Podolski Consulting

Getting Started on the Internet

If you are running a business, and do not have a website, you are missing a great opportunity! So many people these days look to the internet to research providers of products and services. A Website can play a vital part in your business, from making you visible to potential clients, right up to actively selling products online.

An effective website establishes company credentials, provides an online brochure of products and services, and gives potential clients a reason to contact you!

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So, how do you go about setting up your own Website to reach these millions of prospective customers? Here's a beginner's guide for new clients, and of course, we're always more than happy to help you in any way we can.

Purpose of your Website | Publishing Choices | Get your Site Noticed

And be sure to check out our list of Web Resources for other useful sites to help get you started.

Purpose of your Website

Whether you already have a Website, or are considering your first launch onto the Internet, you should ask yourself: What do I want my Website to do for me? So, before you even think about how to go about implementing a site, you should first do some planning and research so you can answer some important questions.

Who is my target audience?

These are the people you want to attract to your site, and who will be your consumers. It makes a big difference to your site design if you are aiming at mainly home users or corporate business users. People have different browsing patterns, and each will have different needs and wants from your site. Try to identify what your audience will gain from visiting your site, and what kind of information they will be looking for. Keep in mind an idea of your typical visitor as you plan your site.

What am I trying to achieve?

Identify the purpose of your web-site early on. It simplifies the design process, and allows you to focus your time and resources more efficiently. It will also result in a better, more coherent site specifically targetted to your identified audience. If you don't know your objectives, how will you know if you are successful?

Corporate Presence

Your aim might be simply to have your company details out there on the web, to make more people aware of your existence, and what type of products or services you provide. Providing contact details allows interested visitors to email or phone you for further information.

Provide Information

In addition to company details, you may want to provide more specific information on your products and services. You might set out to educate your visitors about your business, provide service manuals, or an on-line catalogue of your products.

Interact

One step further from merely presenting information, is to allow visitors to interact with you. This could be on-line ordering and paying for products, booking appointments, or getting customer feedback, for example.

Develop a Relationship

If you want to keep your visitors coming back to your site, you could ask them to register. Provide additional services for your regular visitors, for example regular product updates, an email newsletter, or preferred services.

How will the Web-site fit with my current business?

Your Web-site should be considered as a part of your Marketing Strategy. Project an image consistent with your existing marketing materials, and be sure to update both together.

If you are expecting your Website to produce additional interest and customers for your company, you should consider in advance how you expect to handle that. Who will be responsible for answering product questions? Technical questions? Where and how will automatic orders be processed?

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Publishing Choices for your Website

You basically have three options for making your Website available to the public. Which one you choose will depend on your own individual circumstances.

Internet Service Providers & Online Communities

For individuals and small start-up businesses, one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways of publishing a small Web site is to use one of the popular internet service providers. For the cost of the monthly membership fee you get access to their services, email accounts, free Web-site (2-10Mb) and Internet access.

Similar to the ISPs, there are Online Communities that offer free Web pages and email if you follow their membership rules. There are fewer of these around now, but Yahoo!/Geocities, and Tripod can still be a good startup option for small web-sites. The free hosting on these communities is made possible by the advertising banner or pop-up.

Website Hosting

If you are in business, it is much better to pay for your website hosting, and avoid the annoying pop-up ads. Most business sites are hosted by specialist companies with fast connections to the internet backbone and large amounts of disk storage. These Web hosting companies charge a monthly fee (or annual fee) for their services, and some also charge an initial set-up fee as well. Both the level of service and the quality of service vary widely in Web hosting, as can the prices! Look for a Web host that can support the number of hits that you expect your site to receive, preferably more in case your site is really successful! What services you require of your host will obviously depend on individual circumstances, for instance secure server transactions if you plan on selling online. At least some of the ISPs offer paid hosting services in addition to their limited free service.

Your own Server

This last option is really only viable for larger businesses or Internet savvy individuals. Your Web-site would reside on a server located on your own premises, and supported by your own staff. You can determine the size of your own Website, although you will still require an ISP to provide the internet access.

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Getting your Site Noticed

Once you have your Website published on the Internet, how can you attract the right customers to come and visit? Most interested visitors will find you by searching, or by following a link from a related site.

List your Site with a Search Tool

Search engines will look for relevant content and links into the site. Optimize your website for specific keywords related to your business. Contact the webmasters of related websites, and have them link to your site. Then submit your site URL on a regular basis to any or all of the search engines (such as AltaVista, Excite, and Infoseek) and web directories (such as Yahoo!, and the Open Directory Project).

Promote your site

There are companies on the Internet that will promote your web-site for a fee, or you can place banner ads on sites that are likely to attract people who would be interested in your products.

And, of course, you should ensure that your URL is printed on your business cards, marketing materials and press releases.

Top | Purpose | Publishing Choices | Get Noticed

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