and database driven websites, that you will have to pay a monthly fee to use these products. Using third party payment methods will ensure that payment to you will be secure but you will have to pay a small percentage of each sale to them, around 2%
Using database driven websites to store information on customers will require that you register the database with the data protection act, you can read more about the data protection act via the link below.
Office of public sector information
If you perform any type of financial transaction your site must be secure, this rule should apply even if you are collecting customer information. You can tell if your site is secure by looking at the URL ,website address, for HTTPS:// ,the ‘S’ defines a secure site the site address is usually only HTTP:// as the first part of the address, also look for the closed lock logo in the browser window, the location of this is in different locations on different browsers.
Remember if you enter information on a web page and submit this information, it can travel around the world instantly and if it is not secure anyone with the right type of software can read it, if it is encrypted they cannot.
Building your website.
Hosting your website.
First you need to choose a domain name, usually the same as your business name, unless someone already is using that name. for example the CO designer of this site compright.co.uk
All websites need to be hosted, this is the location of your site where all the code for your web site sits, this is a third party server designed to store and show your web site. the cost of this service is quite low, a few pounds per month, but for this price you also get e-mail addresses, so for the above address you have the e-mail address of sales@compright.co.uk you can on some hosting systems have 35 ore more mailboxes and gave them any name you like.
A good hosting company is 123.reg, and can be found on the link below and is based in the UK.
123.reg web hosting
When you choose a host, ensure that they reside in the country you live in, this is because if your host gives you a bad service you may have to take legal action in their country instead of your own.
you can use two methods to build a website:
- Self build
- Designer.
Self build
Planning yourself
As you have seen above, designing your own website can be time consuming and and be full of pit falls, but if you wish to build your own site here are a few things you will need.
software.
here is a list of good software ranging from free to £400
HTML Editors, used to design the web page code.
- Arachnophilia, a good free package but requires knowledge of HTML code.
- FrontPage (£183.00).
- NetObjects Fusion (154.95), Used to build this site see the link at the bottom left of this page.
- Dreamweaver (£393.00), expensive.
Photo Editor, used to edit photographs you wish to include in your web design.
- The Photo gallery that comes with windows Vista can perform basic photo touch-up functions.
- Paint Shop Pro (£99.00), used in the design of this site.
- Photoshop (£450.00), expensive.
FTP packages, used to transfer your web site to the hosting server.
- File Zilla (free).
- Cute FTP (£22.00).
- WS_FTP Pro (£45.00).
(Above prices are a guide only)
Learn to use the software
lots of pitfalls, but also rewarding to see a site you have built yourself.
Time to build
Building your own website can take up a lot of time that could best be used running your business.
Get it hosted
See hosting your website (above).
Why pay a professional.
A good professional web designer knows the needs of the business world, all the products involved in web design and how to use them to their full extent, to gain the most out of all the products for you, after all why spend time and money on products you may only use once in a blue moon.
They can also ensure the highest level of design by helping you to explain or display your product to the best standards the web can provide and also help in getting you the best possible search engine listings.
DESIGNER
Choose a designer
This website was CO designed by the following people:
There are thousands of web design companies out there the choice is entirely yours but we suggest you stay local to keep the costs down, if the designers have to travel to you it could add to the cost.
Explain the specification clearly
If your website is a large site with e-commerce or a databases the better you explain your needs the quicker and cheeper your website will be developed, ensure! if the developer visits you that he leaves with all the relevant details. fill in any questionnaire with as much detail about your business as possible, a good web designer should complete your site without visiting you over and over.
A small informational website can be designed via e-mail with very few, if no meetings
Pay for the site
Web design is becoming less expensive all the time, but you should expect to pay a monthly fee especially for e-commerce and database driven websites, on top of the initial design costs.
Get it hosted
If you design your own website you will have to look at a lot of hosting sites before choosing one that suits you, and may have to move it if your site becomes too big for the server.
A good web designer will do all this for you.
Maintaining your website.
There are pros and cons with each method, it can be described by a the relationship between time, money and quality. If you have loads of time and don’t mind the quality then you can get a better price by doing it yourself, whereas if you use a designer you will get higher quality and have more time available. The choice depends on what suits your company the best.
If you want to include e-commerce facilities then you will need to use a website developer. A designer does not write in functional aspects of the site, this is what a website developer does. This includes search bar facilities, online forms, shopping carts and other similar features. You may be able to recruit a design house that has both designers and developers. This again depends on the needs of your site.
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