Establishing a Web Presence By: Scott Hendison · Published: September 2003
Establishing a Web Presence
By: Scott Hendison
·
Published: September 2003
All businesses need a website. Unless you don’t advertise, and you specifically don’t want new (or even old) customers to find you, there’s just no excuse for not having one.
Financially, you can’t afford not to have one, since they can be had for as little as $200 a year.
With “broadband” (high speed) internet access, there are a lot of people that only seek what they need online. Many people never even look at a phone book anymore.
If you’re not there when they look, those people will go somewhere else. Try it for yourself. Go to any search engine, any type a search for “carpeting portland”, or anything like “yourindustry yourcity” and press the search button. There they are…your competition!
Establishing a web presence requires just three separate things, and all can be obtained in a week or two. They are…a domain name, a website, and a host.
A domain name (a. k. a. web address or a URL) - Get it now because the one you want is already gone. Think of it as a phone number on the internet for the world to reach you. Unless your name is unique, yourcompanyname.com is probably gone already, and yourindustry.com is almost certainly gone.
Just think of something easy to say and easy remember too. You might consider adding your city name to yourcompany or to yourindustry, because those are probably still available. For example, portlandcarpet.com and pdxcarpet.com are both pretty catchy, and (amazingly enough) both are still available. A domain name should never cost more that $35 a year, and usually, it’s about half that much. To protect yourself, be sure that YOU are the registered owner, and not the company that you hire.
Building a website - This can be a simple one page electronic flyer with your name address and phone number. It can also be an elaborate piece of functional artwork containing dozens or even hundreds of pages of information. The important thing to remember is that SOME website is better than no website. Just because you can’t afford a full page ad in the Yellow Pages, do you remove your simple listing from the phone book? Of course not!
The cost of a website can range from FREE (your 6th grader can make it for you) to several hundred, or even thousands of dollars. The important thing is to find someone with a design history that you can look at online, to see if you like their style. Ask to see some examples, along with the price tags.
Finding a host for your website - Generally, a web designer is not a web host too. My own business is unusual in that respect. They are usually separate businesses that perform distinctly different functions. A host is just a physical computer with a “T-1” or better internet connection. This is where the files will actually sit for your website, and be accessed from anywhere in the world.
There are lots of things to consider when choosing a host, but the most important one to look for is… can you reach them when you need to? If you don’t get a fast response when you’re calling or e-mailing, then how will they react in an emergency?
Your host is important, because if they aren’t reliable, then your website could go “offline” for an extended period of time. Can you imagine having callers to your telephone number get a message saying “That number is no longer in service”.
The monthly cost of hosting can range from $5 to $100, and depends on the variety of services you need. Most small businesses shouldn’t pay more than $15 or $20 unless they accept credit cards online, or they transfer huge amounts of data over the web.
Once your site is up and running, you don’t need to spend any additional money to promote your new website until you’re convinced it will work for you. Simply add your website address to ALL of your printed material, letterheads, ads, business cards, etc. and people will go there just out of curiosity. Soon, you’ll be getting phone calls and e-mails generated by your website while you sleep, and you’ll realize that the web is indispensable for being found by customers.
Of course, you certainly can advertise your website, but marketing your website is an entirely separate subject. It is, however, a subject I’ll be writing about very soon.
To help you get started, my own business can help you with any or all of these services.
I can also help small businesses with marketing an existing site through SEO,
“Search Engine Optimization” and PPC “Pay Per Click” advertising.
In 1997, people used to talk about a business because it had a website.
In 2003, they talk about one because it doesn’t.
Scott Hendison
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Scott Hendison of PDXTC performs onsite computer service in the greater Portland Oregon area, including:
Windows networking, hardware and software installations, firewalls, routers, and HIPAA security issues.
PDXTC designs, hosts, and maintains websites, while helping small businesses get found on search engines.
For more information, please visit these websites
Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved