Choosing a Website Management System

Choosing the right website management system for you can be a little daunting. This is especially true if you are not very “techie” in the first place. Most likely, the web design companies giving you quotes will offer you a website management system that they are comfortable working with. But is the system they choose going to be the best one for you or your staff?

We’ll start off by assuming that you are going to have your website built by a professional web designer. The designer will set everything up and then turn the website over to you to manage yourself. At that point, in theory at least, you should be able to login to your control panel and start working on your website right away. The learning curve required to do this will be determined by which type of website management system you choose.

Here are some of the key things you need to look at when choosing a website management system.

First, is it easy to use? How easy is it for a your average office worker, that does not know anything about web design, to add pages, remove pages, add photos and links. Do you need to read a 100 page instruction manual to figure how  to edit text or is the system designed to be user friendly.

The problem with most of the systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal is that they were designed for web designers and not the average person. They are bloated and have so many unnecessary features that performing simple tasks like adding and removing pages can be a nightmare for someone who is intimidated by computers in the first place. In the hands of an experienced web designer these systems are great but in the hands of your average business owner they are considered too intimidating and the business owner usually ends up hiring the web designer to make their updates for them anyway.

The second thing you should consider is your budget. If you have the money, consider having a website management system custom built for your business. If you only require simple functions like editing, adding and removing pages with the ability to upload photos then you could probably have a management system built for less than it would cost to have one the more popular website management systems customized for your business.

By having a system build specifically for your needs you can avoid ending up with a bloated system that is confusing to use. Everything can be scaled down to the essentials of what you need making the system much easier to use for you. Additional functionality can always be added in.

The third thing you need to consider is search engine optimization. Will your website’s placement in the search engine rankings be important to it’s success? If so, then be careful choosing your system. The 3 major free systems out there WordPress, Joomla and Drupal do a fairly poor job creating search engine friendly websites. All three require additional plug-ins and programming to get them to create SEO friendly websites. Well this additional programming will cost you during the design phase. And even with these plugins the websites created with these systems still have issues with validating. Validating is basically checking to see if the website is put together right on a technical level. This is a small factor that is taken into consideration for search engine placement.

There are plenty of website management systems out there. Some are more popular than others. Some are free and and some you have to pay for. Make sure you choose the one that’s right for you and not your website designer because in the long run, hopefully, you will be the one working with it.

Looking For Cheap Web Design? Think Fast.

When looking for cheap web design, many small business owners make their decision based on whomever offers the lowest hourly rate. This is how the outsourced web design companies in India attract so many clients. They offer $12 to $15 per hour rates that most companies in the United States, Canada and England can’t compete with. At least, on paper,  they can’t compete with them on a per hour basis. But you need to do your homework before making your decision because what may appear to be the best deal may not always be the case.

Here is the most common example of why the low hourly rate offered by the outsourcing firms does not always translate into a good deal on a cheap website.

Let’s say you are looking for a simple 5 page website with a CMS system so that you can update it yourself once it is built.

The outsourcing company tells you that they will charge you $15 per hour to build this website for you. They will have the website ready for you in 3-4 weeks. (This is a common turn around time when outsourcing this size of website.)

The local company will charge you $95 per hour to build the exact same website but they can get it done within 1 week. You look at the $95 per hour rate, hyperventilate, and go with the outsourcing firm because it’s cheaper.

The most common mistake business owners make is forgetting to ask how long it will take to build the thing.

When you get into production the outsourcing firm tells you that website will take them 60 hours to build and since you don’t know anything about web design you figure that is reasonable. You end up paying $900 for your website.

But if you asked the local company how long it would take they would have built it in 8 hours for a total cost of $760. Plus, your website would have been ready in 1 week.

This is a very common marketing ploy with companies that offer cheap web design. Offer a low, eye catching hourly rate and then make up for it by taking 10 times longer to build it. I’m not suggesting that they are billing you for hours that they aren’t actually using. The point is, they aren’t exactly in a hurry to get the job done fast.

