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5 Steps to Getting on the Web                                                                      

You know you need a website, but have no idea where to start? This beginner's guide checklist will painlessly walk you through the process.

Step 1: Register Your Domain Name

A domain name is a meaningful, easy-to-remember "handle" for addressing computers and information on the Internet. Domain names typically end with a suffix that denotes the type or location of a resource (for instance, ".com" for commercial resources or ".ca" for resources based in Canada).

Register your domain name through our subsidiary, YDR.biz. Prices are cheaper than Register.com, Network Solutions, Enom, Go Daddy, and Yahoo!

Beware of those registrars advertising $1.99 domains. The renewal rates increase dramatically.

Tips:   Choose a domain name that matches your company name or best describes your type of business. Check your spelling. The shorter the name, the better. A short name is easier for people to remember and to type. Avoid dashes if you plan on using radio ads or word of mouth to publicize your site. Use adjectives like "blue" or "speedy" to make names memorable.

Step 2: Professional Logo Design

If you do not already have a logo for your business, get one at a ridiculously low price — from FREE to $10.00!


Step 3: Develop Your Website

    Define Your Goals

    The most important step in building your website is determining your goals. What do you want your website to do for you? Websites can do many things: provide customer service, sell products, promote services, gather information to generate leads, recruit employees, and more.

    Searching Yahoo! and Google for websites within your industry and for your competitors' sites will provide great ideas and develop a better understanding of the market and your competition within it.

    Write Your Content

    After defining the goals of your website, you now need to come up with a list of pages you want on your site. Pages may include a company overview, shopping cart, biographies of key personnel, industry information, blog, and submission form.

    Write the content for each of your pages. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. The beauty of a website is that you can easily update and add content at any time.

    Build Your Website

    Now that you have written the content for your website, you are ready to build it.

    The big questions are "Do you hire a designer?", "Can you build it yourself?", "Who will maintain the website?"

    With the tools available today, you can easily build and maintain the website yourself (see Step 4 below).

Step 4: Building the Website

    Do It Yourself Web Design

    Create your own website using either EZ-Site Wizard or Trellix Site Builder. There is no software to download or install and no HTML or design experience required!

    Hire a Web Designer

    No time to create a website for your business? We offer affordable custom web design. Once your website is created, you will be able to maintain it yourself with an easy-to-use, browser-based web application.

Step 5: Promote Your Website

    Site Optimization

    The site needs to be built so that it is search engine friendly. The search engines need to be able to follow links throughout your website and determine the prominent information.

    The most important factor in search engine optimization is content — for search engines this means words and lots of them. The search engines look at the text on your pages (as well as the name of the page itself) for indexing.

    Avoid flash and frames pages as search engines cannot index them.

    In addition, it is critical that your site be designed with META tags. These tags include the title, description, and keywords that are relevant to your page.

    Search Engine Submission

    Once your site is optimized, it is time to submit it to the search engines. We offer a service that will submit your website to more than 200+ search engines and directories including Google, Bing, and Yahoo!

    Reciprocal Links

    Links to your website provide traffic and can greatly improve search engine rankings. It is extremely important that the websites relate in either content or theme. Not just to the search engines, but to the people who visit.

    Paid Online Advertising

    Online advertising can take the form of pay-per-click campaigns and paid listings. These options should be considered carefully as they can get expensive.

    Printed Material

    Include your Domain Name on all marketing/print material such as letterhead, business cards, brochures, advertising, signage, and company vehicles.

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