|
|
Web design
Helping you get online
Jessica learned how to design and set up her own website, and found it quite fun! Subsequently she's created various other websites, including:
Everyone was asking her how to do it, so she thought it might be useful to write a beginners' guide (being only a beginner herself), and here it is!
How to get going
Here's how to get started!
1. Choosing your web address
You'll need to think what you
want as your web address: do you want janetsmith.com,
marvellousmassage.com, or winchestertherapies.com?
You'll want something reasonably snappy and easy for
people to remember
You can think too about your e-mail address:
janet@janetsmith.com, massage@marvellousmassage.com?
You might want to avoid punctuation (hyphens, underscores,
etc) in case people can't remember them very well
Meanwhile you'll probably want to use the web address as the
title across the top of your web pages
You'll probably want to get the .co.uk address as well as
the .com one, so that people will reach your site whichever
one they type in
2. Setting up your web address
The technical
term for a web address is a 'domain'
There are
various websites where you can search to find whether the address you
want is available
Jessica uses
a small company called alpha1teclabs:
https://www.alpha1teclabs.com/secure1/cgi-bin/whoiscart/cart.pl
Even if you're not ready to set up your website yet, it
might be a good idea to secure your desired web address now,
before someone else nabs it
If it's going
to be a while before you're ready to go ahead and build your website,
then click 'park new domain for free' and you'll secure the address
without needing to pay for hosting yet (see below)
Cost: approx £10 per address per two years rental (so that's £20 to get both the .com and .co.uk addresses for two years)
3. Hosting
As well as renting the web address, you also need an
internet company to 'host' your website for you
This means they put your web pages on their server, and
people can access them
Again, Jessica uses alpha1teclabs,
https://www.alpha1teclabs.com/secure1/cgi-bin/whoiscart/cart.pl.
You can buy the hosting at the same time as you secure your
web address, or you can do it later
To do it at the same time, click 'Basic shared base 10mb web
site + 1 mail £15 (yearly)
You'll probably want it set up so that if someone types in
the .co.uk address, they automatically arrive at the .com
address
So you'll only need to buy hosting for the .com address
The .co.uk address you can just 'park' as above
Cost: approx £15 per year
4. The look and feel of your web pages
As you can see from the examples above, the web sites
Jessica has designed are quite simple, clear and accessible
in design
Have a surf around the internet to see examples of websites
you like and ones you don't like
Print some of them off and think about what it is that you
like and don't like about them
Your site needs to be as clear, attractive and easy to use
as possible
Do you want your navigation menu (the links like 'home',
'contact', etc) down the left of the page or across the top?
What fonts do you want to use?
Where do you want your logo, photos or other artwork to
appear on the page
Make some sketches of how it might all look, it doesn't
matter how scrappy they are
5. Artwork and design
What logo, artwork, or photos do you want to use on your web
pages?
Do you want a sharp, business-like look, a soft holistic
look, a funky colourful look?
You probably don't want to overwhelm your page with pictures
and images, as it will make the page slow to appear when
someone opens it
If you have business cards etc already, your designer should
be able to give you an electronic copy of your logo or other
artwork, to include in the website
Maybe you'd like to create some little watercolours or take
some photos yourself
Microsoft clip art has lots of images (including photos)
which you should be free to use as long as they don't
contain recognisable people (check their website for their
terms of use), click
http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-gb
then use the 'search' area at the top of the page
Art on other people's websites, leaflets, etc is usually
copyrighted, so you can't really pinch someone else's images
Any images you have already on paper you can scan with a
scanner to get an electronic version
'Gif' is the best format for these pictures, as they are
small files and don't slow things down too much
6. Writing the content of your web pages
Think about what your potential customers need to know about
you and your services
What items will you have in your navigation menu?
What will each of those pages say?
What subheadings will you use to break up the text?
Will each of the pages be a good length, not too long, not
too short?
Surf around the websites of people in your business and find
examples you like
Use any word processing package to type in your content,
ready to be copied into the website
When writing the text of your website, you may also want to:
Use a direct, conversational style to engage the reader
Put yourself in the reader's shoes: "what's in it for
me?" "why should I bother?" "do I care about this
information?" "is this giving me the information I need?"
Use positive language: "Your treatment will ..." rather than
'Your treatment would ..."
Emphasise benefits ("acupuncture may help your insomnia")
rather than features ("I practice Five Element acupuncture")
Include 'calls to action': "Call now to book" "Click here to
get in touch with Bob"
Include numerous links between the different pages of your
websites (in addition to the navigation menu)
On the home page in particular, include links to all the key
pages of your website
Include external links (eg to your professional organisation
or the place where you practice)
This is the meat of your website, it's worth taking time to get it really good!
7. Creating your website
You can do this yourself with various software packages, or
pay someone to help
If you don't know someone who can help,
www.Elance.com is a great place to find people to help you out.
You describe what you want doing, and people all over the world bid to
do the work for you.
Make sure your web designer is going to be happy to make
changes for you later (eg when you change your prices or move clinics,
and check how much they're going to charge.
8. Publicising your site
Now you need to get people to come and look at your website!
Why not e-mail a link to everyone you know, telling them about your
exciting new site? Ask them for their feedback, is there anything
they'd change about the site? Or ask them to forward the link to anyone they
know who might be interested in your service
Do you have the e-mail
addresses of your current customers? Maybe you could
e-mail them to let them know about the site, and ask them to
forward it to anyone they know who might be interested
Add your e-mail address and web address to your business
cards and promotional leaflets
You can also list your website on relevant on-line
directories. Directories that have worked well for
Jessica, and which cost around £5-20 per year each, include:
Do let Jessica know if you find other good directories that
work well for you, and she'll add them to the list!
9. Google
Your site will not show up immediately in Google searches.
They send (metaphorical) 'spiders' or 'robots' out to find
new pages, so it will take them a little while to find you.
You can monitor whether they have been to your page yet on
the 'web statistics' page that your hosting provider will
give you
Google's search methodologies are secret, complex and
continually changing. Optimising your position within
their searches is not one of Jessica's areas of expertise,
however here are a few tips...
One key in determining your Google prominence is how many
other sites link to your site. Get your friends,
clinics and contacts to put a link to your site.
Also, the words they use for their link are the ones that
will be affected for Google. So if they use
johnsmith.com, then this will affect Google searches for
'john smith'. If they use 'acupuncture in Coventry'
then this will improve your position in searches for
'acupuncture in Coventry'.
Most likely your site will be fairly prominent when searched
for using your name ('jane jones', or 'jane jones
acupuncture.'
When searching using other terms though, it all depends on
how many other similar sites there are out there competing
for the top spots. For example, getting to the top of
the listings for 'massage London' is going to be a lot
harder than for 'acupuncture Aberdeen'.
One simple step is to add yourself to Google maps, so
you have a chance of coming up in the 'local results'
section at the top of the page in relevant searches.
First create a Google account at:
https://www.Google.com/accounts/NewAccount. Then log in and click 'Local Business Centre' to create your listing. If memory serves they send you a postcard with a password on it to confirm your street address, in order to activate your listing.
© Jessica Kennedy 2005-08, all rights reserved