ask the expert | how to decide what your website needs

Today we have a very helpful post from our website expert partner : Lucie Battaini from multimediART. she is answering a question i get asked all the time

How do you decide what you need within your website, how many pages, what features etc? I want a simple, fresh website thats easy to navigate... 

When you start a new business or update your website, it can be confusing to work out everything you need to organise and include on your website, especially when you need to be able to explain this to your web designer. A good way to decide what info you definitely need is to research similar businesses and check what pages their website has, what features do they have, what are the differences between them and your business? From here, you can decide what will help showcase your unique services.

The individual features will come down to the type of site you need. You may want a brochure website that is easy to build and provides basic information about your product and services. Perhaps you’re wanting to sell products or services from your website, in which case you’ll need a shopping cart. You may also want to consider whether you want to use your website to educate visitors, provide regular news and updates, offer a customer service or support centre or FAQ area, attract local business,  have a business blog, generate leads, provide further product info, and even perhaps sell advertising or make affiliate income.

To start you off, here are four pages that are essential for any website:

The Home Page

This is the most important page of your website. Your websites home, or index page, is the most important page to think about when first discussing your website design. This will be the first page that anyone sees about your business so you need to make it interesting. Offer a small bit of information about who you are and what you offer – do not give too much away, that is to come on other pages.

The home page should be interesting and catch the attention of your visitors,  and the best way to do that is add pictures and videos. If you sell products, then consider including good quality photos of some examples. It’s amazing what a difference can be made to even DIY photos by spending a little to have a graphic designer touch up your images, and it’s definitely worth doing to make a good first impression.

If you offer a service, then how about videos of the type of services that you offer? This will let people see your company at a glance. You may also think about making a video answering a common question that you get.  You can see an example in this video I made explaining how to resize images in photoshop. This can help you establish yourself as an expert in your area of business.

(click here to see the video if it is not displaying properly in your browser)

About Us Pages

Why should people choose you? You need to make it clear why a business should choose you and the best way to do that is through n About Us page. This page gives you the chance to go into detail about your experience as a service or product provider and the people that you have working for you. You may want to add testimonials, awards or qualifications to be able to prove this credibility. 

Contact Us Page

Build on your trust factor with a contact page. This is another important page that is required on any website. The best way to build credibility is to show that you are real trustworthy business, and you can do this through offering your business address and telephone number. If you offer a local number, instead of a mobile, this also helps to build your customer’s trust. If you don’t want to use your home phone, think about investing in a VOIP line for a cheap second number.

You may also want to consider adding a map to your business location on this page, if you have a warehouse or bricks and mortor presence. This will make it easier for people to find you and is especially useful if you offer products. Maps are not for all businesses – if you work freelance or you offer services, people will not always need to know how to get to your location.

Selling Products Online

Make it as easy as possible for people to buy online. For businesses that sell products, an online shop is something to consider. Especially when starting up, a lot of businesses have a simple list of products with an email order form, or don’t have an automated checkout. Unfortunately this can lose you more sales than it makes you. There are thousands who now choose to shop online, and if you don’t make it quick and easy you can lose the impulse purchase to someone else.

If you offer a service, there are chances that an automated online shop is not for you,  however, that does not mean miss it out completely. Organise a quote form for your potential clients to fill out instead. This will help to personalise your prices for a person’s needs, and gather all the information required to quote up front, greatly reducing the extra communication and back-and-forth needed to give the potential client what they want.

By starting your website planning with these four crucial areas, you’ll be building a solid foundation and on your way to a successful website and business.

Lucie Battaini is the director and head designer at multimediART, an experienced web design and development company that has been in business for 10 years. Posessing the rare combination of design skills and programming knowledge, Lucie loves helping other small businesses realise their online potential and achieve their dreams. multimediARToffer services in web design & development, seo and social marketing, as well as other online marketing and promotion opportunities. Our designs have won awards, and we're proud of every site we create.

ask the expert | purchasing domain names and web hosting

Today we have a very helpful post from our website expert: Lucie Battaini from multimediART

There are so many choices when it comes to purchasing domain names & website hosting. Please help!

When you’re starting a business, one of the first things many people think about is whether you need a domain name, website hosting or both! This question however usually results in a bunch more.  One of the first questions I get asked a lot is what’s the difference between hosting and a domain name.

Think of a domain name as your address. This is what people type in their browser to visit your site. Without it they would have to remember a big long number (called an IP address) to visit your site. In comparison, website hosting is your apartment. It’s a nice big empty space, utilities (bandwidth/traffic, email, webstats etc) all connected, waiting for you to move your furniture in. If you’ve played along with my crazy analogy so far, then you may have figured out that your furniture is your website.

