Ok — I sort of thought this was obvious but it has become a topic after I found out a client paid a designer $3000 to design a site and the designer failed to do any of the basics (like a title, keywords, description, site map) I mean not a cut rate price so I would have expected a bang up site.
Instead what the client got is a difficult to use site that customers cannot understand (their price list requires that you click the Adobe logo like Joe Average would know that)
And due to the full flash design and the unwillingness to change it at all for SEO, the site gets very little traffic and a google ranking so low that nobody can find it. It is kinda sad actually
And — HERE IS THE KICKER
Well just one of the kickers because the story has a ton of sad kickers in it.
The site cannot be updated easily because the person who purchased it (and I call her that only because her being the site owner is also not 100% since the designer registered it all in his own name) She cannot even make updates because she does not know how.
Now, I have nothing against hiring a designer. There are many awesome ones who know exactly what they are doing and I will cover how to make your own changes later this week. But for today, here is how to start a website.
1 – GET HOSTING AND A DOMAIN ON YOUR OWN – You do not need a designer to do your web hosting or buy a domain for you. They are cheap and hosting is very reasonable, sometimes as low as $5 a month depending on what you want. Most hosts are domain resellers and you can buy your domain there. I like PQHOST because they are small, responsive and have a no BS attitude (www.pqhost.com) but you can use GoDaddy, Dreamhost, Network Solutions or whoever you like for web hosting. It is completely up to you.
The reason you want to control your own hosting is simple. Then you can move it to another host if you are unhappy. You can allow people, like designers, access when they are designing. And then lock them out when they are done. Also, it ensures that you are the registrant on the domain sale which is the way to ensure that you are the actual site owner.
2 – Once you have your hosting established, start designing your site either yourself or by hiring a designer. There are lots of design options so I will not list them but when you start a site, if you are talented, you can do yourself or hire, whatever works for you. Just remember when hiring, that you NEVER EVER EVER pay in advance for design.
3 – Once your design is done, it is time to SEO. This means ensuring that you have targeted keywords as well as a title and description that suit your business. For example, Atlanta Boxing Gym, Blah Fitness Inc is a lot more descriptive than just Blah Fitness Inc. If you have no idea what I am talking about here, then you need to read all the posts we have on Search Engine Optimization and consider using a service to do it.
4 — I can never stress this enough BUT BACK YOUR SITE UP. Download the whole thing to a CD, flash drive, external hard drive or all 3. But ensure you keep a backup and do regular backups. Fires, floods, hurricanes, hard drive crashes — those things happen so back up to prevent it from being a big deal.
