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!

Most small businesses can be described in about 4 key pages:-

• Home page
• One or more pages about Services or Products
• About us (the business, organisation or site)
• Contact details / form

Additional useful pages to consider are:-

• FAQs
• Examples or samples of work, products or services
• Testimonials / recommendations / satisfied customers

Weblines Pages

For this site, the main pages I will have are:-

1. Home
2. 1 page each summarising main services – Website Development and Website Maintenance (or Management)
3. About Weblines
4. Contact us
5. Portfolio of work

I want separate pages for Weblines’ services rather than one summary page for Search Engine Optimisation reasons – a link or heading “Services” is very generic and not particularly helpful; a link or heading “Website Development” is much more specific and helps search engines to know what that page is about.  

I will also do some Keyword Research, to check out what words people actually search on, before finally deciding what to call my pages.

Next steps are: -

1. Refresh the design – nothing too fancy, just clear and clean and lively
2. Plan the site pages properly – most small businesses can be described in 4 or 5 key pages and that’s the initial aim
3. Write good, clear copy for those pages (keeping keywords in mind for the search engines)
4. Clean up the site – and ensure there’s a helpful “404 File not Found” page for anyone who arrives at a page which has moved
5. And we’re ready to move on!

Next step is to write good, clear SEO-friendly content for the site main pages.

Next steps are: -

1. Refresh the design – nothing too fancy, just clear and clean and lively
2. Plan the site pages properly – most small businesses can be described in 4 or 5 key pages and that’s the initial aim
3. Write good, clear copy for those pages (keeping keywords in mind for the search engines)
4. Clean up the site – and ensure there’s a helpful “404 File not Found” page for anyone who arrives at a page which has moved
5. And we’re ready to move on!

Next is to plan the site main pages more coherently and write the copy for them.

There are times when you realise that your website is not doing all that it could be for you.  I had some feedback with comments on the site:-

• links not working
• header image conveying the wrong message
• page text too, at time 
• some text colour too light (doesn’t offer enough contrast to the background) 

So, it’s time to refresh the site.  Here is what is happening -

1. Refresh the design – nothing too fancy, just clear and clean and lively
2. Plan the site pages properly – most small businesses can be described in 4 or 5 key pages and that’s the initial aim
3. Write good, clear copy for those pages (keeping keywords in mind for the search engines)
4. Clean up the site – and ensure there’s a helpful “404 File not Found” page for anyone who arrives at a page which has moved
5. And we’re ready to move on!

Watch out for changes.

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.