More than just websites
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How to build a website

This cheat sheet will take you through all the necessary steps to get your own website.

Domain name:a  domain name is a unique name that will allow users to access your website easily

You can register a domain name at:
  • www.planetdomain.com.au
  • www.domainregistration.com.au
  • www.melbourneit.com.au
  • http://www.crazydomains.com.au/ (cheapest)
Static or Brochure Site: this is where the pages of the website have no database or functionality, like a word document, flat pages that you just read.

Hosting: static site hosting is cheaper as you just need space. There are no system requirements like you would need if you install software on a computer.

Content Management System (CMS): This is a piece of software that will allow you to do a lot more with your site. It is a computer program connected to a database, just like ACT! Is a program connected to a database. You can customise the look and functionality to what you need.

This would only be of benefit if you need to sell products online, interact with your users or need to update the site at least once a month.

Hosting: If you choose a CMS you need to make sure that the system requirements of the CMS are met by the hosting company, just like when you install a new program on your PC there are mimimum system requirements and sometimes you need to install drivers or support software in order for it to work.   CMS hosting is more expensive as you need more advanced server technologies and software to support it.

Subscription or SaaS: this is where you pay a subscription to use the software, the hosting is bundled with the website so you only pay one fee and don't need to worry about updating software patches or server maintenance. It is relatively new concept that is becoming the norm as more and more people seek to minimise hosting issues.  It is an alternative to CMS and separate Hosting concept that is standard today and lets you avoid the hosting companies all together.  This will be the standard way to have a website in the next couple of years.

  • http://sites.google.com/
  • http://businesscatalyst.com/
  • http://www.squarespace.com/
  • http://www.bigcommerce.com/
  • http://www.homestead.com
  • http://www.sitemasher.com/

Design & Build
Depending on your budget and how strong your brand is you may want to get your site professionally designed. There are plenty of Designers out there but choosing one can be daunting.

View the checklist for choosing who to build your site as it applies to designers as well.

Web Standards
Now we get into what each website should have as a minimum standard. I strongly advise that your web builder do this for you.

You can find out more about all these in detail in my article on Common Website Mistakes.

A web page consists of the following elements:

  • Page Name: the name of the page document, just like you name word documents so you can find them again on your computer you need to name the web page so you can link to them
  • Page title: This is the title of the document
  • Short Description: Like a summary in a white paper a short summary or description of what the page is about
  • Keywords: What topics the page is about, relevant tags that tell the user and computers what the page is about
  • Content: this is what the user will see, the content of the web page.
  • Analytics: Although this is not necessary I believe you cannot change what you don't measure, if you don't know how your website is performing you cannot make informed decisions on how to improve it so I strongly recommend you install Analytics .
W3C validation
Always adhere to web standards this not only will prevent errors on your site but it will make sure the search engines can scan your site easily without errors. This makes your site easier to index on the search engines as well ensuring your website doesn't fall over when new browsers versions are released. Eg if you have code in there that is non standard then future browsers may not support that code and it will break. Always make sure you have standards compliant code. You can check your website here.

http://validator.w3.org

Small business Resources
I have put together a list of website resources to give your website every chance. You can view the Small Business Website Resources here.

Summary
Once you have these basics you ideally would be looking for ways to market your site and create the content of your site to be engaging to users. After all building a website is just the beginning, you should be working on your site at least monthly in order to keep it fresh and relevant for your customers and potential customers.