Building A Successful Website!

==== ====Best Webhosting Deals!http://bit.ly/gatorspecial==== ====Most people know they need a website in order to publicise and promote their business but veryfew people know what they want in their website. Fewer still are those who can actually sit downand plan their websites well.If you dont plan ahead, problems will crop up later.For example, who is going to take care of the website? What are the costs involved? Will you havethe time to maintain it or should you hire a webmaster?These and many more reasons should be compelling enough for you to plan your website wellnow. Planning your website also ensures that your website fulfills its purpose. It also prepares youfinancially for the costs of designing and maintaining the website.Before you go online with a website, here are some issues to consider:Domain NameAs a business website owner, your first task is to choose a suitable domain name which reflectsyour business. A domain name should also be easy to pronounce and easy to remember. To dothis, first list down some domain names which you prefer. To project a professional feel, avoidcutesy names or names which have negative connotation. Those in the service or consultancy linemight want to use their own names as domains. Next, check availability of the domains that youhave chosen. What happens if the domain you choose is already taken? Go for alternatives, suchas .net, .org or .biz, if .com is not available.Design of WebsiteThese days, it is not necessary to hire a web designer to design a website although you can, if youwant to. The alternative is that you can learn to create a website yourself by learning HTML or byusing a WYSIWYG editor.HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the code or language used to write or create mostdocuments you see on the World Wide Web. If learning HTML from scratch is too complicated,you can also use a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor.A WYSIWYG Editor makes it much easier because it allows users who do not have technicalbackground the freedom to create and edit their own web pages easily. By using a WYSIWYGEditor, even those who do not know HTML or web design can create, update and maintain theirown websites.

Purpose of WebsiteNot every websites intention is sell to consumers. Some websites are used for prospecting whileothers are used for education. Define the purpose of your website so that your marketing activitiescan be better structured to fulfill this purpose. For example, say you intend to sell your productsonline. How do you plan to do it? Do you want your customers to pay using credit card, direct fundtransfer or via some other means? How do you plan to ship the products?If you want to sell products and services online, ensure you plan e-commerce facilities early intoyour website. Of course there is nothing wrong if you want to use your website for prospecting,sales and education. However, be sure that there is a strategy for each purpose or you would belosing valuable visitors unnecessarily.Target AudienceKnowing whom you are creating the website for will go a long way in helping you market yourwebsite later. Think about the age group, geographic location, income level and interests of youraudience. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine you are a visitor to the website. What wouldinterest you? What would turn you off? If you cannot imagine your target audience, how aboutthinking about people who are currently buying your products or services? What are they like?What age groups do they belong to? What is their geographic location? More importantly, what dothey need?ContentThe main reason why people go online is to find information. Therefore your website shouldcontain information. But what kinds of information could you provide? You could offer informationabout your products and services. You could also offer information about your company. Anothertype of information comes in the form of articles, books, newsletters and reports. Again, this bringsup more questions. How often will you update your information? Will your content be free? Will yoube writing the content yourself or will you obtain articles from other websites?Good quality content is important if you want to attract web users to browse, read and learn. In theprocess, they educate themselves and find themselves trusting you and what you market.Besdies, writing and providing interesting and useful content in the form of articles, tips and how-tos is a great way to position yourself as a trustworthy expert.CopywritingGood copy or text is always important on any website because if your customers dont trust whatyou are saying, they wont buy from you. Do not attempt to place the copy found on your printedbrochure directly onto your website because that wouldnt work.Writing for the web is different because of the way people read online. People scan text when theyread online as opposed to reading word by word when they read printed books.According to http://www.useit.com, reading from computer screens is about 25% slower than

reading on paper. In short, it is painful to read from computer screens. As such, any type of writingfor websites should remember that reading short and succinct text is far more appealing thanreading long chunks and blocks of text.To help people read better online, use headlines to break up long paragraphs, use bulleted lists,write shorter paragraphs and write less than you should. Spend some time looking at goodwebsites and see if you can learn how to write web copy for your website. If the job sounds tootough, get the services of a professional web copywriter.Interactive ElementsInteractive elements makes your website come alive and attract visitors. For example, are youplanning to offer audio talks or mini videos for visitors to download? Do you want to have a forumwhere visitors can have discussions? Do you want to enable visitors to talk to you live while bothof you are online? While interactive elements are fun, do bear in mind that these do take upbandwidth. You might like to discuss with your web hosting provider about your hosting needs ifyou intend to include these elements into your website.Graphics and ImagesGood graphics and images are key to making a website look professional and polished.What product images do you have? If you do not have good images, consider getting professionalshots done. Or you can also consider buying stock photographs. How about logos? Do you haveone or do you need to create one? What other images do you need for your website? Note thesedown. Remember that images for the web should be either in .gif, .jpeg or .png formats. Graphicsshould also be optimized for the web meaning they should not be too large as large graphics tendto make your webpages load too slowly which over time, would turn your visitors off.Web hostingPlanning for web hosting is another important step. Make sure your web host can support yourrequirements especially if your website contains a number of interactive elements.Updates and MaintenanceDo not be mistaken that a website that is completed and live online can be left as it is. A websitecan never grow by itself. As a website owner, you need to help it grow. You need to update andmaintain the website therefore you must plan updating and maintenance work into your website.How often will your website be updated? Will you be the person who will update and maintain thewebsite? If you intend on doing so, can your web designer integrate a content managementsystem into the website? Or if you dont feel you can do this job well, maybe you should thinkabout delegating this work to a webmaster. If you need a webmaster, be sure you calculate intoyour budget an allocation for webmaster fees.The best thing about having a website is that you can make immediate changes to your websiteand you see the information in real time, updated and relevant. Unlike printed materials which

takes time to be printed and distributed, which by then some information may no longer berelevant, a website enables you to make immediate changes easily and cheaply.Updating and maintaining your website is also important because it encourages search engines tocome and index your website, thus enabling your website to be ranked in the search engineswhen web users do an online search.Nic Sim is the owner and founder of http://www.RedboxStudio.com Â– a web design firmdedicated to helping solo professionals and small businesses go online affordably andsuccessfully with its easy to use, no-fuss Redbox DIY Website. Visit http://www.redboxdiy.com formore details.Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nic_Sim==== ====Best Webhosting Deals!http://bit.ly/gatorspecial==== ====

Building A Successful Website!

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