Welcome online – to one of my clients. Sanctuary Pilates in Claremont. Photography by Douglas Simon Photography. Great atmosphere and true dedication from the owners for quality sessions and healthy instruction.
Located in Claremont, CA
Businesses choose to have an online presence for multiple reasons.
Connecting with new clients is typically a motivating reason for moving online.
Tired of paying phone book directories which seem to be archaic means a business has to be somewhere in order to compete.
Some of my clients wanted an online brochure. Presenting your past workmanship is a breeze, with the ability to show more content than hauling portfolios to prospective clients.
A wesbite can serve to give basic information from your phone number to hours of operation for a past client who lost your phone number. It’s a time saver for businesses answering phone calls to give this basic info – everyone is happy. A website is your 24/7 contact point.
Here is the one which the Internet has taught us: a website adds legitimacy to any business. When considering doing hiring a company their website is just the place to research them before picking up the phone. While they have built the website and control the message – it’s a beginning.
I recently needed a product which was “difficult” to find. The online community buzzed with resources to find this item. A simple Google search on the company name and I found they are located 3 miles from me. Despite the location not being a typical retail store, they do sell at this facility. A huge time saver for me.
Not having a website is no longer an option.
New to the online world is Arrow Animal Hospital, my client who just launched their website this week. This is a basic 10 page website. Website photos by Douglas Simon Photography.
This is a spectacular facility – not only is the building stunning at 6300 square feet, but so is the lobby, exam rooms and the most fascinating part to me–behind the scenes. With extensive dental care, ICU, surgery room, x-ray room, boarding and more. This place can handle chihuahuas to Great Danes! It is amazing how technology has provided so many tools to keep our pets healthy. If San Dimas, California is convenient for your pet’s care – give them a call. An extremely dedicated vet – who has an extraordinary passion for cat and dog care.
Arroww Animal Hospital in San Dimas, CA
Your first website is the hardest. What colors do you want for your design? If you have a logo you can “brand” the website with those colors. What if you don’t have a logo? Not to worry. Many of my clients don’t have a logo. Don’t let this stop you from taking your business online.
Some business categories have identifiable colors. The auto industry leans toward red, white and blue color schemes. Medical facilities — blue tones. There are classic color schemes which are appropriate for business and others geared toward entertainment websites full of bright color combinations.
Try to find 2-3 websites you like. This will greatly help your web designer begin creating your custom layout and is a big time saver. Getting the color design you are happy with is the biggest foundation step. The better prepared you are the more efficient the website creation process will be.
Color is not your thing? Some of my clients have no idea about color, and happily let me create 2-3 designs for them. They choose one, and we’re off. You can be as involved with the color scheme as you want! It’s about having choices.
Just in case you’re looking for a domain name – GoDaddy is having a sale on .com (s) The price of all domains is increasing mid-January, so if considering going online, or making a change, this is a bit mroe of a sa vigns!
Not your typical Christmas sale!
Online business websites need to create a trust factor. Many factors contribute to converting a visitor into a client.
When someone visits your site they have a goal. Information; service or product purchase, some are comparison shoppers. However they land on your site if you have what they are looking for – you want to deliver the information. Typically they will evaluate your site on appearance – “a picture speaks a thousand words” in motion! The tone of your website needs to be clear.
Site navigation is critical. We’ve all been on websites which are confusing: too many graphics – too much clutter, and the information is not easily accessible. Make it user friendly.
As a business you already have standards in practice. You have customer satisfaction guidelines established. All these need to be reflected in the content on your page. People like doing business with people they like. If they feel valued and respected they take a step closer. All this needs to be reflected on your website – much like a personal conversation.
As a visitor digs deeper into your site they should have a well rounded sense of you as a business owner. Now, you have someone who will pick up the phone, or take the “add to cart” action. That is the “conversion” you are seeking from your website. Success!
Most businesses recognize the need for a website for their own purposes. It turns out now the website is an asset when obtaining a business loan. Recently an incoming client was told he needed to have a website in order to apply for a business loan.
It’s nice to know all the time spent to create your website is seen as an asset. Of course – if you sold your business…once again you would have value!
Price change in domain name.
Today my resource for domain name (website name) purchase announced an increase beginning June 18, 2010 for .com and .net name. The increase is 50 cents. Namesecure.com is the resource I use.
Namesecure was recently purchased by NetworkSolutions. I checked NetworkSolution’s pricing, which is not easily displayed. For a one year domain they begin at $15.99. This offers a couple of items with it, but if you are launching a full website these aren’t necessary. They have another plan for $34.99 per year.
If this is your first time buying a domain name be careful. The price should continue to total under $10.00/year. GoDaddy is offering 6.99/year until you look up a .com and the price jumps to $10.69.
.com is the extension you want for your domain name. Others are cheaper, but the reason is simple: we’re still .com-minded.
