Website Basics

In this discussion I’m putting together the processes required to produce and publish a commercial website on the web. For non-commercial websites such as club sites, family sites, some of the processes below will not be required.

1) Build the embryo website on your hard drive and check it for look and feel and navigation. Look and feel is about how your readers will see your site. Does it load quickly? Do the colours clash? Is the text easy to read? Is the general layout pleasing?

Navigation is about how your readers will find their way around your site. Are your navigation buttons easy to see? If your site becomes large say, over a dozen pages, you should put in a site map so that your readers can quickly find the part of the site they are looking for.

2) Choose a domain name. If you don’t intend to publish your site on the web then, of course, you don’t need a domain name. Or if you are building your website on a free hosting site you may have a domain name selected for you and have no choice.

Some say that the domain name should reflect the subject of the website but others disagree. How could you tell from the name Google or Yahoo what the sites are all about. Yet they seem to do okay. If you have a fixed idea about the domain name you want, you may find that that name is already taken and you have to do some constructive thinking.

3) Select a hosting company. There are hosts of hosting companies on the Internet (deliberate pun) so you need to choose the one that best suits what you want to do. If you search you will find that there are companies that offer free hosting but please read the small print before you sign up.

Hosting companies do far more nowadays than simply provide space on their server. They all provide a number of facilities but in my opinion the ones that offer C panel are the best. C panel is a third-party compendium of programs that is leased to hosting companies. It provides an unparalleled range of facilities for the Webmaster. The best hosting companies also have a good record of low downtime and an excellent service support system. The hosting company that I have used for several years and found very satisfactory can be found here

4) Publish your website on the Internet. Having a domain name and a service provider you are now ready to publish your website so you will need an FTP client to transfer your website files from your hard drive to the hard drive of your hosting company’s server. About 10 years ago I bought an FTP client called Terrapin and use it from choice as I am used to it. Exactly the same version is being sold today so it has stood the test of time. Find it on Google.

Today there are many free FTP clients to choose from and probably the most popular is FileZilla. I also use this program myself sometimes. I find it very good but a little unforgiving if I make a mistake. That’s probably because I haven’t taken the trouble to learn it properly.

5) Check your website on the Internet. After you publish your website on a new hosting company’s server it may take some time possibly 48 hours to become visible. You can find out more about this from your hosting company or by a search of the Internet.

As soon as you can, check your website thoroughly. Make sure that all the links are working correctly and that all the images are in place. It’s easy to misplace or forget to upload an image.

6) Maintain your website. You will need to check your website periodically to make sure that the links are still working, particularly links to other websites, and that your information is not out of date. Search engines like sites that are updated periodically with new or modified content; and so do your readers.

7) Advertise your website. Once your website is published on the Internet it can be viewed by anybody in the world. But your website is one of millions, probably billions and will only be found by accident unless you advertise it. It’s like a shop front with no passing trade. So how can you advertise it? That’s not an easy question to answer; there have been many books written on the subject. But here are a few suggestions.

If yours is a personal or a club website you can let your friends and relatives know the URL If it’s a website about your town you can advertise locally in newspapers or distribute flyers.

But if your website requires greater distribution then the problem becomes more difficult. If you leave it long enough search engines will find your webpages and file them using keywords that you have inserted into the HTML code or from page text.

Or you can pay to advertise. This can be very expensive and you need to research this carefully to decide which is the best method and the most economic for you. There is more on this subject in our members club which is free to join.

8) Monetise your website. This is an awful word but it is in common use today so I’m forced to use it. Of course it means making money from your website. The simplest way is to put advertisements on your website from sources such as Google AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank and others. This will not make you rich but it enables you to earn a few cents even while you are sleeping, with very little effort.

Or you could elect to sell from your site, either goods or services. Or you could use your site to promote other people’s products and take a fee when you sell something. You are then known as an affiliate.

But don’t expect to make a fortune overnight and don’t believe people who offer you systems to do that. Running a business on the web is no easier then running a business in the High Street and requires the same skill and dedication. If you are interested there are some suggestions on this website and in the members club. Dipping your toe in the water is not expensive and is particularly appealing for retired people who might like to try it as a paying hobby. Not many people make enough money on the Internet to enable them to give up their full-time job. Some do, of course, but they are usually people who have an inbuilt business sense and have developed it. Started as a hobby and enjoy; you could be the one that makes it.

9) Build a list. When you buy something from a store you are often asked for your address. When you go back to the store you are recognised as a customer. As a valued customer you will receive special offers from time to time, maybe by mail or even by telephone.

The Internet is no different. People may come and look at your website once and never come back. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with your website is just that your reader has forgotten to bookmark your site and cannot find you again. So what we try to do is to get readers to give us their e-mail address so that we may keep them informed of developments to our website or to make special offers. In return for supplying the e-mail address it is usual to offer a gift of some sort. These addresses must never be divulged to a third party; there must be mutual trust.

10) Auto Responders. If you have a small list then it’s possible to send out e-mails using your normal e-mail client that as your list becomes larger you will need the services of an e-mailing company and auto responders. Auto responders enable you to send out messages as e-mails in a variety of ways

It is always good policy and is the law in some countries to use a system known as double opt-in when collecting e-mails. It works like this. Your reader fills in his e-mail address on the form on your website. He then receives an e-mail from you asking him to click on a link to verify his wish to join your list. Reputable e-mailing companies insist on this that make it easy.

The big e-mailing companies are quite expensive to use but as always there are cheaper alternatives. Some hosting companies offer limited free auto responder facilities as do some Internet clubs.