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Getting a website up on the internet is not as hard as it seems, but it sometimes seems that way because it is a new or different experience for many people.
Just remember, millions of everyday people have sites up for fun, for information or to run a business selling products or services. You can to!
It's best to know what to expect and how to get started. We have many great tips enclosed here, plus we reference a few sites that can also help you along the way. Go for it, you'll do better than you think!
What do I need to have a website on the internet?
The checklist includes:
* An idea
* A web address, known as a domain name
* A web hosting provider
* A website created by you or someone else
* A web publishing tool known as an FTP Client
* An ability to update your site and republish it
* Search Engine Optimization (known as SEO) for your site
* Submit your site to Search Engines
* Market your site as best you can at a low price
* Continue to evolve your site as you learn and as your site grows
What types of ideas work best?
All ideas can work great, but it all depends on what your objective is. You can create a site for family and friends, to share pictures, a site as a hobby, to compliment your current business or to be an online retailer of products or to provide online services.
The best advice is to Keep It Simple, at first. Once you get into it you can evolve everything you have up. If you are planning to retail products or services online, get your feet wet, the web is never going away, so it's not a rush to be perfect when you launch. Get a site up, and get it going.
How do I register a domain?
It's easier than you think. You can take advantage of the GoDaddy.com Domain Sale: Only $3.99 or create an account with 1and1.com and for $6 you can register any domain that is available. If you want to publish more than 1 site, make sure any hosting account you set-up allows for that.
Do you need more details on domains?
Please be sure to read our FAQ section for more details on domain name registration.
What are the aspects of Web Hosting I need to know?
Web hosting is essentially the place that your website resides on the internet. In reality, it's a place on a 'Server' that you rent from a Web Hosting provider. You then 'publish' your pages to this location and this then faces out to the internet for users to see. You will want to have a reputable Hosting provider, one that has been around for a while and with many clients. You should expect to pay appx $8 a month for basic hosting and upwards of $20 - $50 a month for multiple sites under 1 account. If you only plan to run 1 site, go with a lower hosting plan, that you can then upgrade as your site grows. Trust us, you don't need $20 or $50 a month hosting to serve pages of content. And no, your site will not likely grow that fast. Shopping cart sites tend to run towards $50 a month. 'Adult' oriented sites do have additional restrictions, and you'll want to find a company that allows this.
How do I get a website created?
First and foremost, you surf the web enough, so think of sites that you like the look, feel, navigation and experience of. You then want to document what you like and dislike in sites you've seen. Once you've done that, take appx 8 sheets of paper, place them on a table and create a site flow. This means Page 1 is the Home page. Draw links that would go to different pages, and any highlights you want on the homepage (real rough draft). Then place a title in the top left corner of each page of what that page is, and scribble some content and user flow on each of those pages. This is a critical step b/c you actually take what you envision and place it down onto something tangible. You will likely want to continue to look online and make a few itterations of you diagrams on paper. Next, you want to look into either creating this site yourself, having a friend create your site, or paying someone to do it for you. If you choose to do it yourself, there are many excellent web publishing tools such as MS Frontpage, Macromedia's Dreamweaver and many offered by Hosting providers a well. If you have a friend do it, ensure it's someone you know and trust, and ask to see a site or two that they've done. I'd hate to see you go with a friend of a friend, and then not get a site done or lose money. If you go with a third party, always be sure you see other works they've done. Standard arrangements are usually 25% of money up front, 25% once it goes live and 50% a month after. The single most important this to remember is you will get what you ask for, and no more. That simply means do not assume a 'Requirement of the site' is understood, it needs to be spelled out or there are no guarantees it will be coded as you expect. Don't try to over complicate your site, to save the world or make millions on your first site. Get something straight forward, clean, functional and productive up and running. A great site that is coming soon that can help you locate developers is WebDevelopmentNetwork.com.
What is an FTP Client?
FTP stands for 'File Transfer Protocol' and an FTP Client is simply the program you use to transfer the web pages you create from your computer to the internet. Your web hosting space in reality is a shared drive on a server somewhere which you have access to as if it were a different C drive on your computer. The only difference is you need a user name and password to access it. Once you do, you publish your pages and images there. Also, you can pull pages from your site down to your computer. If you use MS Frontpage, that has an FTP program built in. Otherwise we recommend downloading one from Ipswitch, and it usually offers a 30 day free trial.
