Do I Need a Web Site? Do you want to obviate sending out expensive brochures? Do you want to enhance the contact with clients? Do you want to expand your client base? You will find that compared with print advertising, web sites are very cost effective. How do I go about getting one? Firstly, design a rough draft of information that you would like in the site. Design as you would a brochure with a logically arranged sequence of information. Estimate the number of pages you require. Remember that there will need to be a splash/menu page at the front and a contact page. Decide approximately how much graphic work you would like on your site. Does a logo need designing, do you already have a colour scheme? How many photographs do you require? Are they already scanned or require scanning? Is the textual content in a digital (e.g. Word) form? Graphic design may form 50% of the time taken to design a site, yet poor graphic design, or lack of graphics will not make your site memorable (or memorable for all the wrong reasons). Consult Yellow Pages (Internet Service Providers/Services) and before contacting web designers, go to their web sites. Assess them for the criteria listed below and look for a client listing which should have links to each of the firm's clients. Visit some of these links and check out the sites for navigation, content, graphic appeal and download times. Do not believe the totals on 'hit counters' if one is visible and remember that the designer may have little control over the site content. Once you have narrowed your list of possible candidates, contact them and tell them approximately how many pages you require ask them if there is a charge for extra pages and how much ask them if they update the site for a limited time for free ask them if they will instruct your staff in site updating tell them whether your content is already in digital form ask them whether they will organize hosting/domain registration - and at what cost ask them for their typical turnaround time ask them whether they will submit your site to a search engine (and if there is a fee) and finally ask for a written quotation. Remember that a small site can be created for well under R1000 but the chances are that you - and your clients - will be unhappy with it. A little extra spent on a professional 'look and feel' is money well spent in the long run. Beware design studios that will design 'for free' - you may end up paying steeply through excessive hosting costs. Remember . . . Your web site is a reflection of your own professionalism. How can I assess web sites (very briefly)? 1: Is navigation through the key areas of the site comfortable and easy to understand? Is the content well presented - visitors do not read web pages, they scan them. Reading from computer monitors is at least 25% slower than reading from print. All the technical wizardry available will not rescue a poorly designed web site. How many mouse clicks does it take to get to the information you require? It shouldn't take more than three clicks. 2: Do the pages download in a reasonable time? Anything more than 10 - 15 seconds and your visitors my well go elsewhere. 3: Is the site visually attractive with a consistent colour scheme? The more complicated the graphics, the slower the page. The design requirement must present a unique visual signature without slowing the page down. 4: How many animated pictures are there? Animations are usually without any relevance, take time to download and divert visitors' attention. 5: Are there elements to the site such as feedback forms, guest book, printer friendly pages, search facilities, hit counters? If you want traffic (lots of visitors) make the site a resource for other similar sites. In effect, encourage visitors to visit by encouraging them to leave. If your site becomes recognized as a resource site, traffic will follow. What about Hosting? Hosting fees vary widely, as does domain registration. For a given site, the former may vary between R100 and R600 per month and for the latter, between R250 and R650 for the same thing. Some Internet Service Providers will charge more for the domain registration and less for the monthly hosting. Typically, a small site (~20 pages) should be up to R150 monthly and a larger site, R300 monthly. The size of a site is less of a problem to hosting companies than the traffic through the site. A small, very popular site can impede traffic to the detriment of larger, less popular sites. Therefore, some hosters levy a per Megabyte charge over a certain limit. Will the hoster allow you to have a GuestBook or Feedback Form on your site? Will they furnish you with a log of who visited your site and when? What About Search Engines? Search Engines are not a miracle cure. We are often asked to register sites with search engines and then asked on the day after why the site is not at the top of the Google search engine. Remember that there are both directories and engines. Yahoo is a directory like the Yellow Pages but Google is a search engine that returns results based on the popularity of a site given the keywords you have entered. Also remember that Yahoo is not accepting sites at the moment for its directory (even before, it took 9 months to appear on the list) and other search engines/directories are now beginning to charge for inclusion on their listings. Google admits to indexing less than 40% of the Internet and secondly, Google ranks its pages by the number of links other sites have to the page, therefore the site must establish popularity before it ranks with google.com. Internet firms spend millions making sure that their site is ranked on the first page of search engines. We at Warthog have considerable experience in getting sites to be both visible and friendly to search engines. Submission to many search engines is free of charge (and is a service we offer) whilst owners of sites who absolutely have to have their pages at the top of search engine listings may employ site promotion firms (at R500 or so per month) to ensure this happens. Do I need Ecommerce? If you have only a small number of items for sale or are selling items that require complicated shipping, then ecommerce may not be for you. Remember that there is a setup fee for ecommerce transactions, perhaps a monthly fee and a per-transaction fee. It may be more economical to register as a credit card vendor and finalize transactions either by email or telephone. If you have any questions about web sites, we would be more than happy to give you an objective answer. To Page Top This page was last updated on  ©1997 - 2002 Warthog Web Design