At one time my company tested the waters of outsourcing to see if it would save us any money on production. The hourly rate looked great but the issue was always speed and turn around time. Where my in house designers could build a website in 5 hours the outsourcing firm would take 30. Even though I was paying a lot more per hour to my in house designers the end result always cost me more to outsource.

Remember when collecting bids that he hourly rate you pay is not as important as how long it takes to build the website. That is where you’ll save your money.

Tips When Shopping For Cheap Web Design

Shopping for cheap web design can be a little frustrating.  If you want a quality website, it can be even more frustrating. Many times you may feel like a victim of the old fashioned “bait and switch”.

Here is one scenario. You find a web design company offering cheap web design and call them only to find out that the website you need does not fall into the “cheap” category.

Another scenario you will run into is when none of the cool website design examples in their portfolio are the “cheap” ones. Here are some tips to follow when shopping for cheap web design.

Don’t expect to get a whole lot for nothing

If you are only looking to spend a couple hundred bucks on a website, don’t expect a web designer to build you a 50 page website. You may be able to get the neighbor’s kid to build you one for that kind of money but this article is about finding a professional web designer to build one for you. Most of the legit cheap web designers out there charge around $100 per page so if your budget is $300 then you can probably find a professional web designer to build you a 3-5 page website for that much money. Video, Flash and heavy graphic design are probably out of the question.

Be prepared to do some of the work yourself

If your budget is limited prepare to do some of the work yourself. The more work you put into it the less money you should have to spend on having a professional do it for you. Web designers are like lawyers, you pay for their time. If you ask them to find photos, write your copy and build your website you’re going to pay more for it. If you only have them build your site, then you’ll pay less.

Purchase a website that you can easily add pages to and update yourself

If you get a website with a CMS (Content Management System) then you don’t have to pay a web designer to build your pages for you. That’s right, all you need to pay them for is to build the thing and that’s it. You can then add in all the pages you need without having to pay. This is usually the cheapest way to get a professional looking website. Just make sure that the learning curve of the management system isn’t too steep. Some good examples of these types of websites are the Cheap Ass Website and Quik Site systems.

A secure ecommerce shopping cart is out of the question

You are not, I repeat, are not going to find a professional web designer to build you a secure ecommerce shopping cart for a couple hundred dollars. You might be able to find someone to build you a cheap website that you can add PayPal buttons to but a top of the line shopping cart is out of the question. One thing you don’t want be cheap with is ecommerce, especially if you plan on taking credit cards over the Internet. You are liable if those credit card numbers get stolen from your website so save up and do it right.

In conclusion, make sure you shop around and get 3 to 5 quotes when shopping for cheap web design. Professional cheap web design is out there, you just have to look for it.

3 Questions To Ask When Shopping For Cheap Website Design

When you are shopping for cheap website design remember the old adage, you get what you pay for. Cheap website design does exist, but is the quality going to be what you are looking for? If one guy quotes you $50 per hour, another $75 per hour and yet another quotes you $100 per hour would you even know what questions to ask to figure out if you getting more value for the higher quote?

Here are three questions you need to ask when shopping for cheap website design.

1) How long did it take you to build this?

Have a look at the web designer’s portfolio and find some website designs that you like and ask them how long it took to build those particular websites. This should give you an idea of how fast they work. The average website usually averages out to around an hour per page or less. That is, unless there are a lot of intricate graphic design or animated elements flying around but if you are looking for cheap website design then those types of things will pretty much be out of the question anyway. Asking this will also give you an idea of what ballpark your website quote should be in. If you ask for a website similar to one in their portfolio that they said took them 10 hours and the quote comes back 50 hours then you know something is up.

2) Why does this take so many hours?

