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How to get your business onlineIf you are new to internet business, this page is for you. For several years now, the internet has promised businesses large and small a new way to trade. Increasing numbers of businesses are going online. This page gives a brief overview of what you should know. What time of business should be online? Almost any business will benefit from being online. With increasing numbers of customers using the internet, even businesses with a purely local customer base can benefit. How the internet is used varies greatly though. For some businesses all that will be needed is a basic site with information on their business. This is effectively an online brochure to promote your company. Others will also wish to sell online. By doing this you can broaden your customer base and there is often no reason why you cannot sell to people far away. The type of product you sell can vary too. It could be an actual product such as a CD or even something virtual such as reservation or service. At the other end of the scale are full internet businesses. They do not trade through shops or other premises but only online. An example of this would be Amazon, the online book and music retailer.
Web Site Content The content of your site is very important. We guide you with our web templates as to what should be on your site. By giving you headings such as products, contact details etc, we ensure that nothing essential is missing. However you do need to think about what you want to include. A company brochure is a good place to start. Our main suggestion is that you give us as much information as possible. Search engines love content rich sites so the more text you have the better!
Images It is a good idea to include images on your site. You will need to send us your images on disk (CD's are best). If you need your products or premises professionally photographed, we can provide this. Please do invest in some good quality images as this will enhance your site. We will also need a copy of your company logo.
Search Engine Optimisation This is the term for being able to find your page on search engines (such as MSN and Google). A well laid out page with links will be found by the major search engines whereas a badly laid out page will not. This can be important if you are hoping to attract new customers to your site. We will lay out your site to gain good search engine rankings in the long term. There are unscrupulous companies that use tactics banned by search engines. These sites end up banned by the major search engines and defeat the purpose.
Web Hosting Once we have made your website you need to be able to display it on the internet. This involves hosting it on a computer that is always switched on for people to view your pages. We host your pages with large UK based hosting companies for maximum availability. Customers will connect to this computer, known as the server to assess your site. These computers need to be high specification to cope with large numbers of visitors. Unlike many companies we do not limit the number of visitors your web site can have in a month!
Domain Name Your website will need an easy to remember address that is related to your business so people can log on to your website by using this address, your domain name or website address will also be used to submit your website to the major search engines. We will also make sure that you have email addresses ending in your domain name.
Printed materials Even with the internet age, quality printed materials are important too. We can design your brochures and stationary and arrange printing in your company house style. If you would like us to work with you for your printed materials, we can ensure they match the same quality as your web site and give your business an all round quality image. |
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