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Why have a website?
Choosing a web designer
Making your own website
Getting your website noticed
Making money from your website
Why have a website?
Choosing a web designer
Making your own website
Getting your website noticed
Making money from your website
Don't get a website...
Until you have read this very important and totally FREE advice
Until you have read this very important and totally FREE advice
So you want to create your own website presence on the internet and can't afford a web design company to do this for you?
There are many FREE website builders out there that work on a 'What you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) basis. No knowledge whatsoever is required to make yourself a site, and questions that you may have such as how to get your domain name (www.yourname.co.uk) and how to host your site is usually explained in very simple step-by-step guides with your website builder package.
You need no html or any other coding knowledge or experience and all the good web builder packages always come with excellent support in the shape of help forums and/or technical support teams on hand 24 hours a day.
A personal favourite of mine is the Blue Voda Website Builder. A quick and small download to your PC and you have a 100% FREE tool to make your website and trust me, you can make them look 100% professional. In fact, I made this website you are looking at now with the Blue Voda Website Builder, so you can get an idea of what is capable.
If you do decide to go down this route though and create your own website you will need to learn the basics of website optimization or your lovely new site will get very little or no hits at all. I cover this aspect on my 'Getting your website noticed' section. There is a lot to learn, it took me 10 years and I am still learning as I go along, but my basic advice will help you to make a site that if done correctly should get you a page one result for most search terms related to your business. If once you have made your website you are nervous about making the optimization tweaks yourself, there are companies out there such as TMG who will offer this service for you for around £75 to £100 depending on the work involved. This is a very tiny amount to pay for the results you will get and for the difference it will make to your long term hits results and in turn more sales!
There are many FREE website builders out there that work on a 'What you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) basis. No knowledge whatsoever is required to make yourself a site, and questions that you may have such as how to get your domain name (www.yourname.co.uk) and how to host your site is usually explained in very simple step-by-step guides with your website builder package.
You need no html or any other coding knowledge or experience and all the good web builder packages always come with excellent support in the shape of help forums and/or technical support teams on hand 24 hours a day.
A personal favourite of mine is the Blue Voda Website Builder. A quick and small download to your PC and you have a 100% FREE tool to make your website and trust me, you can make them look 100% professional. In fact, I made this website you are looking at now with the Blue Voda Website Builder, so you can get an idea of what is capable.
If you do decide to go down this route though and create your own website you will need to learn the basics of website optimization or your lovely new site will get very little or no hits at all. I cover this aspect on my 'Getting your website noticed' section. There is a lot to learn, it took me 10 years and I am still learning as I go along, but my basic advice will help you to make a site that if done correctly should get you a page one result for most search terms related to your business. If once you have made your website you are nervous about making the optimization tweaks yourself, there are companies out there such as TMG who will offer this service for you for around £75 to £100 depending on the work involved. This is a very tiny amount to pay for the results you will get and for the difference it will make to your long term hits results and in turn more sales!
FREE INTERNET MARKETING ADVICE
You will need to get yourself a domain name before you start on your site. This is the address that people type in to find your website. (www.yourname.co.uk). This is very cheap and should cost around £6.00 for two years. An excellent place to buy a domain name is from TELIVO. Click on the banner below for more information.
address to have. You have to pick a domain name that is not currently being used and when you apply for your domain you will automatically be told if this is free to purchase or not. If the domain name you want is taken don't be disheartened, try and think of variations of the same name. So for example if you wanted to pick www.villagebride.co.uk but this address is not available, try www.villagebrides.co.uk or www.village-bride.co.uk etc until you find the right one for you. Keep the domain name as simple to remember as possible. www.irepairlawnmowerswhentheyarebroken.co.uk would NOT be a good choice for a domain name; it is far too long and people can and will type it incorrectly into their browser bar and it's only YOU who loses out.
Once you have created your site and have your domain name you will then need a hosting account. There are many of these and you can find them all by doing an internet search for 'Website Hosting'. They do vary in price, don't be tempted to go too cheap. have you ever been to a website and received a message saying something like 'Website unavailable at present'? More than likely the servers on the hosting account are down and so no one can see their site for a few minutes, or hours, or sometimes days. The more you pay, the less your chances are that this will happen to your website. Just one person getting this error message when they visit your site could result in a loss of sale, can you affoard that?
