There are really just 3 things which you need for a website:-

1. Domain name
2. Hosting space
3. Web pages

1. Domain Name

That’s the www.mysite.com or www.mysite.com.au which is used to identify your website.  You need to register your domain name with a domain name registrar.  There are many of these - a good low-cost registrar for .com, .net, .biz, .org type domain names is NameCheap.com. 

To register a .com.au domain name, you must be able to demonstrate that you are legitimately entitled to that domain name, such as showing that it is your registered business name, with an ABN, or that is is your own name or similar.  NetRegistry.com.au provides Australian domain names at competitive rates.

These days, it’s probably worth registering your domain name as soon as you find one which you like and which suits your purpose.  If this is the first thing you do, you, or your web developer, will need to revisit the registration site later, to make the domain name point to the actual web pages, once they exist.  So if you do this for yourself, keep (save or print or both!) all emails which your domain name registrar sends you.

2. Hosting Space

This is the computer space where the web pages actually reside and are served up to the internet.  Unless you are a very large organisation (or enjoy a technical challenge) it is usual to rent hosting space from a web hosting company.  Web Hosting by ICDSoft is an excellent choice – they provide reliable, low-cost web hosting with room to grow.  

3.  Web Pages

The actual coded pages which people see when they visit your web site.

You will need to give a fair amount of thought to the content of your pages.  Of course, unlike a book or brochure, a website can be changed, so don’t feel that you must have the content entirely fixed when you start on your website.  A website can grow and change and adding to your website over time can be very beneficial.

Another critical question is the look – what image do you want to convey and how do you want visitors to feel when viewing your site?  You may have a good idea about this; you may already have a logo or printed material, company colours, favourite sites on the internet, or you may wish to engage the services of a graphic designer to help bring together your website look. 

With some content and look in mind, the next question is:-

How or Who to Build Your Web Pages

This is very much dependant on your enthusiasm and time for dabbling in “computer things” and also on your budget.

You can set up a Blog for free at Blogger.com and quickly have an “online diary” which you can update regularly without much technical expertise.  (You won’t need your own domain name or even hosting service for a Blog like this and it may be all that you need initially).

Another option, if you are happy to do the work yourself, is to consider the site building facility offered by some web hosts, such as Netregistry or GoDaddy.  These allow you to choose from a set of existing templates (some quite pretty) and add your own text and pictures to create and then maintain your own site. 

If you want full control over the look or the behaviour of the site, gather up all the ideas you have and talk to a website developer such as weblines.  

Weblines also offers no-fuss, reliable, low-cost web site hosting, via our partnership with ICDSoft.

Once your site has been built, you can continue to update it, via the content management system (CMS).  We are happy to provide training and tips to help you pick things up.  If you don’t have the time or the interest, weblines can continue to manage any updates – all it takes is a quick email from you when changes are required. 

If, by this time, you have become thoroughly enthusiastic about developing the site yourself, you could consider starting with some website development courses!

It can encompass many things….

• having a website
• listing your website with local and niche directories, Google Maps,…
• getting your website to the top of Search Engine results pages
• advertising via Search Engines – Google Adwords, Yahoo…
• advertising on other websites – banner ads
• building and maintaining an email address list of clients and interested parties
• keeping in contact with that email database, via email newsletters
• viral marketing – sending out something so good that people forward it on to others
• providing RSS and other “feeds” so that people can monitor new items on your website
• having a regularly updated Blog
• building up a community around your Blog and interacting with it
• making appropriate use of internet Forums
• enhancing your website with audio, video and other technologies
• ensuring your website is available via new technologies, such as mobile devices
• making use of Social Networking sites – MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube….

This list is constantly growing as people find more and more innovative uses for the internet.  And we’re all constantly learning.  But this list will do for now.

Is there anything here which might be worth trying for your business or organisation? 

I suggest you start with one or two ideas which appeal to you yourself - you may be a big fan of Google Maps or YouTube, or maybe you can see the real benefit in a regular email newsletter.  So give those a go to start with.

Then, have a think about your potential clients, or the people you’d really like to be aware of your website or your services.  Who are they?  How are they most likely to spend their time online?  Which of these techniques might reach them most easily; which might they respond to most readily?  It can help to visualise a real person, perhaps two or three different people, and imagine them using their computer (or mobile phone) - what they do regularly, what they look at, how they react.

And, if you need us, we at weblines are happy to advise on or act as your website team to implement any of these e-marketing activities.  We’ll give you regular reports and provide statistics to help measure the value of any e-marketing we undertake on your behalf. 

Where do you start?  What content do you really need for that first website?

There are some standard things that most useful websites have in common.  You’ll probably want to start with at least these web pages:

• Home page
• Services
• About
• Contact
• Links

Home Page

This is the main page which summarises what your web site is about.  It needs to be clear to new visitors who have just stumbled upon your site, yet also useful to visitors who are coming back to see anything new on your site.

Services

I’ve used the term “Services” but this could be “Products”, “Courses”, “Offerings”, indeed it could come under a number of different titles and could easily be several pages, not just one. This page or group of pages is essentially more detail about what you do or what the site if offering.

About

In order to achieve credibility, it is important to clearly state on the website who you are, including some information on background and credentials.

Contact

Absolutely crucial is some means by which interested people can contact you.  This can be a contact form or email address (be careful not to place an email address directly on a web page as this opens you up to endless spam! A contact form is one way of getting around this).  A phone number is also very useful, and a physical address may be essential for a small business looking to increase local customers.

Links

These days linking to other related websites and having them link back to you are essential in order to appear in the search results of the major search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, etc).  You can have a separate links page or links to other sites can appear as a sidebar on various pages of your site, but it is worth considering this from the beginning.

Worth Considering

Other items which are worth considering are:-

• News or blog
• Recommendations or testimonials
• Photo gallery
• Samples or examples
• Database of members or interested people
• Online store

More on those later….

In the meantime, rather than putting it off again, it’s really very easy to get started on that first website.  Just gather up anything you think is important to the look of the website, such as:-

• logo
• company colours or your own colour/look preferences
• photos
• brochures, leaflets other written material you have

Then, if you are technically inclined, you can make a start yourself.  If not, find a friendly neighbourhood website developer and have a chat!

A website can always be changed or added to, much more easily than a brochure from a print run.  So get started and see where it grows to!

• Search engines seem to like it,
• It encourages visitors to keep coming back,
• You can highlight your most current product, service, meeting, workshop, etc.

What’s more, out-of-date content can have a detrimental effect – when visitors see workshops with past dates or content which is no longer current, that can lower their opinion of your website and your business.  It might even discourage them from using your services.

So, great, let’s get that website updated!

But, even if you have the skills to do it, or a great content management system (cms), many people just don’t have the time to do yet another thing for their business or organisation.

In fact, I read recently that, although many people request a cms as part of their new website, as few as 1% actually make regular use of it. 

That’s why weblines offers a Website Management service.  We aim to be the website department you don’t have – for as often or as little as you need us.

Charges are flexible, depending on your needs.   You can pay by any of:- 

• Economical annual rate
• Hourly rate
• Per update as required

Once we have set things up, changes can be made to your website within 24 hours (often less) – just email the latest information, dates or pictures, in any format you are already using, and leave the rest to weblines. 

You wouldn’t do your accounts yourself so why feel obliged to take on the extra work of maintaining your website?  Contact weblines for an obligation-free chat.