Website Design | toddejones.net

So you want to build a website?

July 28, 2011 By Todd Leave a Comment

You have a business. Maybe your business is brand new or maybe it has never had a website, but now, you think it’s time to build a website for your business. You ask around and get a lot of different recommendations for designers and some tips from colleagues, etc.

Before you sit down with a designer, there are some things you need to know about the business of building your website. I want to share with you some essentials, and then add some for good measure, a bonus if you will.

A website has to have a domain and hosting

To those of us in the field, these seems like a “no brainer.” Not everyone knows this. First, you have to have your domain which is called your domain name. An example is www.toddejones.net. That is my domain. Actually, I have several. It is the identifier of your website’s location. Look at your domain name like a street address. Second, you have to have a plot of land, or in the digital world, it is called hosting. You lease your hosting from a hosting provider such as Bluehost.com. Both the hosting and the domain cost money. Each year, you pay for your hosting plan and your domain.

A website design does not include hosting and domain

With a rare exception, your designer will not include the price of hosting and domain in the cost of building your website. He or she may have a solution that they may provide for you, but it is, mostly, not included in the design cost. Some companies will do some kind of all-in-one type of plan, but you usually do not get the personal attention and customization that a freelance designer or a web development firm will offer. Keep in mind that most of the time, the cost of your design does not include domain and hosting.

Website content has to come from somewhere

Website content refers to the content of each page as well as pictures and graphics such as your logo. The designer may use pictures and graphics as a part of the design elements, but he or she will need pictures of things like your place of business, your staff and any other business related item as well as your company’s logo. If you expect your designer to create this content, you should also expect to pay extra for doing so. You will also need to consider the copy writing of your website. Do you hire a professional copywriter? Do you write the copy yourself? Or, do you pay to have the website designer provide the copy? This will be your decision, but it is one that needs to be made.

A well built website costs more than a few hundred dollars

That is not to say that you can’t have a website built for a few hundred dollars, but it will not be the best product you can get. A thorough designer will take plenty of time to make sure the website is built, works properly and is optimized for its best use. This time costs money. Simply put, a premium website comes at a premium price.

Bonus Points

A Content Management System is essential.

This helps you easily update your website and it is necessary for non-profits and small businesses. It will save you lots of money in updates. There are plenty of good ones available under open source software such as Joomla, Drupal and my favorite, WordPress.

Measure Results

Google Analytics is free. Have it installed by your designer and check your statistics. You need to know who is coming and from where.

Integrate Social Media

Integrate your social media on your website. Let visitors know where else they can find you on the web, and always have your social media profiles leading people back to your website. This gives customers several different ways to engage you and your company.

Marketing

You website is part of your overall marketing plan. Include a strategy for your website in your overall plan and follow up. Don’t build a website and let it sit stagnate on the web for years without knowing what it is or is not doing for your company! Also, just to be clear, you will have to promote your website to get people to come. Promote it offline as well as online. Consult with your designer or hire an internet marketer. At the very least, make sure your customers know about your website!

Search Engines

Finally, all of the “big three” search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) have free registration tools to have your website indexed in their system. Use them and don’t pay a website to submit to 249 search engines. The only ones you really have to worry about are the “big three.” Submissions to directories might be worth considering, but make sure you index your website in one of the “big three.”

If you have any more questions about getting started, pleas don’t hesitate to contact me!

Filed Under: websites Tagged With: build a website, domain, hosting, website, website design

Alpha Sigma Tau of UCA

January 26, 2011 By Todd Leave a Comment

I finished the website for Alpha Sigma Tau of the University of Central Arkansas in December. The girls were very professional in how they approached the process of re-building the website. I worked with the sorority’s Paige Jeffrey, the main liaison, to put all of the ideas together.

The website is build on the WordPress platform and hosted on Bluehost.

The website reflects the colors of the sorority, green and gold, complete with a rose in the header and an anchor at strategic places including the footer of the website.

We added a gallery to include the pictures of the members by the year and semester in which they pledged.

