If you are a trained web designer and programmer, have the knowledge and tools available, and know the inner workings of how the internet works in conjunction with websites, e-mails and servers, then don’t bother reading this.  Good on you and carry on!

If you are like the rest of us who weren’t born with a mouse in our hands, or never had any training (much less formal) in technology but intelligent enough to maybe eventually figure it out, but just want to get a website up for your business or organization, then keep reading. 

It may seem long…but believe me – This is for your own good.

What you HAVE to have.

Domain Name

A Domain Name is your address in the virtual world called Internet.  But the thing is, you never get to own.  You always rent.  If you don’t pay your rent on time, there is no grace period.  That name is now fair game, and someone else can take it.  The process of paying that “rent” of your Domain Name is called renewal. 

Just think if Google didn’t renew their Domain Name and someone else took it.  No more Google.  So you have to remember to renew or have someone else keep track and remind you.  Keep in mind that this rent is just to rent the address and the address is mobile.  It can be moved from Hosting Server to Hosting Server. 

This brings me to my next point.

Hosting Server

This server can be compared to an apartment building.  And like all apartment buildings, you have to pay rent for an apartment.  At that building there is a list at the door of the addresses or Domain Names.  For each one of these addresses there is supposed to be an apartment where a website is housed.  And like I say, you have to pay rent for that apartment. 

What if there isn’t a website? 

Ever go on the internet, type in an address only to be told it was “under construction”?  That’s the Hosting Server telling you “Yeah it’s here alright, but it ain’t ready to come down just yet.”  Why do I say “come down”?  Because that is actually what happens.  The website comes out of the Hosting Server, and goes all the way back to your computer before you even get to see it.  You never actually get to go into the Hosting Server.  Unless you are a hacker of course, and that brings up the point of security.  Make sure the apartment building you put your website in has a buzzer, guard, and steel gate, and not just an open door. 

But the real problem is, you can have a Domain Name, a Website, and a Hosting Computer and you STILL won’t be functional.  Nobody knows how to get to you.  Not unless you have registered your Domain Name or address with a Domain Name Server.

DNS Domain Name Server

A Domain Name Server is a computer that basically is a huge taxi service that has a big address book full of addresses or Domain Names.  Someone tells the driver where they want to go.  He looks at his address book and takes them to the Hosting Server where the website they’re looking for is located.  They get the website, take it “home” to their computer only to find that it is a book.

Website

All books have pages.  It could be a one page book.  Or the Home Page would be the cover and the table of contents.  And the table of contents could be the list of chapters like About Us, Products/Service, and Contact Us.  And like some books, each chapter can have its own subjects.  Take Products for example.  Let’s say you flip to the Products page in the book.  There the Products page could have subjects listed under it like hammers, nails, boards, etc.  And each subject could have its OWN page you could flip to describing that subject.  Or all the subjects could be described right on the Products page itself.  And like most books, the pages have text and pictures.  All those pages make up the website.  And by its self, that is what a website is. 

The only difference is, it’s electronic.  You click instead of turning pages, and the pictures and text sometimes move.  Keep in mind though, if you are looking at using a template, your getting a box.  Not a book.  A box full of text and pictures.  This is important to know as you will see in a bit.

That’s what you absolutely have to have to in order for your website to be found and viewed on the internet.  The website has to have a place rented for it, and that place has to have an address listed.  And before you can list it, you have to register the address by renting it as well and securing it before someone else does.  BTW, notice this description doesn’t include e-mail.  That’s a whole different kettle of fish.

What you HAVE to have, to have a website:

1.     Domain Name

2.     Hosting Server

3.     DNS Server

4.     Website

But what do you NEED to have?

What you NEED to have.

Email Server

Think of an Email Server as a room with a bunch of mailboxes.  Now that room can be a whole different building itself, like a post office.  Or, it can be a room inside the Hosting Server, like the mail boxes at the bottom floor of an apartment building when you walk in the door. 

However, the mailboxes are not included in the website, Domain Name, or Hosting Server, you just paid for.  Sometimes it’s free.  Sometimes it’s extra.  At any rate, that is all that an Email Server is; a place where electronic mail can be delivered or sent from.  If your website address in that apartment building is www.you.com then mail sent to you@you.com is addressed to you inside your website apartment and will be delivered to your mailbox downstairs or at the post office.  Where your Email Program will pick it up and deliver it to you. 

Remember, the Email Server is just a box.  It’s useless unless someone picks up the mail you want delivered or brings mail into the box addressed to you. 

That someone is an Email Program.

Email Program

Who usually delivers the mail?  A postman.  That’s what an email program is to email, and electronic postman.  More specifically it is computer program that is designed to deliver email back and forth from Email Server (mailbox) to Email Server (mailbox).  Keep in mind that is not part of the website.

Site Maintenance

Basically this the maintenance man at the apartment building.  He is in charge of any updates to the website or complete changes.  He is also in charge of making sure the website stays up and accessible.  This called uptime.  He should act as the landlord and keep track of your rent!  Make sure you Domain Name Registration doesn’t expire to avoid cancellation, etc.

Email Maintenance

Basically the same thing as the website maintenance guy and as a matter of fact if the email is handled at the same location as the website it would be the same guy.  But remember, this could be separate as well. 

