The basics of what you need to set up a website. A lot of people feel they have been ripped off or not sure of what they need to set up a website, here are the basics to what you need to know to make an informed decision.

2. Copyright © 2013 Romany Thresher

3. Having a website is a fantastic marketing tool for you and your business. Every
brand personality, entertainer and most business should have a website. It is a
representation of you and your business. It is your shop window and a place to
send people to, to find out more about you. It gives people the opportunity to get to
know you and to see what you have to offer them.

4. Personally in my opinion in today’s world one should always have a good
computer, internet connection and a good website. Think of the real world for
a moment. You go to the shop to buy the products you need. You go to an
office to meet up with a consultant, lawyer etc. Now you will have a virtual
office or shop being your website.

5. People are looking for easy and convenient. Make it easy and convenient for
your customers to do business with you. If you do not make it easy and
convenient, you will ultimately lose their business to competitors who are
making it easy and convenient and this includes brands and entertainers.
Can you afford not to have a website?

6. Presentation is key! We do judge a book by its cover!
If you look cheap and nasty you will attract cheap and nasty. If you look like
you mean business, you will attract other people who mean business.

7. A domain name works the same as your street address and it would look like this
www.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.co.za or .org .co.uk .eu etc.
This is the address you will use when you want to send someone to your website.

8. Your domain name is like the title deeds to your property make sure that
it is registered in your name and NOT someone else's

9. Registering a domain name is very easy. There are many places you can
register a domain. However a specific domain extension can only be
registered in a certain country or region.
E.g.
.co.uk can only be registered in United Kingdom
.co.za in South Africa

10. www.godaddy.com for .com .org .net .tv .mobi and many others
www.namecheap.com for .co.uk and .eu and many others
www.easy2access.co.za for .co.za

11. In my opinion I would not register my domain name at the same
place as you host your website. This can prevent any potential
conflicts if you decide to move your website somewhere else.
But this is a personal choice.

13. Think of web hosting like a piece of
land that you rent. A space on the internet

14. Your website is the shop office that you are going to
build on the piece of land you rented at the webhost

15. A good standard web hosting package should cost you no more
than $12 a month and should include the following:

16. Good Basic Web Host Package
Unlimited Domains or at least 5 or more
allowed in your package
Unlimited MySQL databases, unlimited disk space and
bandwidth
24/7 Support
Unlimited Email Addresses
WordPress Installation
Back up Support
They all offer much more but not going to list it all in this
presentation. You must decide what is important to you.

17. If you want to make use of lots of video, graphics or audio then you
will need a much more powerful hosting plan and you will look at
paying around $30 or more.
There are other hosting options for people wanting a secure server,
or maybe a dedicated server.

19. When you sign up you must ask for your Cpanel and
FTP login details. A lot of web developers don’t like giving you this
information, saying that it is for security reasons.
You paid for the hosting therefore you have the right to have access
to the product you bought.

21. If you want a very specific type of style, look, feel and functionality then the best
solution is to build your website using a web developer.
Limitations: You will need to be dependent on the web developer making
changes for you so choose one you feel comfortable working with.
Expect to pay a premium for this type for website.

22. WordPress is a good platform to use to build your website because it is
user friendly and gives you the ability to change your content as and when
you need to. WordPress is also a very powerful blogging platform and it’s
mobile friendly.
Search Engines love WordPress. It integrates well with social media and
there are plenty of useful plugin features to help you achieve the results
you want.
I would recommend that you invest in paying a WordPress specialist to set
it all up for you and to also design the look and feel.
Limitations: Can have some design limitations but overall it is more than
sufficient for most people.
Read 10 Good Reasons Why WordPress

23. There are plenty open source options on the internet. The other 2 most popular
products are Joomla and Drupal which are also good for developing your website.
You need to decide what’s best for you, based on your goals and objectives.
Limitations: You may not find a web developer knowledgeable in these
platforms. These platforms are not always user friendly.
This article here explains it really well and worth looking at before deciding which
option you want to go for.

24. Wix, Wozaonline, and most of your web hosting companies offer a
Web in the box option.
Websites in a box sites are generally very cheap and you get what you pay
for. In my experience a lot of people start here and end up being very
unhappy and spending more than they bargained for in the long run.
Limitations: Generally these products are designed to only work with the
product’s software and there can be limitations when you need a web
designer’s assistance and more often than not the core files cannot be
edited.
In most instances a web designer has to start from scratch.

25. While these can make some great websites it can come at a very high
price and not something I would recommend.
Limitations: In-house agency platforms come with many limitations. In
most cases your website look and feel can only be customised by an agent
in-house. You can have design limitations. In most cases you are unable
to edit your own content you are completely dependent on the agency.
This can be an extremely costly experience and in most instances if you
want to move to another web developer you will have to start from scratch.
They also do not allow you to have access to your FTP or Cpanel which
you may need at some stage for other puroposes like uploading audios or
having a Blog or even having an additional website.

27. As we niche in our industry web developers have their specialist areas. Some
are Drupel developers, Joomla developers, WordPress developers. It is good
to find out which platform they specialise in to help you make an informed
decision as to whether the web developer and the platform they design in is a
suitable solution for you.
Choose someone you feel comfortable and someone who understands you
because it is going to be a very long relationship going forward.
Choose someone’s whose style you like.

28. You must communicate clearly to your web developer what you want and give
them all the relevant information you need them to have to give you the results
you are looking for.
The biggest hold up for web developers are clients who do not give them the
content or information they need to get the job done.

29. Web designers build websites based on the information you give them.
Their job is to build you a good website. It does not mean they know
what’s the best website solution for your business and how to design a
website based on your business and how your customers connect with
you.
Do not expect this of them. It is your responsibility to do your homework.
Speak to an online specialist or brand specialist or someone who can
guide you through process and “no!” it is not your mate down the road who
recently had his website designed.

30. Not all but Most DIY websites look very amateurish, it really does.
First impressions count.
Avoid trying to develop your own website unless you are a developer or
you are a creative. Rather save up some money and have a professional
help you to design your website.
A professional website does not cost a lot of money these days and in
more likely than not will be worth the return on investment. You can lose a
lot more business by looking amateurish.
Your time is best spent marketing your business, looking for new clients
and servicing existing clients.
While the web developer is developing, you can be networking.

31. There are 3 main elements of designing a website. The look and feel, the
content and the call to action.
Unless you are a creative and have a good eye for it, then don’t do your
own look and feel. Spend the money if you want people to take you
seriously.
The copy, I cannot begin to tell you how many people think it is not worth
spending money on getting good copy written. This is such a big mistake
especially if you are not a natural writer or don’t have the talent for it.
CONTENT IS KING! We’ve all heard that saying, so why is it that most
people fail to spend money on ensuring the content communicates to the
intended audience?
There must be call to actions on your website. What do you want people
do to after they read your page?

32. If you would like us to help you develop your website using
WordPress contact me: romany@romanythresher.com
Connect with me on any one of the social networks below.
googleplus
romanythresher
facebook/directassist
www.romanythresher.com

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