How to get my business online?
How do I get my business online, what does it take to build a web site? I am ask these types of questions a bunch in my profession, so let me answer them here.
You are a business owner and you need to get your business online, after all now a days if you don’t have a web site you are not really even considered a reputable company. I could argue that point, but let’s say that is true.
Here are the questions I have for you to start with;
- Why do you need a website?
- Do you have a Domain Name registered already?
- Do you have and Email Provider for your business email?
- Do you have a Hosting company to host your new company web site?
Now let’s take a look at those questions in depth for a minute. If you are already confused and want to know what it is I am talking about keep reading, we are going to walk through step by step.
Why do you need a web site?
I can not answer that for you. You are the only one who knows your business and why you feel you need a web site. Not much I can really say about that. It could be to attract new customers, it could be to look more professional, it could be everybody else has one. No one reason is right or wrong. I will have follow up questions like ok, what is the other reason? ok, what is the other reason? and ok, what is the other reason? I will probably keep asking you that until you tell me the truth. 🙂 If I can not discover why you want a web site built, I can not meet your expectations.
Domain name
The hierarchy of labels in a fully qualified domain name.
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Any name registered in the DNS is a domain name. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, a server computer hosting a web site, or the web site itself or any other service communicated via the Internet. In 2015, 294 million domain names had been registered.[1]
Still confused? think of a domain name as your company address, people would not know how to get to you if they did not have your company address, they could not send you mail, the stuff you get from the box out side your door 🙂 do people use that anymore? your company address allows people to locate you. A Domain Name is nothing more that a digital version of that call a Domain or URL (Universal Resource Locator) it is a web address.
*To have a domain name there is a yearly charge*
Email Provider
From Google
- Google offers G Suite
- Microsoft offers Office 365
There are plenty more out there, but these are the top two we offer to our customers for business email. You could get a free gmail account or outlook, yahoo, etc… But you don’t want to have your business email form a free service, you want a professional looking email like [email protected]. So you have to have a domain for that to happen. So with those two covered you now have a business email you can use to communicate with your customers.
*To have a email provider service there is a monthly charge, thought it can also be paid yearly*
Hosting Company
What is a hosting company? A hosting company or web host is a service provider that offers a place to store your web files that make up your web site, think of it like you office, you pay rent to have your company space so you can store all your company stuff at that location and conduct business out of that location. Or maybe even a filing cabinet, cause that is where you store all of your files.
*To have a hosting account there is a monthly charge, thought it can also be paid yearly*
Now that we have that covered
You now know what you need to have the things you need to be able to start to ask the question what will it take to build my web site. 🙂 Sound like a lot? Not really.
Those things we just discussed, your web professional should be able to help you get but many times they are not pointed out to customers and they do not really know they exist.
The short answer to your question “How to get my business online?” is easy. Answer: Time, Money, & Expertise.
But that is not the answer you want. Many time in life I have found if I am not getting the answer I want. It is most likely i did not ask the right question, yes it could be i just don’t like the answer, but it is more probable that I did not ask the right question.
Many time when I am asked this question the real question they want the answer too is “How Much Will It Cost?” this is not much easier to answer. Web development is not sold by the pound, nor is it sold by the hour. I can give you an hourly price, but it will most likely be less than what you will calculate that price to be. It all comes down to your budget and how much resources it will take to complete your project.
Budget
What is a budget? If you said Money, then you are only partially right. Because money is only part of a budget. Budgets consist of many things Time, Money, People, Tools & Equipment. The list can go on, but you get the point. How much time do you as the business owner have to a lot to the project? Do you have the skill set to complete certain parts of the project or have employees that have the skill set to complete a part of the project or am I assigning one of our employees to complete that part of the project? Do you have a Project Plan? Will you be managing the project, or will we need to assign a Project Manager?
As you can see there are a lot of variables involved in a project, and i only named a few. So there needs to be a much longer discussion before I can tell you it will cost $5000.00 or $70,000.00. This is why we use a process called “Discovery” it allows us (you and I) to find out what your needs are and what it will take to fulfill those needs, and finally find what type of monetary investment it will take to complete the project.
So how do I get my business online? Pick up the phone and call us, we can work with you to find that answer and tell you what we can do for your within your budget. Then tell you the next steps once you have your new business web site online.