Web designers hate to be questioned on why they quote the way they do. Some will even flat out not answer you if you ask them why it took them so long to build a particular website. That’s exactly why you need to ask. Now, you may not understand everything they explain to you but have them repeat it until you do understand. If they can’t explain to you why they quoted you 20 hours for a particular service in a way which you can understand them then don’t hire them. They are either trying to rip you off or they don’t really know what they are doing. Now, reality is this, some web designers are just flat out faster and better than others. You may run into one guy who charges $100 per hour but will have your website done in three hours where the $50 per hour guy may need 10 hours to do the exact same thing. Is he ripping you off? No, he’s just slower. Don’t make your deicing based purely on hourly rates when shopping for cheap website design. Take speed into consideration too. Fast web designers are usually more experienced and charge a little more but the money is usually better spent.

3) Have you ever built a website like this before?

This is a biggie. Too many clients have walked through our doors with half built websites wanting us to finish them because their old web guy got in over his head. This is especially important when shopping for ecommerce website design. Make sure the web designer you hire has built the type of website you need before. Many web designers like to learn “on the clock”. That is, while you are paying them. They will accept a job that is over their head and try to figure out how to do it while charging you. You can easily avoid this by asking. If they hem and haw or don’t give you a confident response then you may want to look elsewhere.

The point being made is that

• Experience = Speed
• Speed = Less Production Time
• Less Production Time = Less Billable Hours = Savings to You

This article is reprinted courtesy of CheapAssWebsite.com

How Search Engines Work

Business owners consistently hear about how they need to optimize their website. Well, what does actually mean? Here is an attempt at explaining the process in the least technical way I can. This will be a little over-simplified but you should have a pretty good idea of what this is all about by the time you are done reading.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of creating a website that will actually show up when someone uses a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing to find your products or services. The work required to do this is generally split into two parts. The first part consists of work that needs to be done on the actual pages of your website. Some of the things that need to be worked on are the text, page titles, page descriptions and file names of your pages. The second part is work that needs to be done off of your website. This primarily includes getting websites with similar content to link back to you.

How Do Search Engines Work?

There are a variety of factors that play into how web pages are ranked when someone types something into a search engine. Here is a simplified explanation of the process.

Step 1: Someone types the service they are looking for into a search engine.

In this example we are looking for a plumber in Boston.

Step 2: The search engine will analyze the words that were typed in.

In this case the words are “plumber”, “in” and “boston”.

Step 3: The search engine will match what was typed in with all of the web pages it has indexed that contain the words “plumber”, “in” and “boston” as well as the complete phrase “plumber in boston”.

The search engine will give priority to the phrase “plumber in boston” and then look for individual instances of the words “plumber” and “boston” appearing on the same page throughout all of the web pages it is aware of. Not only does it scan the text that appears on the website but it will also scan the text in the Meta Tags. The Meta Tags include information such as the title of the web page and a description. There could be millions of different web pages that match depending on the search term used.

Step 4: The search engine will also take into consideration how many other different web pages are linking to those pages.

Links coming from pages with similar content, phrases and words are given more weight than pages that have nothing in common with the page they are linking to.

Step 5: The names of the files the web designer used to build those pages will also be taken into consideration.

Including the names of your services and location in names of the files used to build your website can help to improve your search engine ranking.

Step 6: The search engine displays a list of results.

The search results are generally based on a combination of the search phrase used, text matches to that search phrase on websites, links to those websites from websites with similar content and the names of the files used to build those websites.

There are obviously other factors taken into consideration such as how long the website has been online, how often it is updated, if it includes a site map, how quickly it loads and so on. But for the most part, this should give you a pretty good starting point as to understanding how search engines work and why optimizing your website may be a good idea. If you have spent a good deal of money on your website and no one can find then what was the point of spending the money in the first place?

This article about how search engines work comes to us courtesy of  CheapAssWebsite.com home of the cheap website.

Tips When Shopping For Ecommerce Development

You’ve decided to hire a professional for ecommerce development and have begun the processes of getting bids. The problem is that you are getting bids everywhere from $500 to $5000 and you don’t have any clue as to what you actually need. Can you get away with a $500 ecommerce website or do you have to go all out and get the $5000 one. What’s the difference? Is there a difference? These are questions that business owners deal with all the time when it comes to ecommerce development. What is too much and what is not enough?