Usually, your first step is to get your domain name.

So how do I chose a domain name?

Before you can order website hosting, you have to have a domain to link it to. In my opinion, everyone in business should have one, even if you have a free or no website at all in the beginning.

All domain retailers for the popular extensions have to be accredited partner or the reseller of one, and so you can be fairly free in your choice of company.

When shopping around, make sure to compare prices carefully. Some of the more well known ‘big guys’ or larger companies can charge more than three times what some others do. Also, make sure that you are comparing the apples with apples – some registrars advertise .com.au domains at a per year price, but registration requirements state you must register these for a minimum of two years at once. You can expect to pay around $10-20 a year for a .com and around $40-50 for a .com.au for two years.

Quite a few companies include domain forwarding and email forwarding for free, and if you’re just starting out this can be well worth it. Domain forwarding means that you can forward your domain name to any other existing address, for example your blogger blog or a free website. When people type in your domain name, they will go to your blog in the above example. Likewise, email forwarding allows you to forward emails sent to your at your domain to any other email, for example your gMail or ISP email. This allows you to have a professional email presence for around $10 a year.

If you are an Australian business, I recommend buying the .com.au and .com if you can afford it. This protects your brand, and any good web host should allow you to have both domains pointing to the same site. (from karen: this advice is the same if you are in the UK, NZ, canada etc.... purchase the additional domain names if you can!)

What do I need to look for in hosting?

So, once you’ve got your domain name sorted, the next step is hosting. While it’s not mandatory to have your own website when you’re starting out, it does help present your business with that professional edge. Again, shop around to compare prices and don’t be afraid to check out some of the smaller hosting companies. They often offer a more competitive price.

When ordering hosting, look for something that will grow with you. Hosting generally comes with a limit on space and bandwidth (traffic/number of visitors). What happens if you’re running out of bandwidth or space? Some hosts will suspend or switch off your site until you’ve resolved the overage, and so it’s best to ask the question before your sign up. Be wary of those that offer ‘unlimited’ anything. It’s worth checking what fair use policies are in place and whether it is really means unlimited.

Another must ask question is their backup and recovery procedure. Earlier this year, a large Australian hosting company had a catastrophic data loss following a security breach, and many businesses lost their entire website. Make sure that your host offers off-site backups, and ideally local backups as well. I also recommend asking them how easy it is for you to take your own backup. You should always keep at least a weekly backup of your own. Make sure this is both files and data or databases.

On this note, make sure that you host provides you with the access details you’ll need to access your own website information and data. If you’ve had your site designed for you, it’s common practice to have everything installed by your designer, but in my opinion you should always have full access to your own data too, should you need it down the line. Usually a control panel login is all you need, but it can be helpful to also have FTP information. Don’t worry if you don’t know what this is, your host should be able to give it to you.

Finally, make sure the hosting you’re ordering meets any technical requirements you have. For example if you’re running a Wordpress blog you’ll need a database. Your host should be able to tell you if they meet the requirements if you send them the list from the software provider.

In conclusion, whatever service you sign up for, make sure you can manage and access it yourself, even if you have your designer or web host set everything up for you. Consider protecting your brand by buying the two most popular domain extensions in your name, and make sure that you setup a process to keep backups of all your own data. Make sure that your host will work with you if you need more space or bandwidth, and also that they have safe and regular backups. Follow these steps and you’ll be building your website and business a firm foundation on which to grow.

Lucie Battaini is the director and head designer at multimediART, an experienced web design and development company that has been in business for 10 years. Posessing the rare combination of design skills and programming knowledge, Lucie loves helping other small businesses realise their online potential and achieve their dreams. multimediART offer services in web design & development, seo and social marketing, as well as other online marketing and promotion opportunities. Our designs have won awards, and we're proud of every site we create.

ask the expert | how to start up an online store

I am currently in the process of starting up an online store, and have been getting quotes for websites.  I am wondering if you have any information or advice on what to look for when comparing quotes? Quotes have ranged from $1,000 - $10,000, not to mention the free offers that are out there.

I am unsure whether to go for a hosted e-commerce site, or a custom site which will be a bit more flexible and allow me to expand.  The difference between the two seems to be a few thousand.  The thing is, I am worried about outlaying so much on a website when I am unsure whether the business will be a success... however I don't want to get a really basic website that may keep me from what I could achieve using a customised site.

Some developers say that their sites are custom made, however they are often made with their own shopping carts and therefore I wouldn't have access to the code to my site to move it elsewhere.  This worries me in case I am not happy with the hosting they provide, or if they no longer run their business I am wondering what would then happen to my site.

I would appreciate any advice you might be able to offer, as I'm finding it very difficult to move forward at the moment.

Thanks very much,
Nikki”

Rachael Acklin - The Caffeinated Elf

I love questions like these, because they are actually a collection of questions all in one. I’ll answer each piece in turn.

The “What kind of website do I need?” question

In your case, you’re going to be selling physical items using your website as the platform, which means you do need some kind of ecommerce functionality. This could be something as simple as Paypal buttons for each item, or as complicated as a custom-programmed online storefront like Threadless or Zappos.

What I always recommend to retailers is that they use the simplest possible solution, with the caveat that it needs to be extensible in the future. For you, this means that you need something that you, your programmer, or another programmer can make changes to as your business grows and your needs change.

For a good quality, extensible solution that can start out very simply, I recommend either Paypal buy-now buttons (you can have these custom designed to match your website); or eShop, a free ecommerce Wordpress plugin.

For a bigger ecommerce solution that is extensible and can handle thousands of products, I recommend Magento. Its open source version is supported as well as free, and there are many great Magento programmers you can hire to customize the design as well as the back-end administration pieces where you add and monitor your products and orders. http://www.magentocommerce.com/

My advice here is to find a Wordpress design and development studio or freelancer who’s comfortable using the shopping cart you prefer, and whose design aesthetic appeals to you; or find a Magento design and development studio or freelancer that has a portfolio of work you like.

The “How much should a website cost?” question

Website costs are a metric based on several things, including:

• the time it takes to develop each piece of the website, including research, idea generation, design, coding / programming, and deployment;
• the hourly cost of each designer or programmer who is part of the website creation process (usually averaged out to a per-project fee, although this varies widely);
• the overhead costs of the freelancer, studio, or business that oversees the website creation process.

Any of these factors can be different depending on who you talk to. For example, some developers prefer to always write their own code - this can be more efficient in terms of time, but it can prevent you from using a different developer in the future. Cheap now can often mean more expensive later. Another way to look at it is that using a single freelancer for your entire project can bring the overall costs down, but it can take a lot more time if there is a portion of the project that needs to be outsourced because the freelancer doesn’t specialize in that type of thing.

My advice here is to create your project budget based on your own available capital, and then take that budget price point to each of the studios or freelancers that you would like to work with.

The “Do I actually need a website?” question

This one isn’t necessarily what you asked at all, but I’d like to address it anyway because very often, when you start a new business, you feel obligated to have a website. And not only do you feel obligated to have a website, you feel obligated to have an AWESOME website, so that you get lots of customers right away and so that your business can take off immediately. However, most of the time, you won’t have the budget to get that kind of website design right away, and even if you do, you may be spending money on something that you could actually do later, once your business is sustaining itself.

My advice here is to keep it as simple as possible. Instead of a whole website designed from the ground up, maybe you need some web graphics to use in a Wordpress website that you can set up yourself, like a header or banner, and maybe some color palette advice. 

Online Business Junction

My suggestion to anyone starting out new with an online business is to start out in an affordable way. Unless one has an unlimited budget, which of course most people do not, it's better to start out small and affordable. Investing too much in a new website, no matter what route you take to have one created, can really be a waste of your money, especially if your business does not succeed.

A fancy or fully customized website doesn't guarantee a website's success. Quality products, top-notch customer service and branding will go much farther to help a new business succeed. And you can't get that money back should your online business fail. So it's worth it to save your money wherever you can in the beginning.

If you want a website that you can move at a later date, if necessary, then many sites that are built on existing shopping carts with site builders may limit that possibility. There are exceptions though, so you should do your research and ask questions up front about the potential to move your site down the road. This will vary by web host.

Most free sites should be avoided all together, in my opinion. You get what you pay for most of the time, so you just can't expect too much with something that is free. However, one viable semi-free option is a self-hosted blog, like Word Press. You can purchase shopping carts that can be installed on WP; you can also use Google Checkout, which costs nothing at all and is very easy to add to WP. And there are other one-click shopping cart installs that are free that can be added to WP, depending on your web host.

So in the case of a self-hosted WP blog, you can create an online store that may only cost you the annual fee for web hosting (I pay around $150 a year at DreamHost), and the shopping cart in many cases can be free. And you might be surprised how many websites are built on WP blogs.

The solution that works for one person may not be right for another. So I really just recommend making a list of all the things you want in a website, and use that criteria to ask questions of potential web hosts when you are shopping around. Then choose the one that will help you meet all your needs, and still be reasonable for your budget and your business.

Ruby Ruby Designs

here are some questions that you should ask your website developer:

(courtesy of green label web design)

What programming languages do you code in? 

