Website a Marketing Must for Small Business - Part 2
(This post was also published in 9/06 Greater Wilmington Business)
In last month’s column we talked about the importance of building a professional web site, the increase in customer use of search engines instead of Yellow Pages to make purchasing decisions, and the three basic steps of creating a web site.
This month we’ll cover choosing a company to build your web site, the steps you’d go through to build a web site yourself, and some training options that are available to get you started.
Hiring the Right Company
When selecting a web developer to build your site, you’ll want to see sample web sites they’ve created to get an idea of whether their style coincides with your own. You’ll also want to know their hosting fees (i.e., the monthly fee for keeping your web site online), hourly rates and whether they have any fixed-rate packages available.
Hosting is generally $10-30/month and, in the Wilmington area, you’ll pay roughly $500-$5,000 for a website, dependant on the company you select, the # of pages, whether you accept credit cards online, the degree of complexity, and the level of customization you prefer. Hourly rates range from $25-$150 per hour (sometimes charged in quarter-hour increments) - this is important when you need to make changes to the site after it’s built. Some local companies include http://www.SageIsland.Com, http://www.AboutTimeOnline.Com, http://www.WordWrightWeb.com, and http://www.Securenet-it.Com.
http://www.Hostway.Com, a national hosting company, offers a “Web Site Design Package” that includes a 5-page web site, 2 hours of monthly design maintenance, and hosting for only $400 per year. This includes customer preview and final approval of the site. The downside is that you won’t be able to meet face to face with your web developer and the web site may use a template that might be used by other web sites.
Building It Yourself
If building a web site yourself, you’ll need to identify a hosting company, register a domain name and then create the site.
http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com and http://www.threehoundsgallery.com are 2 examples of domain names used by local businesses.
http://www.GoDaddy.Com and http://www.1and1.Com offer hosting options starting at $3 per month and often include domain name registration. When registering a domain name, make sure that it’s simple to spell, easy to remember and consistent with your branding and company name. You “register” or reserve the right to use that name for a yearly fee. Directnic.Com charges $15 per year, GoDaddy.Com charges $9 per year and 1and1.com charges less then $6 per year. You can also check to see if your domain name is available at these sites.
Most hosting companies have a free, build-your-own website option. You can also use Microsoft FrontPage, a relatively easy-to-use web editing tool that utilizes the familiar look and feel of MS Office, or Macromedia Dreamweaver, a more expert tool that gives you complete control over page design, to create your website.
Training Options
The web “feeds” itself by providing users with the very tools they need to add to and extend the content on the web. Beginners Tutorials can be found on http://www.Website101.com and intermediate to advanced tutorials are up on http://www.WebMonkey.Com . Lynda.Com has an “Online Training Library” consisting of 1,526 movie tutorials that cover a variety of different web development tools. Finally, Microsoft has some helpful FrontPage audio training guides online at http://office.microsoft.com/training.
Some “offline” Website-building class and tutoring options include the Cape Fear Computer Center ( http://www.capefearcomputercenter.com ), Cape Fear Community College ( http://www.cfcc.edu/ce ), and Seaside Computer Tutoring (http://www.bbtutor.com ).
Whether you build it yourself or engage someone to build it for you, the better informed you are, the more professional and effective your website can be.
In last month’s column we talked about the importance of building a professional web site, the increase in customer use of search engines instead of Yellow Pages to make purchasing decisions, and the three basic steps of creating a web site.
This month we’ll cover choosing a company to build your web site, the steps you’d go through to build a web site yourself, and some training options that are available to get you started.
Hiring the Right Company
When selecting a web developer to build your site, you’ll want to see sample web sites they’ve created to get an idea of whether their style coincides with your own. You’ll also want to know their hosting fees (i.e., the monthly fee for keeping your web site online), hourly rates and whether they have any fixed-rate packages available.
Hosting is generally $10-30/month and, in the Wilmington area, you’ll pay roughly $500-$5,000 for a website, dependant on the company you select, the # of pages, whether you accept credit cards online, the degree of complexity, and the level of customization you prefer. Hourly rates range from $25-$150 per hour (sometimes charged in quarter-hour increments) - this is important when you need to make changes to the site after it’s built. Some local companies include http://www.SageIsland.Com, http://www.AboutTimeOnline.Com, http://www.WordWrightWeb.com, and http://www.Securenet-it.Com.
http://www.Hostway.Com, a national hosting company, offers a “Web Site Design Package” that includes a 5-page web site, 2 hours of monthly design maintenance, and hosting for only $400 per year. This includes customer preview and final approval of the site. The downside is that you won’t be able to meet face to face with your web developer and the web site may use a template that might be used by other web sites.
Building It Yourself
If building a web site yourself, you’ll need to identify a hosting company, register a domain name and then create the site.
http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com and http://www.threehoundsgallery.com are 2 examples of domain names used by local businesses.
http://www.GoDaddy.Com and http://www.1and1.Com offer hosting options starting at $3 per month and often include domain name registration. When registering a domain name, make sure that it’s simple to spell, easy to remember and consistent with your branding and company name. You “register” or reserve the right to use that name for a yearly fee. Directnic.Com charges $15 per year, GoDaddy.Com charges $9 per year and 1and1.com charges less then $6 per year. You can also check to see if your domain name is available at these sites.
Most hosting companies have a free, build-your-own website option. You can also use Microsoft FrontPage, a relatively easy-to-use web editing tool that utilizes the familiar look and feel of MS Office, or Macromedia Dreamweaver, a more expert tool that gives you complete control over page design, to create your website.
Training Options
The web “feeds” itself by providing users with the very tools they need to add to and extend the content on the web. Beginners Tutorials can be found on http://www.Website101.com and intermediate to advanced tutorials are up on http://www.WebMonkey.Com . Lynda.Com has an “Online Training Library” consisting of 1,526 movie tutorials that cover a variety of different web development tools. Finally, Microsoft has some helpful FrontPage audio training guides online at http://office.microsoft.com/training.
Some “offline” Website-building class and tutoring options include the Cape Fear Computer Center ( http://www.capefearcomputercenter.com ), Cape Fear Community College ( http://www.cfcc.edu/ce ), and Seaside Computer Tutoring (http://www.bbtutor.com ).
Whether you build it yourself or engage someone to build it for you, the better informed you are, the more professional and effective your website can be.
posted by slidesage at 6:40 PM
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