One of the signatures of the new design is the ability to feature one of the girls on a regular basis. This is easily accomplished in WordPress by using the publishing tools to include a story on the front page of one of the girls. The feature can then be updated easily on a regular basis.

Alpha Sigma Tau is a proud and very historic sorority that embodies beauty and elegance. They have a long tradition of service and academic excellence.

Thanks ladies for letting me serve you!

Filed Under: Case Studies, News Tagged With: Alpha Sigma Tau, UCA, website design

Welcome hbclife to our family

November 9, 2010 By Todd 1 Comment

Harmony Baptist Church in Perryville, AR is a new member of our website design family. Jim Bynum, the pastor, was a fellow college student of mine when I was at Williams Baptist College.

Jim does a great job with the church. The little church, located a few yards from the Highway 9 and 10 junction, is growing numerically as well as in spirit.

The church boasts many activities including Celebrate Recovery which ministers to folks who struggle with “hang ups.”

Jim and his wife Cheryl are “Champions” ministering to the nice folks from that community. The church is not flash, but they are hard working folks who “love on people.”

To that end, I designed the website reflect the grounded and hard working roots of the people at Harmony. The website sports a green and tan color schema with a basic three column format.

Thanks to Jim, Cheryl and the fine folks at Harmony Baptist Church for being our new family members, not just a client.

Harmony Baptist Church

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Harmony Baptist Church, website design

Three Indispensable Goals for your Website

July 7, 2010 By Todd Leave a Comment

Website design and having a website has come a long way from the early years about 15 years ago. Back then, there weren’t as many people with websites as there is today. There are an estimated 206 Million websites according to the Web Server Survey by Netcraft.

by bull3t from Flickr

In the light of the number of websites that are online today, simply having a website presence is not nearly enough.

So, what should a person or a business do about the mass of websites. Many owners have seen little or no benefit from having a website, and it’s no wonder with over 206 Million websites for consumers to choose from. This leaves us to reason that a business who decides to have a website needs to have some sort of strategy.

A strategy, or a plan, is of the utmost importance when deciding to set up shop online. Besides, you are going to pay somebody good money to design and set it up for you. You have to make sure you get the most “bang for your buck.” That, in business terms, is called Return on Investment (ROI).

A website strategy has to be comprehensive, and there are, I think, three indispensable goals for your website strategy.

1. Quality Design

There is a whole school of thought on web standards. Learn more here and here. Standards keep your designer at the forefront of quality design. It is best if they have adopted an active approach to using, or at least learning, web standards. If a designer is trying to design with tables are something from the 1990′s, run and run fast the other way! Standards also help ensure that your designer will design you a website that will be “search engine friendly.”

talkephotography from Flickr

2. Traffic

In the movie, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character was told, “If you build it, they will come.” While that philosophy was inspirational in the movie, it doesn’t work in the world of websites. With over 206 Million websites on the web (see above), visitors have more options than they can possible choose. Skilled webmasters and designers have to work on the website in an ongoing attempt to bring traffic to their website through the use of skills such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is only part of the solution. Many website owners are turning to social media to help draw visitors to their sites. Further, good old fashion marketing has its place as well.

3. Conversion

Once you have visitors coming to your website, then what? Conversion is the art of converting visitors in to consumers. Every business has to do this. When I worked in a book store, we recommended books and other items to the customer in which we thought would be of interest to them. Without sales, businesses go away, and conversion is the process of “closing the sale.” Much of the conversion process is accomplished different ways, but copy writing is very important. Coppyblogger is one of the best blogs that helps writers with their conversion skills.

In the backdrop of these three goals is communication. Communication is at the heart of a website, and communication is the basis for building a community–a community which can become customers.

In today’s online world, running a website is a full time job, although most small to medium size companies can’t or don’t hire someone to manage and run their website. However, given the right person, the benefits can more than pay for the position. If you are a small business owner and you have a website, you can and should learn what you can to make your website successful.

What will you do to improve your website? Do you have a plan or a strategy?