First of all, you’ll need to register a Domain Name. This is the name of your website, and will be what people will type into the browser, or see links to from a search engine (eg Google). As there are millions of websites out there, each has to have their own unique name, so you’d need to do some investigation into what is available. Examples of well known domain names are www.ebay.com, www.amazon.co.uk and even www.tartancactus.com. A domain name is registered for a set period of time, and if you want to keep your domain, you need to renew the registration every couple of years. This can cost anything from £5 to £80 a year depending on what type of name you have chosen.

Secondly, you need to arrange Web Hosting for your site. This is similar to having a large online file cabinet, where each of your web pages are stored. Its like the directory structure on your normal PC, but because a web site needs to be available to the world, your web pages need to be stored somewhere where everyone can access and view them. Once you get your Web Hosting and domain name arranged, you also will probably be able to get email addresses set up for your business. For example, if you purchased the www.BloggsPlumbing.com domain, then you would be able to set up email addresses relating to it. eg Joe@BloggsPlumbing.com . This helps to make your business look more professional to anyone that is going to contact you.

Thirdly, some behind the scenes configuration work called DNS (Domain Name System), needs to be done so that your domain name points to your web hosting. Otherwise people could be typing in the name of your website, but none of your pages would get displayed as the browser wouldn’t know where to find them on the internet.

Next, and most importantly, you’ll also need to think about what content you would like to be displayed on your site. For example, if you run a Plumbing business, you may want to display information about what kind of services your company provides, how to contact you, maybe some photos of your work etc. Additionally you may also wish to have more dynamic content or applications on your site. For example, Amazon dynamically creates a personalised list of “things you may like to buy” based on your purchase history, or you may even want to create a small application to automatically calculate postage costs etc.

You should also be involved in discussions with whoever is designing your website as to how you’d like your website to appear to people. This process involves choosing page layouts, colour schemes, fonts, navigation etc. If you have any current logos, business cards, letterheads etc that you use for your business, then these could be used to help build up a common look and feel for your web site. Its good practice to incorporate this type of branding, as it means potential customers will be able to easily identify you through each of your contact methods.

To help understand how much your website is being used, it is possible to set up reports that enable you to see how much your site is being accessed, what the most viewed page is, what other sites link to your site, what people typed into a search engine to find your site etc. This can be very useful information on how well your site is doing.

Tartan Cactus Web Design would be able to assist and guide you through as much of this process as required. Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for you to get your website up and running, without you having to worry about the technical aspects of the work. We will work with you to help develop ideas and requirements for your website, and will offer solutions to help you meet these.

Please contact us if you would like a free estimate, or have any other questions on the services we provide.