Popular Web Terms
and Tips for Site Owners
EMAIL (E-MAIL)
Fast, cheap and powerful. It is little
wonder that email has become so popular.
Together with your domain name and hosting (explained below) you
will have at least one email address.
You can send and receive email in either plain text or rich text
(HTML). Many people do not like to receive rich text emails. They
are larger files and take longer to download. They also can hide
worms and viruses, thus many large firms' firewalls will convert
rich text emails to plain text and make them unreadable. You can
set how you send in Outlook (Express) - open 'Tools' >'Options'
> 'Send'.
Click radio button 'Plain Text'.
See
how to set up your email.
Web site owners can readily collect email addresses of visitors by
asking them to join a list. This can soon build into a useful and
readily accessible list of customers and potential customers.
HOSTING
You need somewhere to put your website so that the
world can view it. This is called 'hosting'. Websites are hosted on
servers. A server is essentially a computer without a screen housed in a secure
place connected to the web.
We
offer 'standard' or 'full' hosting to our design clients from £80
/ CHF 180 a year to £120 / CHF 300 a year for more comprehensive
features (like databases and multiple email addresses. All hosting
provides visitor statistics.
We can offer hosting in the UK, USA or Switzerland. Hosting need not be part
of your design package - we are quite flexible. We do not host non-design
clients though. We recommend that you use hosting as near as possible
to your customers. (The hosting for this site is in the UK.
)
DOMAINS
All websites need a domain
name - for example 'www.yourcompanyname.com'. We are happy make
suggestions and recommendations for your domain name and arrange the
purchase.
Annual
costs are
£20
/ CHF 50 for all .com / .net / .co.uk and £40 / CHF 100 for
Swiss .ch domains.
(A URL is a domain address. It actually stands for
Universal Resource Locator. So you could say your domain name is your
house and your URL is the address of your house - which can be the
same.
)
SEARCH ENGINES
We ensure that your website is maximized for search
engine recognition and include submissions to all major search
engine within our prices.
There are 1000s of search engine and directories (Yahoo is a directory),
but there are only five important ones and google is by far the most
import to be listed with. You will see all sorts of claims by 'specialists'
promising
putting sites into the number one position in google - beware. There
can only be one number one.
See our search engine optimisation pages.
CONTENT
Good content is vital.
It is essential that you website gives visitors something that
they can't find elsewhere, that it gives them useful, original
information.
Visitors to your site don't want to read your advertising 'spiel'.
Don't be afraid of giving away something that you would rather
sell to attract and hold visitors. Everyone like something free.
Also the content needs to be renewed and updated regularly, otherwise there is no reason for revisiting your site. However
well-designed your site is, if you do not offer original, useful content - you will not get visitors. Search engines
like fresh content too.
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Known as CMS, this system requires hosting with a database. Whole sites can
be build to operate 'dynamically'. That is to say the site pages
do not exist in static form, but are generated from various files
dependent on
the visitor's requirements. This allows site owners without knowledge
of how site functions to readily update and expand their sites
just as easily as writing a Word document. See
examples.
E-COMMERCE
Sell your products to a massive global market
24/7.
While the potential of online sales is massive, be aware that it is
not magic. People buy online for many reasons - the biggest one is
because they perceive online prices to be lower. Thus, trying to sell over-priced or merchandise or items
that are available elsewhere will simply not work. We have considerable experience with ecommerce and have built
over 50 online stores. See examples.
PROMOTION
Without promotion nobody will visit your
site because they won't know it is there. Before planning your website you should
have a clear idea how you are going to promote it.
You should include your domain name and email address on ALL literature,
correspondence, advertisements etc.
WHY
You need a website to inform and advise customers
and potential customers of your products and services in an extremely
cost-effective way. You should aim to make your website a unique online
representation of your business - more than just a copy of your existing
brochure.
WHAT
What do expect your website to do?
To increase your profits by obtaining new business.
To advise existing customers in a new, smart and convenient way and
thus further cement your relationship with them. Do yo want you site to sell - as in ecommerce?
Do you want you site to be a showcase?
It is vital to know what you website is supposed to achieve before you start.
DON'T
Don't have unreasonable expectations.
Your website will only be as effective as the effort you put into
it. Without fresh, interesting, lively and informative content, not available elsewhere, and without promotion
your website will not attract and keep many visitors.
On the other hand, with the right content and promotion your website will develop into a valuable asset.
© Copyright Paul Bilton 1998