So, you've just started a new business and have everything ready but now you need a website! Where do you start??? I thought I would write this quick blog as I do get alot of clients coming to me not knowing where to start in getting themselves a website.
First you need a DOMAIN NAME A domain name is basically your new address. This can be the name of your business, for example www.mydomain.com.au. Any web hosting company sells domain names but before you get your hopes up and start promoting your doman name, alway check that it is available first. You can check domain names here.
With domain names you can have .com. .coms are usually american based, I suggest getting a .com.au if you are an Australian business and not wishing to promote oveseas or follow your country code (eg:.co.nz New Zealand, .co.uk United Kingdom etc). Usually when someone types in a search on google and .com.websites show up, they will skip to the .com.au's first. When you set up a .com domain name you only need to enter your personal details to register.
.com.au's With .com.au's to register you need to have a valid ABN number. This is basically to stop people from going and buying out all of the domain names and selling them off.
Web Hosting Next you will need to purchase webhosting. This is basically purchasing a space on a server to hold your website and data. So when someone enters you domain name it points to here to receive all of your information. Sort of like your domain name is your phone number and your web hosting is your mobile phone, with out your phone number, no one can reach you and without your phone, you cant be reached. (Hope that makes sense..lol) Web Hosting packages range from 100mb of space to Unlimted. It depends on how much information you want to save on there. Some people also use there hosting to save data and files on, sort of like a safety backup box. Check here to see our different hosting packages. Our hosting packages start from $89 per year.
Web Space - means how much data you can save on that server
Data Transfer/Bandwidth - Means how much you can upload and download from your server. (Some webs hosts have a certain amount then once you hit that they freeze your account til the end of the month... but not us as all of our packages are unlimited!!!)
MySQL - This is a database, if your planning on setting up a html website, you probabnly wont need this. These are used for CMS or Ecommerce sites so save data.
Sub Domains - This means you can park other domain names on your hosting account so you dont have to purchase a new hosting account for every new domain name.
Email accounts - This is how many email addresses you can set up on this account (eg:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
etc)
Website Now that you have your domain name and hosting you need to figure out what type of website you would like. You can read our blog here on the different types of website you can have. When typing your content remember to insert as many keywords as you can, this will help with ranking on google. Alot of people are misunderstood in thinking that just becuase they have a new website, all of a sudden its going to rank on the first page of google and there are going to be lots of vistors to the site. It doesnt work like this at all. Refering back to the mobile phone thing, just because you get a new phone, doesnt mean its going to start ringing and everyone is going to know your new number, you need to get your number out there by putting it in the phone book etc. Well its the same with a website, you need to advertsie it and get traffic to your site. Google works on clicks and links, so the more links you have back to your website the better and the more people clicking on it helps it rank better on google. Our html websites start from $599 which includes 8 pages of content, flash or javascript banners, contact us form page, 5 free stock images from www.istockphoto.com, customised template design and more. Contact us today to find out more or to receive our latest pricelist. To find out more about optimising your website click here to read our blog on Search Engine Optimisation.
I hope this blog has been of some help, but if you have any other questions please feel free to contact us and someone will be glad to help you.
Search Engine Optimisation
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 00:26
After your website is built alot of people dont seem to understand why their website is not ranking up on one of the first few pages of search engines. Think of it like this... we (the web designers) are like the printers of a magazine, we design and print the magazine, but how you distribute it out to your customers is up to you. This is where optimising your website comes into plan.
This is never as easy as it may seem. We will do as much as we can to help this process by adding keywords and tags that you can supply us which will help search engine robots to pick up your website but this does not mean you will nessarily rank at number 1 or even within the first 10 pages.
The way most search engines work is by cataloging websites by using crawler robots which usually find your website through links. The more links you can have linking to your website will also help you in ranking.
Here are a few tips of what google robots prefer in finding your website.