Before you begin this journey you need to determine one thing up front. How are you going to get paid? Are you going to accept credit cards? Are you going to accept Paypal? Are you going to have people mail you checks? This is the first question you need to have answered before you even pick up the phone to call a web designer because this will play a factor in who you hire for your ecommerce development and what sort of options you will need with your ecommerce software.

Here is a a bare bones list of what you need to run an ecommerce store that accepts credit cards.

If you decide to go with Paypal as your payment solution then the rest of this article doesn’t really pertain to you. Click this link to read some of the benefits and drawbacks of using Paypal.

First – You’ll Need a Payment Gateway

The proper way of setting up an ecommerce store is to accept credit card through what is known as a payment gateway. This is not a merchant account. Many people confuse merchant accounts with payment gateways but they are not the same. Merchant account services act, for the most part, as a liaison between your business bank account and the payment gateway. When a customer orders a product from your online business their card is processed via the payment gateway. The money is then moved over to the merchant account service. The merchant account service then moves those newly captured funds to your business bank account.

Payment gateways allow online merchants such as ecommerce store owners or auction sellers to accept credit card payments over the Internet. They authorize the cardholder s credit that is, they check to ensure that the customer has enough money on their credit card to cover the charges. They then place a hold on that amount so the buyer can t turn around and spend that same money elsewhere before it gets transferred to the retailer s merchant account. Banks describes this as the technology necessary to consummate a payment transaction.

Second – You Need a Domain Name

You will need to purchase a domain name for your website. This is the part that comes after the “www” such as http://www.yourwebsitehere.com. Domain names are billed annually and a .com name can be purchased for $9.99 or even less if you shop around.

Third – You Have Put Your Store Somewhere and That is Known as Web Hosting

When you have an ecommerce website built you need to put it somewhere and that is where website hosting comes in. This is paid for in advance by the year. So if you purchase a $6.08 per month plan your initial bill will be for $72.96. This will keep your ecommerce website online for 1 year. There are different price plans based on how much space you will need for your website, how many emails you want associated with your account and how much security you want added your ecommerce website.

Fourth – You Need to Prove Your Website is Secure With an SSL Certificate

If you are planning on accepting credit cards or any personal information on your ecommerce website then you will need to purchase a SSL Certificate. This is proof to your customers that your ecommerce website is secure and that the likely hood of their personal information getting into the wrong hands is minimal.

Fifth – Ecommerce Software

Something needs to run your online store and that something is ecommerce software. This is where the cost starts to fluctuate based on whom you hire to build your store. There are plenty of free ecommerce software solutions out there. That’s right, they are free to download and use as you wish. Open source ecommerce software such as osCommerce and Zen Cart are very popular.

Here at Digi Donkey we use Kryptronic Click Cart Pro software for ecommerce development. It costs $199 but we have specialized in this software so that our ecommerce websites can be built quickly. This software has an easy to learn user control panel. There are plenty of free ecommerce solutions out there but we have found that the learning curve for most non-tech users is so high that it is not worth using it since our customers still ended up having to call us to make all of their edits and changes for them. Plus, Kryptronic has great customer support which is nonexistent with the free ecommerce software that is out there.

You will most likely be at the mercy of your web designer as to which ecommerce software is used for your online store. You definatelty want them using software they are familiar with so that your site is built as quickly (economically) as possible. Just make sure that if they are using licensed software to build your ecommerce site you own the license. The software needs to be registered to you so that you own it.

Sixth – Pictures and Words

Believe it or not this is probably one of the most left out aspects when people come to us for ecommerce development. The business owner has 5,000 products they are wanting to sell without any pictures or product descriptions and they want us to contact their supplier to get that information for them. This is one of those requests than can cost you a lot of money. You really should have your photos and words ready before you hire a web designer. What you’ll need written are these basic things; categories, category descriptions, product descriptions, product options, pricing, your return policy, your privacy policy, your terms of use and a home page greeting. Now there is plenty of more that you’ll need but these are the basics. If you are not good with words then hire a writer . If you don’t know of a writer only then ask your web designer, they probably work with one.

