In the digital age, not having an online presence for one’s business can result in significant lost profit and market share. Most prospective customers of any product or service use the internet to search for companies that may meet their needs.
For this reason, it is very important for any business owner that they take their business online. Let us go over the basic steps in creating an internet presence for one’s business.
Register A Domain: Put simply, a domain is what comes after the ‘@’ in an email address. While it is not the same as the website URL, what one types into the browser to access a site, it is the first process to securing one’s internet presence. Domains can cost anywhere from ninety-nine cents to thousands of dollars depending upon the popularity and the demand for a domain name.
Consider UI and UX: User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are important to consider when thinking about one’s website. UI is the actual layout of the pages; how does one want their web page to look? What colors do they want? What information should be displayed?
UX refers to the experience the user has when interacting with the website. What does the website owner want the user to gain from visiting and interacting with their web page?
Contact A Web Developer: Web technologies have become fairly complicated over the last two decades, and while there are services that allow one to ‘drag and drop’ a website into existence these sites are basic at best and usually do not meet the demands of businesses.
Hiring a qualified, experienced, web designer, will ensure that one’s business receives the online presence it requires.
Don’t Forget Security: One can have a website designed, developed, and published online but without some form of security, such as protection from DDoS and other cyber attacks, it may not stay online for long. It is also important that personal information, especially that of customers or any other sensitive data is kept secure.
Determine Storage Needs: Websites that function as an e-commerce platform receives and stores large amounts of data from customers. While there are many options available for cloud-based server space many businesses prefer to have their own, physical, servers. Deciding which option is best will depend upon a business’s specific needs and requirements.
Digital Marketing: Creating a site is a big part of bringing one’s business online, but if no one knows it exists no will be visiting it. The internet age has created a large number of e-commerce businesses competing for market share in their particular niche. For this reason, visibility is critical to a business’s success online.
The first step is to determine exactly where one should advertise. Many advertising platforms exist and determining which one is the best fit for a particular business will depend on how best to reach their target audience.
SEO: Another topic to consider is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO determines how visible one’s website is and how high it ranks in search engine queries. This can be a complicated topic for some; Phil Singleton, from a Kansas City SEO Agency has many interesting articles and books that can help an SEO newbie become well versed in the topic.