What about updating or republishing my site?
You need to ensure that you have a copy of your entire website backed-up on a CD and on your hard drive, you ALWAYS want a back-up saved somewhere. Now, if you have someone else code your site for you, be it friend/family or someone you pay, you will want a full copy of your code, plus the ability to make 'minor edits' yourself, and to be able to republish those changes yourself. Make sure you learn how to make minor edits, and understand the process. This will save you from having to pay $25 to $75 an hour for someone to make minor text changes that you could do in 30 minutes yourself. This also gives you flexibility to make minor changes to run promotions, and other short term offers.
What is the deal with Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is a meathod of optimizing your web site for search engines. You want Search Engines to find your site, recognize your site content within your respective category and then return your site high in the list of sites they display back to their search engine users.
You will find many sites promising to get you to the top of Yahoo and Google in days for nice big sums of money, however, it's usually a gimmick in one way or another. The most proof positive way is to have a cleanly coded site, to use propoer page titles, valid keywords and keyword density within your page headings and page content.
There truly is an art to Search Engine Optimization, and you can find lots of FREE details on optimizing your site at SubmitMySite.net and EasySearchEngineSubmission.com.
How do I submit my site to search engines?
First you need to know that there are two different types of 'search engines', most are pure Search Engines, while some are also Directories.
Google is an example that is purely a Search Engine, Yahoo which is both a Search Engine and a Directory, DMOZ.org which is just a Directory and you have MSN.com and others which are Search Engines.
Search Engines do not charge you because they do not list you. You simply Submit Your Site to their Search Engine, their system adds it to a list, then sends a 'Spider' to your site to see what Keywords, Tags and Content you have on your site, then they integrate that into their search results when people run searches. You either have to personally go to each Search Engine site, locate their link stating Submit My Site, then enter the details and Submit Your Site to their Search Engine. Once you do this, you then continue on to the next search engine to mannually submit to their site. You can, however, use services for a small fee, that will enable you submit to upwards of 200 Search Engines with one submission saving you a ton of valuable time. One excellent example, in development, is SubmitMySite.net. You do need to realize that though these sites will spider you, it usually takes 3 to 8 weeks before you start to see traffic from these Search Engines. They do this by design, to ensure you are not a fly-by-night site and minimize people trying to 'beat the search engines'.
Additionally, you will want to pay to Submit Your Site to Yahoo's directory. This costs $299. per year, but is very much worth the investment. This service allows you to find sites that are already within the Yahoo directory, but expired so you can pick them up and get that incremental traffic.
What marketing tips can you give me?
Free marketing is the best, otherwise the cheapest marketing (with the most visibility) is the best. For online only businesses, keep as much marketing online as possible. One excellent example is StogieStuff.com which only spent $1,000 in advertising in their first 3 years and had sold cigars and cigar accessories in 15 different countries. eBay and Yahoo auctions serve as an excellent outlet to sell some goods at a discount for which you can note that:
"For a complete selection of xyz, please visit www.MySite.com".
If you have a traditional business, ensure your site address is on every piece of materials you have. Don't spend money updating it right away, just the next time you order supplies, though it would be wise to get it on your storefront window and on the side of any company trucks, etc.
How do I then evolve my site for the future?
Site evolution will be easier than you think. First, you took an idea from scratch and have it published on the web, now you just evolve it as the market tells you, shows you, or as your customers ask you to. Add or delete products as requested, or add different colors, etc as needed. Don't rush to judgement, it can cost you a lot. And don't hink that you get not traffic or don't convert traffic tp sales so you need to redesign or overhaul the site. A good site tends to convert between 1 and 3 people into buyers, so use that as a measuring stick. Also remember it is cyclical. You may get 100 visitors a day for a week and only get one sale, but 2 weeks later your traffic drops to 75 visitors a day and you do 3 sales a day. It's an interesteing world, just keep an eye on it, and like any business, try to understand your visitors and customers as best you can, then make minor modifications that enhance sales and meet their needs. Wait a full year before an full overhaul of any site, as you will learn infinite amounts of information that will help you with your second generation site. A redesign too soon will only be a diversion to you and impede your learning curve.
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