Creating a Website For Your Company, Part 3: Can I Build My Own Website?

This month we’re interviewing Hannah Evans, freelance web designer and contributor to last month’s article. 

Hannah, I know you do web design, so give us a little advice:  When is it appropriate for a business owner to design their own website?

Most websites are designed by using advanced programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver, or Microsoft FrontPage. If you have a good handle on how design, html, and css works, than you can handle designing your own website–but most people leave that to the experts.

(Note:  if you are still interested in designing your site from scratch, check out the article, “Introduction to Web Design.”)

You can also purchase website templates (both html and flash) online, but again – you will either need to know how to make personalized edits yourself, or hire someone to help you out.  Some web services can help you set up your site completely online without outside help.

Ok, well, assuming I don’t want to learn advanced web design, and just want to use a web service, first, how do I find one?

There are both free and paid web building services online. The difference will be in how many extra features are made available for your use. For example, Google Web Page Creator is free and functions well for posting a clean site that is information heavy, but isn’t very visually interesting.  Network Solutions is a monthly paid service that offers a variety of stylish layouts and more advanced features. Do a basic web search for “website builder” and decide which builder works best for your current needs.

So if I decide to go ahead with using a web building service, will I get a decent value?  Or will I be just wasting my money?

If you’re worried about your budget at this point, try a free website builder to at least get your business name out in the web world. Start small and build up gradually as you discover how useful your web presence is.  Consider your audience – if most of your potential customers are web savvy, you may want to spend some money to create a relevant and stylish site.  If you just want basic contact information accessible, a free site may be a better option.

Thanks again, Hannah, for getting us starting in designing our own website.  For more information about getting your business on the web, the BIC website has a number of articles on Building and Running a Website.  

Sue A. Evans

Creating a Website for Your Company, Part 2: Website Planning for a Site that Sizzles

Well, if last month’s article convinced you to build a website for your company, this month’s article is going to get you started!  Building a quality website that represents your business well takes thought and planning.  Hannah Evans, a freelance web designer, has a few suggestions:

 Before you meet with a web designer, think about the following:

•  Who are you trying to reach: young or old, businesses or consumers, etc.
• How much do you want to spend?
• What do you need your website to do?  Does it need to simply convey information, or are you looking to build an on-line store?
• What is the “culture” of your business, and how can the graphics on the web page represent that?

When you’ve answered these questions, get online and look at a number of websites in your industry.  Make a note (copying the URL of the site) of things you like and don’t like about those sites.  If you are particularly attracted to a site, what is it that attracts you?  The colors?  The simplicity? The flashy extras?  Be prepared to pass this information on to your web designer.

Finally, decide on a timeline for completion of the site.  Is there an event that will require the site to be finished by a certain time?  If not, then realize a single page can be online in as little as a week, but a multi-layer website with purchasing capabilities can take months.  Likewise, a simple one-page site can cost a few hundred dollars or less; a complicated site can cost thousands.   Know your timeline and check some prices before you make unreasonable demands of your web designer! 

 I hope Hannah’s advice will get you on the right track.  Next month:  “Can I build my own website?”

Sue A. Evans

Creating a Website for your company; Part 1: Why?

Last week I needed to find a company that sells cash registers, now confusingly referred to as POS (Point of Sale) devices.  Amazingly, the POS company that was located closest to me did not have a website.  I am surprised to find how often businesses and community organizations are not represented on the web, even at the least with those free web pages provided by telephone service companies. 

Does your business have a website?  I hope so!  But if not, you are in good company.  Recent research by Watershed and Nielsen reports that less than 44% of small businesses have a web site.   It may be difficult for you to see the reason for creating a website, especially if you aren’t particularly computer savvy.  If, in fact, it takes a whole support staff to get you on your computer every day, it’s hard to imagine why you would consider spending your money on a billboard in cyberspace.

 But, believe it or not, most of the rest of the world is using their computer to search for almost everything they buy.  Considering that 63% of consumers turn to the Internet first when searching for local companies, you may be missing out on a lot of business.  The Internet is a versatile search tool, providing users with the ability to search for and find products at the click of a mouse…even easier than ‘letting your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages’ as consumers did in the 1970’s and 80’s.

Early website design was prohibitively expensive, costing a business or organization thousands of dollars for a site that looked like a page from a tool catalog.  Today’s web designers can work for companies anywhere in the world, providing custom-designed sites for hundreds, not thousands of dollars.  Websites can do as little as show shoppers where to find a product or can do as much as allow them to purchase the product on-line and have it delivered to their door.  What you do with your company website is up to you.  What is important is that you take advantage of this valuable, cost-effective marketing tool that will, at the least, help your customers find you.  Who knows?  A website may be just the boost your business needs to make you an equal player in today’s technology- driven market.

Sue A. Evans

Note:  

Don’t miss Part 2 next month:   Website Planning for a Site that Sizzles.

Making Your Business the Best

Have you ever heard the story of Thomas Edison?  When trying to invent the light bulb, he created over 1000 failed models before he created the prototype for today’s indispensable device.  When asked, “How could you go on after failing over and over?” Edison said, “Well, I just learned 999 ways not to make a light bulb!”

So running your business is learning process. You are learning 999 ways NOT to finance your business or 999 ways NOT to build a hard-working team.  Today, take the time to learn how to do one thing better in your business.  Instead of recreating the wheel every time you need to make a business decision, build on the knowledge that other business owners have gathered through their successes and failures.  Building on the knowledge of other business owner’s experiences is called adopting “best practices.”  The process of researching and adopting best practices is a valuable tool suggested by many top business consultants.  In fact, part of the process of winning the coveted Malcolm Baldridge Award (http://www.quality.nist.gov/) and the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award (http://www.floridasterling.com/) includes adopting best practices.

The Northwest Florida Business Information Clearinghouse (BIC) is an excellent resource for gathering best practices information.  Hundred of articles, written by business experts, can inform you on important business topics that are outside of your level of expertise.  The BIC was designed as a free resource to help entrepreneurs find the information they need to start a business or to run their business well.  Besides articles, the BIC also has demographics, a directory of local resources, a business calendar, and a number of customized articles especially applicable to doing business in Northwest Florida.  Explore the Northwest Florida BIC site (see link on side-bar) today to begin learning 999 ways to build business success!

Sue A. Evans