Most businesses now days have a website. There is much to think about when you decide that you need a website for your business.
The first of these is the design and development of the site, which will take a website from the original ideas to the finished article. Assuming you don't have the skills yourself you will need to hire a freelance web designer or a web design agency. When deciding who to use it is a good idea to look around and compare the work they have done, their experience, and how much they charge. Most web design agencies will make a selection of different designs that they will then present to their client. The client will then choose between these concepts, while suggesting any changes they would like to it.
For these designs to be turned into reality, web developers will be required. Many web design agencies have both designers and developers working for them so this can all be taken care of by the same company. The developers' job is to actually turn the designs into a fully functional website ready to be uploaded onto the internet.
After your website has been produced it will need to be hosted. A web hosting company will upload your website onto their server, allowing the world to see it. This is usually paid for either on a monthly or annual basis. There are many hosting packages available, from cheap basic hosting, to complex hosting solutions for large websites. There are massive variations in the services provided and the prices. Which package is best depends on what is required for the individual website.
SEO is a service many website owners require so their sites appear high in the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. The majority of internet users regularly use search engines to find information or businesses that provide the services they are looking for. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and means that websites are optimised to give them the best possible change of being ranked higher in the search engines. This is done by various on-page and off-page techniques. On-page SEO refers to changing web pages to tell the search engine robots what the page is about. This includes providing the relevant text, and changing the page titles and descriptions. Off-page SEO is generating inbound links to the website. These are links to the website from other sites. The more links that point to a site the better, although it is about quality as well as quantity. Links from relevant and trusted sites are preferable.
Having a website, especially for a business is not a simple process. There is much to think about to insure that the website is successful. You need to have your website designed to look how you want, as well as giving potential visitors what they are after. For anyone to see the website it then needs to be hosted, and you may want it optimised so that the search engines, and therefore internet user, can find it.
Andrew Marshall
