Tips and Advice
There are many things to be considered when thinking about purchasing a website or even constructing one for yourself. This page details some of the important factors you may wish to consider when working with Bright Ape or any other web designer.
Websites are normally found in one of three ways. The user knows the name of the business and types that into their browser. They can be found through a web directory, this lists all websites that have been submitted to it by category and then normally displays them in alphabetical order or possibly by a ranking system such as user ratings if the directory features it. Many charge for this privilege. The final and most popular is internet search engines. People type words into a search engine, the search engine then checks looks in the search engines database and displays the results based on a series of criteria. Unlike directories search engines normally try and find and index all the websites that are currently on the Internet.
Search Engines
When making a website it's important to consider how it will be found on a search engine. If the name of the business can be used as the website name if a person searches for the business name the businesses website should theoretically come top of the results. Though other businesses can launch websites with similar names. Where websites have to compete against each other is over keywords that people use to search by. The most important keywords will be the one based on the principle activity or role of the business the website is about and any other secondary ones. For area specific businesses like restaurants or hotels the location is also important. Though it can be important to hedge your bets for example a person may search for a hotel by the town or city it's in. The county, the region or any other terms for the area such as the Cotswolds or the Lake District could all be used. So it becomes important to have all feature on the website.
The keywords can be used in several ways. If your business is effectively the website (like an online shop) having the keyword in the website name is the first most important. Then is the page title (which can be different on each page). This is the text that comes on top of the blue bar above most peoples Internet browser, it's normally a short sentence. Then it's text on the actual page, the more often it's used the better, especially if in headers and on the websites front page. There are also hidden words the search engines can look for. These are meta tags. They never get displayed on the your actual website but they are used so a search engine can easily find keywords or a description of the website. Sometimes the descriptions are even displayed on the search engine results. Different search engines weigh all these factors differently or may choose to ignore some. How they do so constantly changes as people are always trying to exploit the system for commercial advantage.
The other major contribution to a websites position in a search result is the number of links from other websites and the importance of those links. This makes it important to become listed on as many directory and industry websites as possible and the more popular the website with the link is the better. Some search engines also log how long a person who visits a website from their search engine stays there.
Getting the website you want
When having a website made for you the clearer the communication between the customer and the web designer the better. The first thing is to have a clear idea about what you want. Looking at the websites of competitors or similar businesses is the first and most obvious way. Work out what you like about their websites and what you dislike. Also think about how you compete with any direct rivals. Do you need to trump rival websites or be at the same quality level as an amateur looking website can reflect poorly on a business whilst a good one will pull in extra business. It's also important to remember a website about a place or business should never outshine what it's trying to sell but do the best to promote the place or business in the best possible light.
Once you have a clear idea about the role and the content of the website the look of the website is the next thing to be considered. First consider your business and your identity, what values and feelings do you want your website to convey? Does your business have a colour scheme, style, logos or other branding? Although repeating words is good a picture paints a thousand words. Finding websites you like and telling your web designer about them and what elements you like is often the easiest way to make sure everybody is on the same wave length. If websites aren't available clippings from magazines, brochures or popular movies or any other graphical things are good.
It may be also worth considering what extra you can do with your website and what this might in turn do for you. This all depends of course what line of business your in. For example many restaurant websites will have a front page with an overview of the place. There would be a page with a description of the food. Possibly including a menu or sample menu. Then a contacts page, typically with address, email address or phone number, directions and possibly a map. Most websites would have several pictures through out each page, on most websites these would be small and maybe difficult to see. Originally this may be for download speed but with so many people on broadband larger pictures are worth considering. A happy medium though would be to have thumbnail pictures on the page but if a person clicks on the thumbnail it could open a page with a full size picture on in a separate window. It may also be worth considering a gallery of pictures so people can easily see and get a feel for what they're being offered. Then there could be an online booking system so people can make reservations over the web (this could be essential for restaurants in places like London). If the restaurant has events or promotions an emailing mail list may be a good idea for either a regular newsletter or emails when promotions are on. Other restaurants that say have accommodation may have a page on things to do in the area. This not only gives people who have already found the website ideas that may make them want to increase their stay or give them ideas for a return visit. Where as people looking up things to do on holiday in the region can potentially find the website by looking for tourist attractions and find a place to either eat or stay.
Domain Names
Domain names are a websites address and need to be purchased for every website unless one is already owned. Each Domain name must be unique as that is what identifies a website and allows it to be found by Internet users. Domain names can be a complicated issue though and care should be taken when choosing one. The one you want must be free to be purchased. A website can also have more than one domain name. Different countries have different suffixes. After the web name comes a full stop and several letters. The main one's most people will be familiar with are (.com) and (.co.uk). The first is probably the most popular and associated with International and American websites. The second is the main suffix for UK websites. These are probably the two that most British businesses will want to consider for their websites. There are lots of other suffixes for other countries and for government, education (eg .ac.uk), organisations (eg .org and .org.uk).
Domain names have to be bought usually for periods of a year or more. Whilst you own a domain name no one else can buy it but, if you fail to renew each year or period for which you've bought it, it becomes available to anyone to buy. When buying a domain name it may also be worth considering buying other similar sounding names if yours is a business that trades strongly on it's identity. For example if Igo Systems bought igosystems.com anyone else would be free to buy igosystems.co.uk or igo-systems.com etc.
When buying a website from BrightApe a domain for a year is included in the price.
Web Hosting
When a website is created it needs to be physically located somewhere on a host computer (named a server). This is a computer that is always on and always connected to the Internet (though most can only guarantee something like 99%, 99.5% or 99.9% uptime - the term for your website being available, as computers need to be serviced and updated with the latest software). The main requirement of a host is to supply file space on which a website is located. The second is to supply bandwidth, this means the amount of information that is passed to and from the hosts servers. It is provided on a monthly basis. A website that exceeds it's allocated bandwidth may become unavailable.
Hosting and Bandwidth are measured in bytes and bytes per month respectively. These are actually quite small sizes so you'll commonly find these quoted in either megabytes (mb) or gigabytes (gb).