You’ll also need to have pictures of all your products on a CD, DVD or flash drive. The chances of someone buying something online they can’t look at are slim to none. If you are selling 10,000 items then you need 10,000 pictures of those items. Many times we have had clients ask us to go online and download the pictures for them. I’ll tell you now, that is a horrible idea. You need to get your own pictures before hiring the web designer.  Having them do it is going to cost you a ton of money. Now if you have it budgeted and really don’t have the time to do it fine but don’t get upset with your web designer when they hand you an invoice for 80 hours of downloading photos at $50 – $100 per hour before they have even started on building your ecommerce site.

And Finally – Website Design

You are obviously hiring someone because you can’t do this yourself so you will need to pay someone to put all this stuff together for you. This is where the cost really fluctuates. The best advice I can give is for you to do your homework and get a lot of bids. If you are looking at spending serious money on ecommerce development I would even suggest hiring a consultant to go over the bids with you. Dropping a couple hundred dollars on someone who knows more  about this stuff than you to go through the bids you get may save you thousands of dollars.

For any competent web designer the actual set up of your ecommerce website shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. That is getting the server and database set up, installing the software, turning on your SSL certificate and getting it to the point where you can start adding in your categories and products.  The real cost is in the customization of the site and plugging in all your categories, products and options. The more you have your designer do, the more it will cast you. You will most likely need your designer to customize the look of the site for you but beyond that you should be able to take over from there if you want to. Adding in the information to an ecommerce site is usually as easy as filling in a form. If it isn’t then you are using the wrong software.

Make sure you keep all these things in mind when shopping for ecommerce development. What you don’t know will cost you.

Some Tips When Shopping For A Cheap Website.

Business owners need to be careful when shopping for a cheap website because as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for”.  The biggest mistake most people make is going with a web designer who does not have the required experience. Many cost conscious business owners end up hiring the kid next door or their brother-in-law because they know how to put together a rudimentary website and get it online. Then, once the business owner asks them to add in something more advanced like a contact form, rotating images or e-commerce functionality they can’t get the person on the phone and they are left with a half built website that generates zero business.

The other issue is often quality. More often than not, the business owner will end up with a cheap website that looks like it was put together by a 5^th grader.  This does them no good, especially if image is important to their business. Remember, a website is often the first impression a prospective client will get when shopping for your services. If your website looks cheap, then how does that make you look?

You can get a cheap website that looks professional and works the way you need it to if you ask the right questions before hiring a web designer.

Here are some tips:

• When the web designer shows you their portfolio, ask how much each of the websites cost to make. Many times you will be lured in by an awesome looking portfolio only to find out that not one of the samples they show you is the actual “cheap” price.
• Make sure that the “cheap price” includes the amount of pages you will need. Many web design companies promote $99 or $199 websites but those are for 1 page websites only.
• If you have a particular website in mind that you’d like to pattern your website from, ask how long it would take to build it. Then get the hourly rate. Many times what you want, or need, for your business doesn’t fit into a cheap website. You may be asked to scale back. That’s okay as long as you don’t scale back so much that you end up with something that does your business no good.
• Don’t kid yourself thinking that you will get a full blown e-commerce website where you can take credit cards, control inventory and offered discount codes for a couple hundred bucks. E-commerce websites need to be secure and have to give you the ability to easily add products, shipping calculations, affiliate programs and such. You can have a reasonably priced e-commerce website built but it obviously can’t be built as cheaply as a 5 page informational website.
• Make sure that the web designer has the technical ability to enhance your website in the future as your business grows. If they are willing to build you a cheap website then they may not have the skills or know how to build you a more advanced website when the time comes for that.

You can find a cheap website as long as you take your time to ask the right questions. There are plenty of professional web design companies that offer cheap websites out there. Just take your time to find a cheap website that is the right one for you.

