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

Florida PTAC: A Business Cure for Hard Times

A couple weeks ago I sat at a meeting of IT professionals next to a man named Richard.  Richard is an IT specialist who presently works as a civilian for the military.  Richard’s dream is to eventually start his own business, contracting government work.  I will tell you what I told him:  Richard!  You are in a perfect position to go into business for yourself…what is stopping you?  Richard explained that he just doesn’t know how to get started and finds the whole procurement process a bit intimidating.

Down the hall from my office is the office of Laura Subel, Program Manager for Florida PTAC.  PTAC, loosely translated, stands for Office of Doing Business with the Government.  Laura is the one who will lead you down the path.   The Florida PTAC Office educates businesses on what the government requires to be a government supplier of goods or services.  It takes jumping through a few hoops, but considering that the government is one of the few customers buying in this economy, it is well worth it.

Laura has this sage advice to small businesses:  “We don’t care what you call us, just call us!  The acronym we want you to remember is HELP.  The PTAC is here to HELP you do business with the government. “

Laura said that the PTAC (which really stands for Procurement Technical Assistance Center) provides the following services at no charge:

• One-on-one counseling sessions such as Bid/Proposal Preparation, Marketing, and more
• Assistance with 8A and HUBZONE certification applications
• Free access to resources
• Referrals to the HAAS Center for Business Research
• Training Events on related topics

Laura promises that selling to the government can be  easy IF you follow the rules and work with the PTAC office to learn the rules.  They will provide guidance through the maze of rules and procedures.  Just one phone call is separating you from a client who spends over $40 billion a year doing business with small businesses, and who is in the market for every service or product that you can imagine.  Make the call.

Sue A. Evans

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