They should offer HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, PHP or SQL

Will my website be SEO friendly? 

If yes, ask them for more information on how they will achieve that.

Will my website customised to my design and are there any limitations?

 Aside from mentioning file size, there should be no limitations.

Do you code the websites yourself?

Many people outsources to third world countries which is unethical and can result in an inferior result, which you will often have to pay a more experienced web developer to fix.

Will I own finished website files?

Some developers offer ‘hosted’ solutions – so this usually includes a setup fee and a yearly subscription. This is similar to ‘hosting’ but you do not actually own the intellectual property, you are hiring a space and customising it. This also means you can’t change developer if you want someone else to host your site.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for with Website Development. So if a deal seems ‘too good to be true’ chances are it is and you’ll end up having to pay for your website to be fixed.

more links:

motivatingmum.com - choosing the right web developer

themogulmom.com – a sponsored post about using shopify to start your online store

businessplusbaby.com - how to start an online store on a budget

do you have a question about building your biz? send me an email and my partners and i will do our best to answer =)

why you need a website and how to build one yourself

so you have a facebook page. you can post pictures, write notes, interact with potential clients, gain likers... that’s all you need right? wrong. you need a website. at the very least a blog. (i actually think you need a website and a blog together but i will leave that for another day.) 

facebook is great sure. pages have gotten much more customizable and you can do quite a bit now with them. but facebook is still just a stream of information flying past. when i check my facebook page i have 500+ recent posts on my news feed. i am going to skim that for an interesting, useful, amusing or friendly interaction or two and the rest is forgotten. 

think of a website as being your store front and facebook is like standing on the street handing out flyers. some people will pass on by, some will take the flyer. some will glance at it and trash it others will take a good look and stop into your store next time. a few might even turn around and come directly to your store. if you don’t have a store where is that potential client going to go? someone else’s store, that’s where. 

i think a website is probably the most cost effective, helpful thing you can do for your biz. you can showcase your work with photos (photo quality on facebook sucks ass by the way), list your prices, include links to all of the other places folks can find you and start a blog that will help get traffic and interest built up in your site. even if all you do for now is start a blog and post a few photos and stories about your work, that is a start.

for a website there are basically three things you need:

1. a domain name – this is the www.bizname.com thing – you need to buy this online at a place like go daddy
2. hosting – this is a where your website lives – you need to pay a company to do this
3. content – this is the actual website bit – you will need some sort of template that you can enter in your information, photos etc.

 here are 3 ways you can get a website started for your biz:

1. hire someone to do the whole thing for you, including taking care of all 3 of those things. chances are if you are reading this blog you are of the DIY mindset and want to know how you can do it yourself.

2. find a site that will do some combination of the 3. this can be tricky and overwhelming if you find this website stuff to be out of your league (which i did!). some sites will sell you all three for one price, some will give you one but not another and you have to find it elsewhere. i did a bunch of searching around and the site i found to be the most affordable, easy and user friendly is squarespace. i built both of my sites by myself and have complete control to easily make changes, add pages etc. (i am a bit of a control freak and a tweaker so this matters to me.)

squarespace includes hosting in their pricing, you can use your own domain name or their domain with your name tagged on and has some very nice templates that are fully customizable so you can start adding your content right away. the default setting is for a blog style page and then you can easily add photo galleries, contact pages, information pages and more.

this site took just a couple of hours to get up. i used a template and added a few extra pages and was done. later on i will customize it more with a logo and colours, backgrounds etc. i like that i get to control what is done and when and not pay anyone for tweaks and changes. my other site smile.play.love. took me a few days to make as i customized it extensively, and added in many pages of content.

if you do want to try squarespace out it is free to try it for 2 weeks (which i think is cool, if you don’t like it no obligation or money lost). i am happy to answer questions or help if i can – just email me =) 

another option here is to start a wordpress site. wordpress is hugely popular, and highly recommended by its users but to be honest i found it confusing from the start so never went with it. it requires you to pay for hosting somewhere and then add a wordpress template for your content. you can start with a free template and then later pay for templates and plugins to make your site more pro. also heaps of people use it so i imagine you would find lots of online help.

3. the third choice is to start a free blog using a site like blogger. this option gives you a free domain name with the blogspot name, includes the hosting for free and has templates that you can customize. here is my first blog. it is certainly not as powerful or as useful as my new website is but it is a very good start. it is easy to do yourself, you can start right now and it's better than having no website!

i am certainly not a web designer nor a website expert, this is just what i have figured out so far. if you have information that can help us out, please comment below or send me an email. we would love to hear from you!