Basic Information About Website Hosting

A website hosting company provides a place where the files used to build your website are kept so that they can be viewed and accessed by people on the Internet. Your files are kept on a web server. This is a basically special type of hard drive that has software running on it so that it is accessible to people surfing the Internet. Think of it like a folder on your computer where you keep pictures. If you want to look at the pictures you have to open the folder to see them. A web hosting service provides the ability for people to see your pages by clicking on your URL. Your URL is directed to a folder on the web server that contains all the files needed for your website to work. When the web designer finishes building your website they will upload all the files to your web server and then your website will be viewable to the world.

There are two main types of web servers that can host websites and they are Linux servers and Windows servers. If you are setting up your hosting account yourself yourself, ask your web designer which type of server you’ll need to run your website. Sometimes it can be a hassle having to switch over from one type to the other which in turn could end up costing you more money. They both basically do the same things but certain e-commerce shopping carts, websites, CMS systems and other software will only run on one or the other.

The three most relevant types of web hosting for most businesses learning about the Internet for the first time are shared hosting, dedicated hosting and self hosting.

Shared hosting involves putting your website on the same part of a web server with other people’s websites.  The equipment and server are owned and managed by the web host provider, with technicians on hand to monitor and manage the servers. This is a popular option because it is inexpensive and gives you many of the benefits that dedicated hosting provides. The drawback is that you will have limited access to the server which means you may not be able to run many of the applications you see on other websites. This is a good option if you just want to have basic website.

Dedicated hosting allows you to rent an entire web server yourself and have access to all its resources to host one or more websites. The website hosting company typically does not take responsibility for anything other than the hosting operations. Setting up files, databases, permissions and other technical things may (depending on the company) be your or your web designer’s responsibility. Most web hosting companies provide built in tools to make doing these things easier but the learning curve can be steep. This option is good for larger websites and ones used for e-commerce. If security is important then dedicated hosting is what you need. The cost can be a little bit more than shared hosting but there are many web hosting companies out there where there is no difference.

Self hosting is when you host the website yourself on your own web server. To do this you’ll need the proper hardware, software, technical skill and Internet connection. This option gives you complete control and responsibility over everything. Hosting your own web server will normally require a specialized Internet connection depending on your particular needs. Before going this route you’ll want to speak to an Internet consultant or IT person to get all the particulars.

When you sign up for web hosting you will given a login and password to your account so remember to write this information down and keep it somewhere you won’t lose it. You may even be able to sign up for hosting when you purchase your domain name. Speak to your web designer before doing this if you are not sure as to what you are doing or what type of hosting you need. If you don’t have anyone to consult with when you buy your domain name then purchase the hosting at a later time. It won’t cost you anymore to do so as hosting can always be added to your account later on.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet consulting service located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida. He is also the creator of the one and only  Cheap Ass Website.

SEO Explained

According to the bastion of knowledge known as Wikipedia, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks,” the more searchers will visit that site.

Now I’ll attempt to explain what SEO is for people who don’t know an algorithm from an enema.

The search engines use an algorithm to determine the placement of a website when someone types in a search phrase for content contained on that website. Here is an extremely over-simplified example. Someone types “plumber Boston” into Google’s search box. What happens then is Google displays all of the websites that have the words “plumber” and “Boston” in them. Now if one website has more instances of the words “plumber” and “Boston” in it than another then, in theory, it will rank higher. Google knows which websites have these words because is has indexed all the websites that are out there and it has given relevance to each and every one based on certain criteria. This is predominately based on two things: the text on the website and how many other websites with similar content have linked to the website. There are other things that factor in too like how long the website has been online, the names of the files used to build the website, the frequency of updates, the title and description meta tags, the domain name and the technical makeup of the website.

What it boils down to is this. If you want someone to find your business by typing in “pool company Phoenix” then you better have the words “pool company Phoenix” sprinkled throughout your website. An even better way to do this is to use proper phrases throughout your website’s content. Instead of “pool company Phoenix”, since that isn’t really proper grammar, you could use “pool company in Phoenix” such as “Are you looking for the best pool company in Phoenix?” and “If you need a pool company in Phoenix then ABC Pools is the place for you.” That will increase the chances of your website being listed higher when someone searches for “pool company in Phoenix”.