Web Hosting is the only monthly/ongoing fee for a website.
What is web hosting?
Every website resides on some computer somewhere. These are typically called “servers”. (Part of the confusion for new website owners can be the different names used for the same item.) Servers are basically computer hard drives. Web hosting services have lots of these – stacks and rooms full of servers.
How to choose your web hosting begins with your preference. Most of my clients don’t have time or desire to research this and I handle it for them. I set up their webmail as well.
But if you want to choose your own you need to research the company. Find out how to reach tech support. Can they be reached by phone? Email tech support is often enough, but you need to know how to reach tech when there is an issue. And something WILL come up.
Don’t base your choice on price alone. Have you ever had your computer’s hard drive get very sluggish as it ages due in part to reaching the used capacity? The same thing happens with servers. The more packed into them the slower they become over time. You do not want your website to download slowly due to the server. Don’t confuse this with your own (or a visitor’s) download time. This you cannot control. If a visitor tells you the site wouldn’t load – you check it out and it is fine – you can be comfortable it was on the visitor’s end.
If you choose your own web hosting you will need to provide your web designer with the user name and password and the name of the directory the website is uploaded into.
While cheap hosting isn’t desirable you don’t need to over pay. If you are using a simple site with static pages (no Flash, multi-media, audio, video, etc.) you can meet your needs for around $15/month. You can pay less if you pay annually.
I stopped paying annually with the 2008 economy downturn. I could foresee companies folding with my clients’ fees paid for a year. Another concern was maintenance expenses for web hosting (all those servers). I wondered if the companies would cut back on maintenance and upgrades to the servers which would mean declining performance to our websites. I experienced this when one company was sold another. The hosting began to suffer. I now pay web hosting fees monthly on behalf of my clients. I am in a position to move my clients if the hosting begins to decline.
If you are launching an e-commerce site. There are a number of other issues and your hosting needs are higher. You must be on secure servers and there are associated fees.
Read the web hosting’s uptime stats. While some offer to credit you back should their down time be longer than 45 minutes in one month – read the fine print to see what this dollar amount will be. (It’s very small.)
There are a number of web hosting review websites you can check out. It’s a place to begin. Read the fine print and email any host you are considering. Their response time can give you some idea of their customer service attitude.
Web hosting is the foundation for your online business. Make an informed choice.
You’re ready to take the step to your first website.
You know it is time to take your business online and hire a custom web designer. Your research is beginning to make you dizzy trying to decipher the verbiage. Here’s a place to begin:
SECURE YOUR DOMAIN NAME
Your domain name is a great value at $9.13/year (update: June 18th price increase of 50 cents for .com and .net). If your business name is your branding – stick with it. But if you are looking to gain internet traffic you might consider a 2 step approach. Many of my web clients use their business name as their website domain (aka URL) to be spoken – given over the phone. The second domain name they choose is their “real” website name containing a keyword for their business. Ex. Your business name is “Cute Name, Inc.” and you sell clocks. Buy 2 domains (if available):
When someone types CuteName.com in the browser address bar it is redirected to Clocks.com seamlessly. Unless you are watching the address bar, you won’t be aware of the redirect.
Using a keyword in your domain name is a strong foundation for your website and greatly aids in search engine optimization (SEO), which is how Google, Yahoo and Bing learn what your website is about. As Google ranks your site (something being bantered around currently) a solid keyword in your domain name can help give you an edge. As competitive as the internet has become it’s important to give this thought. Discuss with others and speak your domain name to see how it rolls off your tongue and is understood. Any “s” people may not hear and forget to put in? It needs to be clear.
You can have multiple redirects.
COM vs .NET and so on…
No matter how often we’re told CuteName dot NET – we type in the browser address bar CuteName dot COM. Not a big deal if I arrive at a site I KNOW is not the one I wanted. But if it is your competitor’s site and the visitor is a potential new client – you have much to lose. It’s also better to keep your name significantly different than your competition. It is trickier these days, with so many online, but worth giving this some thought. This is your online business. You can also purchase any available extensions if you are aggressively protecting “your domain”, and leave those parked, or add a redirect to your dot COM.
I use NameSecure for domain purchase. NetworkSolutions is another (and have acquired namesecure recently). It doesn’t matter where you go, just be aware if the price is more than $9.13 you are buying something else. These sites also sell email services you wouldn’t need most likely as most web hosting offers webmail services.
You can purchase privacy of your domain name registrant. This is about $9.00/year (it varies). Every domain is listed in what is called “WhoIs”. Anyone can look up the owner of a domain name – except those who choose privacy. I don’t recommend this for most of my clients, since their name will be on their website – people can figure out who the owner is quite simply. Why pay for something you aren’t trying to hide?
That is step one – domain name = website = URL.