If you are the owner of a new business or are already in business and looking to get online, there are a few things you really need to know before you look around for the right business to partner with.
First of all you need a domain, it’s a .com .co.uk or similar, but this is THE most important part! So don’t find a bundle that has a ‘FREE’ domain thrown in, because you may find in the future that you don’t own it at all. Simply open a new account with a domain registrar like 123 reg or Go-Daddy, register in your name and keep control yourself.
Next, you need hosting. Hosting is a piece of space that your web site will sit on, also you can choose the same provider for mail hosting and choose an email address, again, make sure that you are in control here too. Also KEEP EVERYTHING, all usernames and passwords in a safe place for future use.
Finally you can start looking around for a web site provider, the choice can make the decision more difficult!
Avoid FREE templates for sites, these are sites you will never own, if you want to change provider later on, the site files will not belong to you, just the information. Ensure that your provider is happy to produce a site and give you ownership of all files.
You may also find that although some IT companies are technically minded, the site design may not be the best, this will increase the sites ‘bounce rate’ (that is visitors who come to your site and leave without looking at any other pages).
Finally, market your site, just because it is live, the world will not drop in to visit on day one, commonly search engines will get around to your site but usually in their own time, so online and offline marketing is a great idea to get traffic (people) viewing your new web site.
Should you need advice, you can get in touch with an expert here.