Now if two or more websites have the exact same amount of instances of the phrase “pool company in Phoenix” then the amount of incoming links will factor in. An incoming link is another website linking to your website. Google factors in how many websites link to your website when ranking pages. It doesn’t appear at the time of this writing that the other search engines place as heavy an emphasis on incoming links as Google. It helps out even more if the links are coming from websites with similar content. Links from other pool company websites, websites about pools, pool suppliers and directory listings under the category of anything pool related would help your website out more than links from flower shops.

It can take up to 3-4 months for a brand new website to show up in the search engine rankings. If your website is built properly it should start showing up in various searches during that time frame. You can test this yourself by typing in various word combinations related to your products, services and service area. Your placement will be determined by your website’s content, incoming links and how much competition there is for the keywords used for the search. If you are one of only 5 roofers with websites in your area then your website should show up within the first 1 or 2 pages or so if someone types in the word “roofers” and a city or town in your service area, for example “roofer Bay City, MI”. If it doesn’t, then you need to make sure that your website has enough mentions of the words “roofer” and “Bay City, MI” in the text because the search engines have not deemed your website relevant for that particular search phrase.

I hope this sheds a little light on the subject for you. If you want more information on how to not get screwed when hiring someone do SEO work for you then click here to read this previous post.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet consulting firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, FL.  He can also hook you up with a Cheap Ass Website.

Advice on Choosing a Domain Name

One of the first things you’ll have to do when planning your website is come up with a domain name and then register it with a domain name registrar like GoDaddy.com or Netfirms.com. Typically the cost to do this is around $6 – $12 per year depending on who you register it with.

Even though many web designers may offer to do it for you, it is in your best interest to register your domain name yourself. This way you have sole access to the account and can choose whom you share the information with. Now, if you hire someone to develop your website for you, they will need access to your domain name. But keeping it in your name will prevent future hassle, especially if you have to terminate your web designer.

You will be given a customer number or login name as well as a password when you register your domain name. Make sure you write this information down and put it somewhere you won’t lose it as recovering this information, if lost, can be difficult.

When selecting a primary domain name consider these points:

• How will you be marketing your website?
• Does the name of your business tip people off as to what service you provide?
• How much online competition do you have?

Write down about 5-10 different names you would like then check online for their ability using GoDaddy.com, Netfirms.com or a similar service.

One of the choices you will need to make will be to go with .com, .net, .org or something else. The .com extension is the most desirable due to fact that most people will assume that is the extension unless your advertising has effectively branded something different. As far as the search engines are concerned, it doesn’t really matter which extension you choose because the content on your website and other factors will determine your website’s search engine placement. The .org extension is typically used by non-profit organizations.

Here is an additional note about your domain name and the search engines. It does help a little bit if your domain name states what it is you do as opposed to just being the name of your business. If, for some reason, the name of your business isn’t available then a good way to choose your domain name would be to name the service you provide as well as the area you provide it. For example, if you’re a plumber and your business is named Joe’s Pipe Works and you are located in Orlando, Florida but the domain name joespipeworks.com, .net and everything else isn’t available then you could consider going with orlandoplumbing.com or joesplumbingorlando.com if they are available. You can also try using dashes. For example: joes-pipe-works.com or joes-plumbing-orlando.com.

If the domain name you prefer is available with multiple extensions (.com, .net, .biz, etc.) you will have a decision to make. Should you just purchase the one you want or should you purchase all of them. This will really depend on how much control you want over the name. For example, if the domain name you choose for your BBQ business is PigInThePoke.com would you be okay with a porn website setting up shop as PigInThePoke.net.? That may sound extreme but it has happened many times to many businesses before and it will continue to happen in the future. The other concern is that of a competitor getting the same domain name with a different extension. If you can afford it, it would be a good idea for you to buy up all the different extensions of your domain name. This is especially true if you want tight control over your branded image. There are other benefits to owning multiple domain names for your business too such as using them to promote landing pages, blogs and other online marketing tools.

Jayme Ward is the Owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida