Web Design Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The questions in the FAQ are:
- Why should my business have a web site?
- Do I have to have Internet access to get a web site?
- How do I get a web site?
- Do I need to create my own web site layout and designs, and choose the colors and write the text?
- How will other people find my web site?
- I want my web site to be at http://www.mycompany.com. What do I need to do?
- How will I know how effective my web site is?
- If I don't like my web site, what do I do?
If you have any other questions about web sites, contact Zwolf at 347-829-WOLF (9653) or send us email.
Why should my business have a web site?
The Internet is used by many people each day - well over 1 BILLION people all over the world are online.
In America, there are over 200 million people who surf the web.
That's a HUGE advertising audience. And, unlike the Yellow Pages, you do not have to pay for additional saturation: one cost to create your web site, a place to put it, and you have effectively advertised your business to people all over the planet. In addition, establishing your business' web site and Internet presence gives you added status in this region of the country.
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Do I have to have an Internet account (Internet access) to have a web site?
No, you do not, though it is very helpful.
It is possible to have someone else host your site while you yourself do not have personal access to the Internet. Web space providers exist especially for this purpose. They provide space for a web site without direct dialup, personal Internet access, or email accounts.
Zwolf offers site hosting for as low as $10 per month for a basic site.
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How do I get a web site?
You can create one yourself, or you can hire a web designer to create one for you.
If you choose to make your own web site, you will have to maintain it, promote it to all search engines, create the graphics and write the text; many skills that take time to learn, resources it takes time to find and learn about, and money spent on training, books, and software. It is possible to do for the smallest businesses, if you or a family member already possesses these skills.
By contrast, you can hire Zwolf to design, create, and promote your web site. Average yearly expenses for site updating, additional site design, and statistics reporting (optional), run to about $600, depending on how much you change your web site. Amortized over a year, this is $50 a month.
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Do I need to create my own web site layout and designs, and choose the colors and write the words?
No, you do not have to supply layout ideas, though you may if you wish.
If you have any ideas of how you want your site to look or what you want it to say, then be sure and write the information down to give to the designer, and discuss it with the designer before work is begun on your web site.
You might want to give a short presentation to the web designer about your business. This will increase the designer's knowledge of what you provide, and how to best sell it on a web page. Also take in a business card, any brochures, or any other flyers, papers, or advertisements for your business. This way, the designer can also work to make a web site that coordinates with your other business stationery and information.
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How will other people find my web site?
Keywords are placed into the code of the web pages for indexing programs to read, and your site information will display when someone queries a search engine using specific keywords.
People find things on the Internet either by knowing the URL or by using search engines. Search engines like Google and Bing, along with Internet directories such as Yahoo, let people type in some keywords, push a button, and then see all the sites having those keywords. It is a little like looking up something in a regular library's card catalog.
Problems - and low exposure - happen when people either don't submit their sites to these search engines, don't use the right keywords, or don't tailor the descriptions in search engines to make viewers want to go to their site.
Zwolf offers site promotion to the top search engines as part of its web site packages. Once you have a web site, you should put your URL on your business cards, flyers, signs, forms, anything on which you would put your business phone number. This will further promote your site.
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I want my web site to be located at http://www.mycompany.com. What do I need to do?
You will need to get your own domain.
This involves choosing a domain name, registering it, and arranging for an ISP to host your domain. Once you have your own domain, you will be able to receive email at that domain: bob@BobsIceCream.com, timmy@dickens.com, and so forth. A domain can cost less than $10 a year through GoDaddy.com. There is an additional fee (usually less than $10 a month) to whomever hosts your domain.
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How will I know how effective my web site is?
There are two main ways to do this: hit counters, and statistics tracking.
Many personal pages have hit counters. They track how many times a web page is looked at by an Internet browser (such as Netscape or Internet Explorer). They usually appear as white numbers on a black background, though many allow different colors and fonts to be used. Counters are inexpensive, and it is easy to get information from your hit counter: simply look at your page, and see what number the hit counter displays. However, counters only tell you how many times a page has been viewed - a straight numbers game. In addition, when you first install the counter, the low number might give the wrong impression to other visitors to your site.
Plus it just looks unprofessional.
Statistics tracking is used by most, if not all, large companies who have web sites. The information that you can get from statistics tracking software varies according to the individual package, but usually includes: how many times a page has been viewed; what kind of browser was used to view the page; how many times the same individual browser and computer viewed a single page; average number of daily hits. Statistics tracking is more expensive than hit counters, and it takes more effort to see and interpret the information provided. However, it gives you more comprehensive details on how well your site is working as an advertising tool.
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If I don't like my web site, what can I do?
Like any other advertising project, campaign, or device, if you don't like the way it looks or the message that it contains, you can either stop using it, or you can change it.
Get feedback from friends, relatives, or others in your business. Look at other web sites for ideas. Then talk with the designer about the changes that you want to make, whether it is changing some text, adding or changing graphics, or remodeling the site structure.
You should always discuss your needs and expectations with the designer before work is begun on your site, and have the designer outline their ideas as well. By doing this, you can be sure to veto any ideas or suggestions that you truly do not like before any work is started.
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