Website Advice

If you've decided that you need a website for your business then the first thing you should consider is what you want your website to achieve.

A Brochure Website

If your business is not web based but you would like the advantages that the web offers then you probably need a brochure website. This is simply a website that informs site visitors of the goods or services that you offer and acts as a contact point. If the information on the site is unlikely to change much over time then a static HTML site will be sufficient and is your cheapest option. If you need to update information frequently then you will either have to pay a web designer to update the site or opt for a content management system that allows you to change text and graphic content without any specialised knowledge.

An E-commerce Website

If you wish to sell goods or services online then it's a given that the site will have to change frequently which means a content managed site is likely to be more suitable than a static HTML site. As well as this you must make it as easy as possible for customers to pay, since site visitors have notoriously short attention spans and if a task cannot be accomplished easily then it won't be undertaken. Therefore asking customers to order via email or an online form then forward a cheque is unlikely to be as successful as implementing payment buttons or a shopping cart.

Payment buttons are much simpler to implement than a shopping cart and you will have to decide which is most suitable to your circumstances. A shopping cart is complex and will require web scripting that connects to an online database. This will involve more cost than a brochure site since much more work and skill is needed in its construction.

Customer Payment Options

Your payment buttons or shopping cart must connect to a secure server to process customers' payments and the easiest way to do this is by using a third party such as Paypal, Protx or Worldpay. This has advantages. The third party takes care of all of the checks required, processes the payment and these gateways are well known and trusted by customers. Most payment gateways charge a monthly fee and require that you have a merchant account with your bank. Paypal however has no sign up or monthly fee and only charges a percentage per transaction which is useful when you're starting out.

Open Source Software

There are open source website solutions that can handle content management and shopping carts that can be downloaded free from the Internet. However, they need to be configured and adapted to your needs and if you are not a programmer then you will need to hire one to do it.

This brings up the whole question of whether it's worthwhile to do your own web work or hire someone. If you decide to do it yourself then you will have to learn the necessary skills and buy the software tools required. You must also decide if the result can really compete with that produced by a professional.

Domain Name and Web Hosting

Your website has to live somewhere and although ISPs often offer free web hosting and a sub domain, these will not be taken seriously by site visitors or search engines and should be avoided. A domain name is cheap to purchase and is yours for as long as you pay the fee. Similarly, web hosting is not expensive and will support scripting languages – which will be required even for a brochure website if you want a reply form on your site.

With hosting you have a choice of UNIX/Linux or Microsoft. Microsoft hosting will cost you more than UNIX/Linux and tends to be used by companies that want to be able to integrate other Microsoft software packages that run on personal PCs connected to an intranet. The server side scripting language that runs on the Microsoft platform is ASP with Access as the database component.

UNIX/Linux is much more widely used because it supports open source server side scripting languages such as PHP and Perl, with open source MySQL as the database component.

Hiring a Web Designer

Unlike many service providers, web designers can work remotely and communicate by email and telephone so even someone at the other end of the country may be suitable. Nowadays it seems everyone and his dog is a web designer so how do you know who can do the job properly? Any web designer who is worth hiring should be able to offer certain skills and you can check these via the Internet.

Does the code produced by the designer conform to accepted W3C standards? Start by going to the opening page of their website and copying the address in the address bar of your browser. Then go to this address validator.w3.org and paste the address you copied into the address text box and click the Check button. This is the World Wide Web Consortium HTML Validator and it will check to see if the page conforms to the document declaration within the document. If the Validator confirms that it does then it's a good start – if it doesn't then you should ask yourself this - if this designer can't be bothered to get the code right on the opening page of their own site then can they be bothered to do anything properly?

Note that a page that doesn't conform to accepted standards is not the crime of the century but it does give an indication of the designer's attention to detail.

Are the Designers Web Sites Useable?

The usability of a web site is how easily a visitor can find the information they seek. If information isn't easily found then users will have no desire to proceed further. Many studies have been done to find the features that encourage, or discourage, users to spend more time on a web page and any designer should have a good understanding of the factors involved.

Have a look at the web designer's own site and other sites they've designed. Is the site navigation clearly labelled using understandable and descriptive words? Do link descriptions actually match the content of the target pages? Does the layout and presentation make it easy to find the information you seek? Do headlines adequately summarise the text content below? Is the text content clear, concise and easily read? Is there a search facility if you can't immediately see what you want?

Have the Designer's Other Customers Been Satisfied?

Web designers always have a page that displays other sites they've designed – if they don't, look elsewhere. Visit those sites and email the owners to ask if they were happy with the service they received. Try this with at least 3 of the designer's customers.

Search Engine Optimisation

This is probably the most contentious issue in web design. Opinions range from those who believe it's the best thing since sliced bread and those who believe that it's snake oil. Like most extremes the truth probably lays in between, however, a designer who gives a guarantee about where your site will appear in search engine listings, probably is a snake oil salesman. No such meaningful guarantee is possible.

The basic theory behind SEO is that a page should be constructed to suit what the search engine software judges to be relevant to the required search term. This means that the page should be well constructed (i.e. conform to accepted standards), should have a logical layout and that the title, description and text content should be relevant to the required search term. If a page is constructed that contravenes any of these criteria then a search engine may list the page low. This isn't rocket science, it's obvious that these criteria should be adhered to and any web designer worth his salt will do this as a matter of course - it's simply good practice.

Any new website takes time to establish itself and receive traffic therefore if you require site visitors right away then consider pay per click options.

Paying for Your Website

If you require a static HTML site and you can provide a complete specification then it's reasonable to expect that the designer can give you a price for the complete job. With dynamic websites with a lot of functionality this may be more difficult and you may have to settle for an estimate. In either case it's reasonable for a designer to ask for a deposit before work begins and stage payments, if appropriate, as work progresses. However, no designer should demand the full fee until the website is finished to your satisfaction.

What Your Web Designer Needs from You

Every website sells something. This is true for commercial websites selling goods and services as well as not-for-profit websites that provide ideas or information. Web copy differs from hard copy because it has to grab attention very quickly - visitors can exit a website at the click of a button if they don't find anything of interest immediately - and they do ruthlessly. To help your designer write website copy that will work it's useful if you can provide answers to the following questions.

What is your unique selling point - i.e. why would anyone pay attention to what you offer rather than one of your competitors?

Can the goods, services or information you offer be grouped into distinct categories or "products"? Site visitors like easy solutions to their problems and are attracted to solution categories or "products" that take care of their problems - even if they're actually being offered services or information. It's useful if you can visualise your "products" from the customers' viewpoint and think of short titles for these "products" that seem to solve customers' problems, using language the customer would use and not technical jargon.

Can you list the features of your "products"? An example of features might be "Our car does 55 mpg" or "Our information is the most up to date available".

Can you list the benefits of your "products"? An example of benefits might be "Our car saves you money on fuel bills" or "Our information helps you to make better decisions".

You should also supply any relevant text copy you have and any graphic images or photographs you wish to display on the site.

Your designer will use your input to create what he believes best projects your message and ask you for your comments and suggestions. Although you may be experienced in writing hard copy, web copy is different so you should be guided by his suggestions. Remember that your designer will have more experience than you of what works on the web.

Legal Requirements

When you put a site up on the web then are a couple of legal requirements you should be aware of.

The Data Protection Act

If during the course of operating your website you have reason to store any information about your customers, club members etc. (it would be difficult not to) then you must register with the Data Commissioner and pay a yearly fee. This applies no matter how little information you store and whether you store the data on a computer or on hard copy. Failure to do so may result in a fine. The website of the Information Commissioner is www.ico.gov.uk.

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