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office: UK - (01288)
341519 mobile: UK - 07929 005378 |
Website Services - "the early decisions"
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How do I choose and protect a name for my website? |
This is not too difficult. Firstly, we will show you how to check the availability of "domain" names that describe your business name as near as possible - there are literally hundreds of sites where you can check this. We will then help you register your unique domain name if you don't already have one. This registration process takes only a few minutes and costs between £6 to £10 per year depending on the type of domain name you require (note that ".com" sites cost more than ".co.uk" because they are more universally recognised throughout the world). |
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Do I have to keep the site on my own computer? |
Small businesses are not normally set-up with sufficiently sophisticated computer facilities that can provide an uninterrupted service to people accessing its website through the internet. We therefore recommend using an affordable "hosting" service which holds your website on their computers (let's them have the headache of providing the technology). The hosting company will charge depending on the service they provide to you. We will help you choose an appropriate host for your website and establish your site on their servers. You can expect to pay around £25-£30 per year for this service.
Your
site can then be maintained and modified on your
computer and regularly "published" to the host's
servers which make it instantly available to
everybody on the internet. |
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Will the site be simple or do I need a custom-built site? |
This will of course depend on the business, how you intend to promote your business through the website and quite importantly, your budget. Simple websites holding basic details of the business and limited graphics can be created quickly from standard templates in most website authoring tools - this is the fast-track to developing a simple website - with very basic sites being available in a matter of hours. They are usually unencumbered with function and simply provide a contact point and information source for potential customers. Custom-built websites takes a little more thought, planning and time but normally produce a more useful end-product - and yes, it costs more to produce. |
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Is the site going to change frequently or rarely? |
If the answer is frequently (i.e. a dynamic site) and you are planning to make these changes yourself, you will need appropriate software on your computer to be able to maintain the site. We will advise what you need to do this. If rarely (i.e. a static site) then it might be more cost-effective to pay somebody else (with time, knowledge and also the appropriate software) to maintain it for you as and when you need the site changed. We can provide this service. |
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Do I need expensive new software? |
Not always. There are many different web-authoring tools on the market today. We develop sites exclusively with Microsoft Front Page and its replacement Microsoft Expression Web, because that is where our experience lies. We use all sorts of packages to create and modify graphics but always create our websites with Front Page or Expression Web. We know Front Page and Expression Web may not be as feature-rich as products such as Macromedia produce but they give solid control over the web-authoring environment with tools that have the same Microsoft "look and feel" (like Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.). A copy of MS Front Page 2003 will cost around £90-£100 from Amazon.co.uk. A copy of Expression Web varies - we can help choose the right package for you. In some cases, where all the client requires is to periodically update text and pictures on a limited number of pre-defined pages, we will advise how to use tools such as Microsoft Word to update the page and a simple tool to upload the changes to the website. We will review your system and help you decide what is appropriate before you make any purchase. There are lots of design/authoring tools available - it all depends what is right for you and your circumstances. |
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How do I promote my new site on the internet? How do I get it noticed? |
Firstly, it is no surprise that Google is the most-used search engine in the world today. As a Google registered Webmaster, we can help to get the site noticed by submitting it for Google indexing. It takes time for this to work through their database of websites but it should be showing search results within a matter of weeks. Secondly, effective and relevant "meta-tags", "keywords" are essential. Also the more links you have to/from your site to others, the more noticed you will become. Therefore we will make a few suggestions about how to work with the flow instead of against the tide.
Thirdly,
you can pay Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
companies in a variety of ways to promote your site.
Not all of these are reputable so we will work with
you to find a reasonably priced solution that
guarantees top 10 placement in the most-used search
engines. There are many different ways to pay SEO's,
so let's look at what's right for you. |