Your Web Presence Is Important – Part 3

Let’s go over the preliminary items or tasks that should have been accomplished by now. As a SOHO owner who has never embraced internet technology, these are some of the things that you should have thought about or contemplated so far:

1. GET RID OF THE FEAR! – Nothing to be scared about in joining the web community! Think of it as gathering new friends and new clients!
2. View sites that are the same business as yours! See how they’ve structured their site (what are the most frequent colors, how their home pages, what grabs your attention?)
3. If you’re a non-programmer or web developer, find a web developer and tell them your ideals.
4. Once you found a web developer, ask them to do a “mock up” drawing of your site.

So now, you’re sitting down with the web developer and you have this information of the type of site that you want. The web developer should consult with you on the tone of the site, the look, the “load” time (how long it would take a site to appear after people type in your web address) and content.

WARNING flash! Many SOHO business owners think web developers are also marketers and that it’s their responsibility to come up with marketing slogans and content. Not true and if you find a web developer that has a background in business development, you’ve found a rare individual! Most web developers use the abstract side of their brain and only provide the look and tone of the site. That’s why they are called WEB DEVELOPERS!

It is up to you to create the CONTENT for your company and you might want to look at other sites to see what content they use to get a few ideas. If you get stuck, get a writer or a marketing representative from your local Chamber of Commerce to assist you. If you have your content together before you go to the web developer, it makes their job much easier.

If you and the web developer come to an agreement, then it’s all good. Web-sites can range from $35.00 per page to $300.00 per page and up. The price depends on how elaborate the site is and how many graphics, pictures and original programming is in the project.

So your project has started. What next? You need a URL and a server! Your site has to be placed on the World Wide Web and we are going to see what elements you need to do that!