So you have your shiny new
business up and running, but now you need a website, or possibly your website
is going to be your shiny new business? There are many options and this
only adds to the confusion. This article will outline a few different
options you have and how to prepare the necessary items required for your website design process
to go smoothly.
Options:
1.
Build a
website yourself, or have a friend/family member build it for you
2.
Go online
and find a website builder, this is software that allows you to build your own
site
The choice you make depends on
how serious you are about your business and how important it is to your
income. For example, if you are starting a hobby and want to create a
nice blog to show it off to friends and family, then your best bet is option 1
or 2, however if you are going to rely on your website for income, or at least
want it to generate leads and sales for your business, which are vital to its
growth and survival, then you want to make sure your site is the best it can
be. It’s not the 90’s anymore, and a website is now the most important
part of any business, so you should certainly not cut corners in this segment
of your advertising budget, as it will only hurt your business down the road.
We Recommend Option 3, you should
hire a firm to build your website, because it’s too big a project and far too
important for one person. The required tasks, such as design,
development, marketing and maintaining a website effectively, require an
experienced team with specialists in each area. Here are just a few of
the services required to run a website.
Custom Web Design
You want to make sure that your
design is unique; you don’t want to have the same site as your competitor, it’s
important to stand out from the competition and your website is going to be the
first thing your customers look at. Make sure it’s designed well, easy to
navigation to the target goal you have in mind, and built with both human users
and search engines in mind. Only build the site first for human visitors
and second for search engines.
Responsive
A responsive website design is currently the best way to
build a new website. Responsive means it will respond to different screen
sizes on mobile devices, laptops, PCs and so on. The screen adjusts to
allow the user to view elements on the page easier than if they were viewing it
the same format on all screens. For example; on an iPhone usually the
screen will morph into a layout similar to an iPhone app. The menu
shrinks down to a mini menu icon and the text and images enlarge so they are
easier to read. For a full explanation please read this blog post
on responsive web design.
Logo Design
Your logo should match your
website, many times when a web designer builds your website they will also
offer you a logo design. First be sure to check their portfolio and make
sure their style is in line with your branding. If they are a good fit,
then it will usually be a good idea to have them design your logo along with your
website, because then they will match perfectly. A logo is very important
for your branding, it should be easy to remember and very professional looking.
Website Hosting
The website hosting you choose
could make or break your business, depending on the type of website you need to
build. For example, if you only want a small 10-page website for a mom
and pop store than a shared hosting provider will do the trick nicely. You
can find thousands of shared hosting providers with a quick Google
search. However, if your website is going to rely on lots of traffic to
build income and leads, then it needs to be able to support this traffic.
You don’t want your site caving in when it matters most, such as when you run a
TV ad and get thousands of visitors in one day, this could cost you a ton of
money. So in this case you want to make sure it can support traffic
spikes.
Online Marketing
·
Search
engine optimization
·
Social
media marketing
·
Facebook
Page
·
Twitter
Page
·
LinkedIn
Page
·
Pinterest
Page
·
Instagram
·
Email
marketing
·
Link
building
·
Content
marketing
·
Video
Advertising
·
Local SEO
and Marketing
·
Google
Local Listings
·
Related
directories
·
Pay Per
Click
·
Google
Adwords
·
Linkedin
Ads
·
Facebook
Ads
·
Twitter
Ads
·
Video
Advertising
Server Administration
A shared hosting environment or a
managed server will usually include a server administration service that will
take care of most of the required duties involved in maintaining your
server. However, if for some reason you are running your own server and
it’s not managed then you will need to also hire a server administrator to
perform upgrades and maintain a secure environment for your websites to run.
Website Maintenance
Once your website is built, much
like a plant, it needs to grow or it will die. Even a small 10-page
website should have a blog, where new content can be added to draw in new
traffic and increase leads. You will also need to perform upgrades to
software and systems used to run the site and regular backups to make sure your
valuable content is not lost. It’s usually a good idea to have the same
company that built your site do the maintenance because they know the site very
well and can tell what is wrong much faster, which in turn saves you money.
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