Posts Tagged ‘best choice’

10
Nov
2009

How to hire a web designer

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Before rushing into your big online business idea, there are a lot of things to consider and the first is how to hire a web designer.

Have a plan

Let’s take a look a few key points when hiring a web designer, first you need to establish what it is that a web designer is going to do for you. Before you even approach a web designer, know what you want. It’s far too easy for web designers to accidently overwhelm you with technical jargon and deliver something that might not meet your needs.

Understand their role

A web designer is a tool much like a hammer, you can build a great house with them but you can’t depend on them to be everything, all the time just like you can’t expect an architect to be a great plumber. What most people think of as web design falls into several special categories:

  • Web designers, the people who control the look and code static HTML for browsers to read
  • Web developers, who program website dynamic code for ’smart’ websites
  • Web marketers, who promote your website and create social media links
  • Web architects, the people who plan complex websites
  • Web content developers, people who write and edit text for your website

Freelance web designers are often great at one thing, sometimes two but rarely three or more. If you’re unsure if the web designer you’re talking to can complete all the tasks required, hire additional help.

Shop Smart

If you’re the type of person who wants (or needs) to succeed online, shop smart and shop around. Once you have a comprehensive plan for what you (the business owner) wants, talk to at least three web designers and get equally comprehensive quotes from each. Remember, you’re in control of your own website and need to feel educated and properly equipped to make the best choice possible.

If all else fails, ask me for an opinion I offer comprehensive consulting services designed to help business owners make better website decisions and build better websites.

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Posted in Business Advice

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13
Feb
2009

Free Blogs vs. Hosted Websites

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free
Creative Commons License photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

There are a lot of companies out there which offer free blog websites including sites such as Blogger and WordPress but there’s also the option of going with a web hosting company so what’s the best choice for your company?

 

Free Blogging

Free blogging websites have one key advantage, they’re free. Other than that, they’re very easy to get started with and take very little time to setup. In fact, with something like WordPress you can have your website up and running within a couple of minutes but there’s a catch, the website never really belongs to you.

One of the biggest negative factors to putting your website on a service like WordPress or Blogger is that they own your website’s address and maintain the right to alter content as it suits their needs. What that translates to is pretty simply, if the owners of the services don’t like what you’ve written or believe it violates somebody else’s copyright they have the right to remove it without consulting you, just like Google’s been doing to music websites.

On the other hand, setting up your account with either service is quick and easy, it’s also free.  Free website hosting therefore is suitable for personal blog websites or commentary websites which do not feature business critical content.

Hosted Websites

I don’t think it’s a secret that I choose BlueHost as my hosting provider but there are a lot of great, easy to use web hosting companies out there and running WordPress on any of them is just as easy as running it on the commercial, hosted version found at WordPress.com.

The primary drawback of a hosted solution is cost. Registering your domain name will cost about $10 per year and your website hosting will set you back around $75.  There’s an old article of mine which talks about hosting a website for less than $100 which I highly recommend for new website owners as well as a special promotion that I’m currently running which will give you $75 in advertising credits and a free website for signing up with BlueHost.

The key advantage of hosting your own website is control. Once you host your own site, you can assign a domain name and maintain the content using exactly the same software as the free solutions but without having to worry about other people editing your content. Self hosted solutions will also allow you to edit the themes, add new plugins and build on your website using better search engine optimization and organic marketing.

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Posted in WordPress Help

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09
Oct
2008

Can you put up a website for less than $100?

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As a web professional, I love nothing more than opening my email first thing in the morning and having somebody ask me if I can build them a website for $100. Oddly, this happens a lot so I’ve decided to write a blog entry here on my site to help you do it yourself.

First, you’ll need to register a domain name.

A domain name is your address on the web, you’ll want to make it snazzy but simple. I recommend using a reputable hosting company to register your domain name. BlueHost will charge you $6.95 for a year.

Secondly, you’ll need a hosting account.

Again, I will recommend BlueHost since it’s where I host my website and I’ve had no problems in two years. Their basic hosting package is $6.95 per month which means your new website now costs $90.35.

Next you’ll need a website.

BlueHost comes complete with a service called Fantastico, once you’ve activated your account click the Fantastico link in your profile to install cool scripts on your new hosting account.

Look for WordPress, it’s the best choice to manage your website and is included for free as part of your BlueHost hosting account. Install WordPress in your base directory, when it’s done you’ll get a username and password as well as a link to your website manager.

Making your website look great.

Now that you’ve purchased a domain name, setup your hosting and installed WordPress as a website manager you’ll want to install a theme. Theme’s are what make WordPress websites look different from each other, there are literally thousands of free themes on the web. In fact, if you’d like to use one of mine, you’re welcome to use Minimalist Fixed, a free WordPress theme.

Update: October 18th – I’ve added two more themes in the last couple of days.

Adding Content

You can quickly add new content to your website by adding Pages in WordPress, this will automatically publish your new content to the website you setup earlier.

There you go, a fully functional website complete with a content manager for less than $100.

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Posted in Web Site Advice

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