Welcome to the Webstirizer, let us get you on the web. We are especially interested in the small business, the hobbyist, the artist, the person who knows they should have a "place" online but it always seemed like too much trouble -- let us help! We will get you communicating with those people out there that are looking for you.
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A little information about what goes into creating a website...
A website shows words, colors and pictures on your computer screen when you type in a website name or click on a bookmark or a line in a Google search, everyone knows that. However, there are many parts of a website that are not visible on the screen. For a quick look at part of what makes a website work, try going to the "View" menu on your browser and select "Page Source". Instead of the pictures, colors and text that you saw on the web page, you will see pages of text and numbers, some of the "code" that must be written to make the website possible.
Besides what is visible on the screen, a website needs a name, a space, a design, marketing and maintenance.
Your website address -- the way others find you on the internet -- is called a domain name, and consists of the name you choose and an ending of .com, .biz, .net, or .org. The names have meanings; .com for commercial or commerce, .biz for business, .net for networks and .org is for organizations such as the Toastmasters. Educational institutions use .edu. No two websites can have the same name, so research must be done to find a name that is both suitable and available.
Once you have found an available name, you may option its use for a yearly fee. Think of it as rent. You cannot permanently purchase a domain name, and if you do not renew your chosen name it can be claimed by someone else.
Once you have obtained the name, then you must "host" your domain with a server, which is a large computer connected to the internet. The amount of space and "bandwidth" you need for your website will be part of what determines the cost of "hosting" your domain.
After the name and space, then you need a web page or pages. This is the part that others will see on the web, and should be carefully designed to display the image that you wish to project to the world. To come up with ideas for the appearance of your website, you may wish to look at the websites of others in your field or area of interest, although your site should be visually unique.
The content of the website can be anything you wish to present to the world, from a fairly static online brochure to videos and discussion boards. Specific information, forms, or illustrations that you need to have on your pages should be thought out and designed before construction begins on your website. Extra items such as an online store, blogs, or galleries must be integrated with the rest of the website.
A website designer will lay out the site and format of the pages, and provide the computer code that will make the site look its best and, most importantly, work correctly with the search engines people use to find your site.
The website must also work correctly with the numerous internet "browsers" that people use. Note: Internet Explorer, which is intergral to Microsoft's operating system, is not "the internet", but only one of many browsers people use to look at information on the internet. Better browsers - ones that work much better than IE - are Chrome and Firefox. Other popular browsers are Safari and Opera. Websites must work with all of these.
Other issues such as making the website available to handicapped visitors, or to cell phone/iPad browsers, are also handled in the "invisible" programming of the website.
After the site has been designed, built and working correctly, then the site must be marketed. What you hope to see is your website listed in the first few pages of the major search engines, so people can find your website. This is done by designing the site to the search engine specifications, and submitting your site to the major search engines. Pages must be kept current and re-submitted to search engines as necessary, usually once a month. Paid ads are another option to raise the visibility of your website.
Other marketing tools, such as electronic newsletters or interactive pages on your site, can be added by the designer and programmer. An attractive and easy to use website with fresh content is the best way to bring visitors to your site - and keep them coming back.
Keeping up the website is as important as designing it in the first place, as an unmaintained site quickly becomes ignored and irrelevant. Maintenance can be very time consuming, so plans should be made for maintenance when the site is first designed. Changing and updating content to keep the search engine 'spiders' coming to your site is as important as keeping information current for your visitors. Regular maintenance keeps your site visible to the search engines, keeps visitors coming to your website, and preserves your initial investment in the site.
Typical website maintenance may include such things as making backups, adding pages or images, changing an address, adding information or re-wording a page's content, checking for broken links, or optimizing for search engines. Periodic reworking of the look and content arrangement of the site are also considered to be maintenance. Other maintenance may require special software, such as formatting photographs for the web or creating printable brochures.
a. Just use Facebook. You may find that it eats your life, but you will be online. Look into creating a Facebook "page" for your business (only individuals, not businesses, are allowed to sign up for Facebook accounts, but individuals may create a "page" for their business that is subsidiary to their personal page.) Facebook continually changes the way it works, so you will have to keep up with their requirements. Currently, you may still do some coding to make the apperance of your Facebook "page" unique, but that may change.
b. Free sites. If you still want an independent website, the easiest way to try it out is by signing up for a free starter website from a service such as Weebly (www.weebly.com) or Webstart (www.webstarts.com).
Free services usually include stock website templates, into which you may cut-n-paste your words and pictures as in a scrapbook. You do your own site maintenance. Time consuming and standardized-looking, but it's a way to try out a business on the web. Since free space comes and goes, you may find that your website has suddenly disappeared. Also, keep in mind that the free space is provided knowing that you will most likely soon need to pay for better service - which the service sells. In addition, the free service will most likely own your domain name-"URL" or online business name; you may not be able to take it with you if you need or want to switch web services.
c. Free blogs. Another easy option is to host a blog on Google's "Blogger" or wordpress.com; you may post whatever you like, and a built in community of bloggers is there for contacts and encouragement. http://www.blogger.com/; you will need to sign up for a Google account. The downside is that if you do not post new things constantly, potential customers will not find your blog.
d. Roll your own. Another way to go might be to learn modern, standard web coding, research servers, and design, write, host, and maintain your own site. Cute and simple but complete introductory books include "Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML", by Elisabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman, "Head First Programming", by Vernon L. Ceder; more details in "PHP in Action" by Dagfinn Reiersøl; many more useful books at O'Reilly Books. There are also many books available on graphic design for websites, and most community colleges offer programming/web development classes. If you are not a graphic artist or computer hobbyist, you may find the time involved would be better spent on your actual business.
--or--Contact the webstirizer with your ideas and we will provide you with an estimate for building, hosting and maintaining your website.
::Stirring Up Fine Websites::