PLANNING YOUR WEBSITE

How much does a website cost?

• There is no typical website
• Your budget will determine what you can have
• A website redesign done for the right price and and done well takes time and expertise.

Bottom line:

A website redesign depends on a few core things:

• Your requirements. You find out what these are by answering a lot of questions about business and audience goals;
• The condition and amount of content. Have you done a content inventory? Does your content need editing, rewriting, or a trip to the circular file?
• Do you have a logo/brand? Do you want to redo it or incorporate it into the new site? Sometimes what you have will carry over, often a graphic designer is needed to make it all work.
• The features you want. Event calendars, databases, shopping carts, slideshows, photo galleries, and databases take time to implement properly. None of it is hard to do. It just takes time.
• The amount of advice and consultation you need. A good web consultant is like a combination therapist and auto mechanic. Their ability to know the right questions and to understand what you mean when you describe a problem is more important than the answers.

GOOD PLANNING LEADS TO GOOD OUTCOME
By answering the questions listed below you will have taken the first step toward
building a successful web site that works as a tool for your business.

 

CALL KAREN ELLIS THE EXPERT YOU CAN TRUST 1.276.633.0388

Why are you building a web site?

• Sell a product
• Customer service
• Relationship building with current customers
• Attract new customers
• Distribute information
• Competitive edge
• Enhance company image

Whom do you want to attract?

• Current customers
• New customers
• Future customers
• Colleagues
• Competitors

What will visitors gain?

• What are your goals for your site?
• How will you measure success?
• How much money can you budget?
• How much staff time can you devote to building and maintaining a site?

What do you need?

• Web site consultant
• Programmer
• Graphic designer
• Posters
• Manuals
• Brochures
• Marketing

What hardware will you need?

Hosting, development, design, infrastructure

Server Functionality

• Reliability - your website is always up 24/7
• Robust - can handle streaming video
• Live people who handle tech support
• Amount of free and/or paid space offered
• Secure Server for online transactions such as credit cards and banking
• Shopping carts (for selling merchandise)
• Auto responders
• Database access
• Access to facts & figures on visitors to your site

WHAT IS YOUR EXIT PLAN?

• What do you need to know when you don't want your site anymore?
• In some cases, the domains ceased to function or become porn sites. In all cases, owners were unable to get refunds from the registrars. Some of the companies that have engaged in this practice include Domain Registry of America, Domain Registry of Canada, and Liberty Domains of America.

DOMAIN REGISTRATION AND ADMINISTRATION

Who will host your site? We will host your site.
I regularly advise small business owners and even larger companies who are
surprised to find out they don't own the domain name where their own web site is located. We will check and see who is listed as the owner of your domain name(s). You should be listed as the owner, not your web site designer (although it's fine if they're listed as a technical or administrative contact). If your web designer registered your domain name on your behalf, get this resolved right away.

BE AWARE OF SCAMMERS, SLAMMER, AND SITE THEFT
Have you ever received an email reminding you of a domain that's about to expire and you don't remember ever registering the domain? The notices listed domains the client actually owned, listed their actual expiration date, and gave a URL for the domain owners to renew their domains. If a domain owner followed the instructions, their domain was transferred from one registrar to another.

BE ASSURED

• You own your own domain name;
• Your contact information is correct and current
• PROFESSIONAL EMAIL ADDRESS YOU@YOURDOMAIN.COM

CALL KAREN ELLIS THE EXPERT YOU CAN TRUST 1.276.633.0388

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS NAME?
Is it important for you to have your exact business name or can you work with a variation of it?

The Educational CyberPlayGround will register any .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .ws, or .us domain for you. You will own the domain, not us; but we will handle the initial registration and set your domain up to point at our servers. Domain extensions have slightly different pricing.

.com / .net / .org / .biz / .us / .ws / .name / .info / .co.uk* / .me.uk* / .org.uk*
.cc / .de / .be .cn / .com.cn / .net.cn / .org.cn / .com.tw / .org.tw / .idv.tw .co.nz
.net.nz / .org.nz