Text is king - Googlebots cannot read images or Flash The more links from other websites to your site the better. The Title tag should contain key phrases. Headers with descriptive paragraphs are recommended. Complimentary key phrases on all Title Tags of internal pages. Pages updated with new content on a regular basis. Plain Text links to the rest of your website.
There are other technical issues but basically that’s it. No cheating, no hidden text, links, redirects, etc, just plain old text information about your product incorporated the key words you wish to rank on. This is why we dont suggest having a flash built website. Goggle and oter search engines are unable to retrieve information from these websites therefore not picking up on you at all.
Once your website is complete LAB Web Design can also provide a one off SEO package which entails us going through your website and: - Suggesting new keywords and comparing keywords to your competition - Add sitemaps and robots pages to the backend of your website - Find out what actions you should take to get to the top of search results with your selected keywords - Edit your pages in the visual editor to incorporate LAB Web Designs optimization advice - Register with the most popular search engines and directories all over the world - Find new potential link partners, evaluate the chosen websites, and manage correspondence with the site owners
Hopefully once these things have been carried out on your website you will start to rank higher on search engine pages.
Keep in mind that this never happens overnight and usually takes a few months to work your way up. Alternatively if you require more help in ranking your website you can contact one of our SEO partners who specifically look after your website by mentioning LAB Web Design and they will help you and guarantee you a spot in search engine rankings at an extra cost.
Websites can get a little complicated when trying to figure out exactly what type you need for your business. The following information should give you a brief insight to how each one works and hopefully make things easier for you when deciding to get a new website.
HTML Website
A HTML website is a website that serves as an online brochure or primarily informational website highlighting a company, organization, product, etc… A HTML website is static, therefore it does not involve complex database programming, e-commerce, or lots of interactivity. It basically serves as an online advertisement. This kind of website is a great starter website presence and can be expanded with growth. In this day and age, it is essential for a company to have at least a brochure website. Most brochure sites consist of 5-15 pages providing an overview of the business/organization/product. The most important aspect to a corporate brochure site is navigation and that it gives a clear impression of your company as well as it's placement among the various search engines. Once a website is completed we can provide training if you would like to learn how to upload and download text and images from your website, which will save time and money of paying a web designer to change something. To give you an idea of a HTML site you can view any of these sites from our portfolio.
Dynamic Content Management Site
The benefit of a content management site is just that the content can be changed and updated anywhere there is an internet connection and you do not need specific software to use to update your site. A complex interactive site has a large amount of back-end programming. More complex sites feature a greater level of interactivity and database integration. Most dynamic websites consist of database-driven content and dynamically generated pages. The amount of pages is not as relevant as the amount of programming involved and the unique requirements of your project. Dynamic website projects are generally based on hours of development. Scalability and flexibility are very important items to consider when shopping for a dynamic website solution. Keep in mind that even though a dynamic website can be set up so you can change text and images, when it comes to the changing of page layout or pages unless you have knowledge in php a web designer or programmer would need to do that. To give you an idea of a Dynamic Content Management site you can view any of these sites from our portfolio
Ecommerce website
Simply put, e-commerce is the online transaction of business, featuring linked computer systems of the vendor, host, and buyer. In other words, a shopping website which enables customers to purchase items from your website whilst using their credit cards and other payment options to do so. E-commerce can be divided into: E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall" The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data e-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters) Business-to-business buying and selling (B2B). To give you an idea of Ecommerce websites we have done you can click on some of the links below
I hope this information has been helpful. Also keep in mind that just because you have a website does not necessarily mean people can find it or will visit it. You will need to optimise your site. For more info read our next blog post here.
For any other questions about websites, please contact us and someone will explain more to you.
After your website is built alot of people dont seem to understand why their website is not ranking up on one of the first few pages of search engines. Think of it like this... we (the web designers) are like the printers of a magazine, we design and print the magazine, but how you distribute it out to your customers is up to you. This is where optimising your website comes into plan.
Websites can get a little complicated when trying to figure out exactly what type you need for your business. The following information should give you a brief insight to how each one works and hopefully make things easier for you when deciding to get a new website.