Once you have created your site and have your domain name you will then need a hosting account. There are many of these and you can find them all by doing an internet search for 'Website Hosting'. They do vary in price, don't be tempted to go too cheap. have you ever been to a website and received a message saying something like 'Website unavailable at present'? More than likely the servers on the hosting account are down and so no one can see their site for a few minutes, or hours, or sometimes days. The more you pay, the less your chances are that this will happen to your website. Just one person getting this error message when they visit your site could result in a loss of sale, can you affoard that?
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MAKING YOUR OWN WEBSITE
When creating your website keep it very simple, clean and attarctive to the viewer. Don't overfill it with information, don't use fancy fonts that no one can read and use your own material throughout the site. Do not copy text and images from other sites unless you have their written permission first.
As you create your website, keep stopping and take a look at it as if YOU were the customer. Do you like what you see? Is it easy to understand who you are, what you do etc? Make it very clear of your services or goods offered and give very clear and easy to find contact details. Try to stick with one or two colours, don't fill your site with black text, red text, blue text, green text all on one page, it just looks unprofessional. Think very carefully about your website colours. If you are selling kids fluffy teddy bears do you really want a black background? If you are selling car auto parts do you really want a pink website? This might seem minor issues but trust me it can make all the difference to how people view your site and whether or not they will hang around.
Don't have so many images on your website that it takes the page 10 minutes to download as most viewers won't wait and will click off your site. Use small images and few of them.
Let people find the answers to most of their possible questions within your site. The last thing you want is Mrs Smith emailing you to ask 'Does this come in Green'?, then ten minutes later another email from her asking 'How much is postage if I buy two'? and then a further ten minutes later 'Will it come with instructions'?
In a perfect world you want people to visit your site, find the product they want, send you payment, transaction done. Well unfortunately it rarely happens as easy as that, but you could help cut down endless emailing backwards and forwards between your customers and you by providing as much information about your products or services as you can. So if product one comes in green, blue and red only, then make sure you state this clearly next to the product description and/or image. Let them know what it dies, how it does it, how they can buy one, how much discount they can have if they buy three of them etc etc. Trust me, I learnt the hard way myself on this matter!
Most important of all, make your site presentable, attractive, simple yet informative and give the viewer a reason to stay on your site for more than just ten seconds.
As you create your website, keep stopping and take a look at it as if YOU were the customer. Do you like what you see? Is it easy to understand who you are, what you do etc? Make it very clear of your services or goods offered and give very clear and easy to find contact details. Try to stick with one or two colours, don't fill your site with black text, red text, blue text, green text all on one page, it just looks unprofessional. Think very carefully about your website colours. If you are selling kids fluffy teddy bears do you really want a black background? If you are selling car auto parts do you really want a pink website? This might seem minor issues but trust me it can make all the difference to how people view your site and whether or not they will hang around.
Don't have so many images on your website that it takes the page 10 minutes to download as most viewers won't wait and will click off your site. Use small images and few of them.
Let people find the answers to most of their possible questions within your site. The last thing you want is Mrs Smith emailing you to ask 'Does this come in Green'?, then ten minutes later another email from her asking 'How much is postage if I buy two'? and then a further ten minutes later 'Will it come with instructions'?
In a perfect world you want people to visit your site, find the product they want, send you payment, transaction done. Well unfortunately it rarely happens as easy as that, but you could help cut down endless emailing backwards and forwards between your customers and you by providing as much information about your products or services as you can. So if product one comes in green, blue and red only, then make sure you state this clearly next to the product description and/or image. Let them know what it dies, how it does it, how they can buy one, how much discount they can have if they buy three of them etc etc. Trust me, I learnt the hard way myself on this matter!
Most important of all, make your site presentable, attractive, simple yet informative and give the viewer a reason to stay on your site for more than just ten seconds.
How to choose a domain name
You want to think of a domain name that suits your site and business. Search engines do pick up on domain names and if it makes sense to them what your site is about then this helps your website do well. So if you have a business repairing lawn mowers then www.lawn-mower-repairs.co.uk would be a good
You want to think of a domain name that suits your site and business. Search engines do pick up on domain names and if it makes sense to them what your site is about then this helps your website do well. So if you have a business repairing lawn mowers then www.lawn-mower-repairs.co.uk would be a good