Because the duties are separate.  Because, he makes sure the mailboxes are working, the postman is on the job, and everybody has an email address that is supposed to have an email address. 

Stat Tracking

These are reports that let you know how many people came to the website, where they went to while they were in, where they left, and how long were they there.  Kind of like a really nosey desk clerk at the apartment building.

SEO Search Engine Optimization

Basically this is having the website built so someone can find you on Google, Yahoo, etc.  Let’s take the book example from above.  Imagine if you went into a library and went to the book index.  Remember those?  And you were looking for a book in the index but couldn’t find it.  The book may be on the shelf with all the other thousands of books but if it isn’t listed in the index no one would ever find it unless they happened by chance to stumble across it while browsing through the aisles. 

For our purposes, the library would be the Internet and the index would be the search engine.  You can put a book on the shelf, but unless it is built index friendly it will never be listed in the index.  That’s part of what SEO is.  Building the website so that it can be listed and/or found by the search engine.  But it’s only the first part. 

Library indexes are organized in alphabetical order.  But what if it was organized by popularity?  The more popular the book, the higher on the index it goes.  That’s the other part of SEO.  And a website has to be design for the optimum performance in search engines, thus the name Search Engine Optimization. 

Now, remember when I said a template is a box and not a book?  Insert that idea here.  Are there any boxes on the shelves at a library?  No.  Oh the boxes are in the library/Internet, but they are usually kept in the back room and will never be found on the index.  Get the idea?

What you NEED to have to have a website:

1.     Email Server

2.     Email Program

3.     Site Maintenance

4.     Email Maintenance

5.     Stat Tracking

6.     SEO

But what do you Want to have in order for the website to actually succeed?

What you WANT to have in order for the website to actually succeed.

Marketable Design

A website should by design, layout, features, and optimization target your audience or prospects.  If a person is looking for an adventure book, chances are they’re not even going to open the one that looks like a dictionary.

Product Oriented Design

Website should be designed with a defined product assigned to it as if it were an employee of your organization.  The difference is, the website is an employee that works 24/7 delivering its product with your general purpose in mind.

The three main reasons for having a website are:

1.      It is expected.  There are two worlds.  The real world and the virtual world.  As a business you need to exist in both.

2.      It should generate the traffic to you that you desire, whether that is sales, leads, customers, members, etc…

3.      The most important actually.  It should increase the effectiveness of your current marketing.  If you have letterhead, postcards, TV ads, business cards, newspaper ads, and the like, your website should be ALL over them.  At 8:00PM when your client gets your promo, who else is going to be there for them, provide information, receive their communication to you, take their order, sign them up, give them hours operation or directions, show them photos, tell them about your rave reviews, etc.?

Purpose Oriented Design

Website should be designed to serve a general purpose based on what you do.  There are really only 5 different types of website purposes.

1.      Sales.  The website itself sell products.  i.e. online shop.

2.      Services.  The website lists the services you offer and provides contact details.

3.      Leads.  The website informs and generates leads for sales reps.

4.      PR. The website gives general information about the organization, promotes good works, and makes them well known.

5.      Educational.  The website simply educates.

Now your website can be a combination of those, but there is always a predominate purpose that it serves.

So, make sure ALL of the Have’s, Need’s, and Want’s above are explicitly included in your website.

Now for the good part.  Visual Edge Design does all of the above and frankly cheaper than you could yourself or with another firm.  As a matter of fact, the items listed under Wants, most other guys don’t even take into consideration. 

I am sure that if you are a first timer and are on a budget you have looked at the “Build It Yourself” template websites that SEEM to cost about as much as steak dinner for one.  But not really. 

Let’s say you wanted to buy a car and the dealer said “Great!  You can have a car with the change you keep in your front right pocket!  We’ll give you the parts and you can easily build it yourself!  Of course you will have to train yourself as a mechanic, but that’s easy!  Oh.  You don’t have any tools?  Well that’s extra.”  So you buy some tools from the guy.  Only to find out, that the tools are not only substandard but not enough to even finish the job.  “Oh.  You want an engine?  Well that’s extra.”  So you buy the engine.  Of course you have to be able to install the engine.  “Oh.  You want a transmission?  Well that’s extra.” 

So you buy the transmission and of course you again have to install it yourself, assuming of course you are a trained mechanic who knows how to use the tools you bought.  “Oh.  You want a steering wheel?”  You get the idea.  By the time you are done you have paid enough money to buy a Cadillac and you are left driving a broken down, gas guzzling, oil burning, primer painted, pieced together Yugo/Nash/Pinto with a couple of squirrels under the hood that MAYBE will get you around the block.

In comparison, Visual Edge Design delivers a brand new midsized sedan at the cost of sub-compact, with all the above features included.  And it can be added on to easily piece by piece as your organization grows until finally you have a Lamborghini.  Did I mention that all you have to do is just get in and turn the key?

In other words, for less money than you would pay if you did it yourself or someone else did it for you, you get all the Have’s, Need’s, and Want’s that I mentioned above and then some.  We do it all. 

We do it professionally.  We do it economically.  We do it better than the other guy with packages starting at $499 including everything mentioned.  And we do it personally WITH you, none of this “don’t call us we’ll call you” garbage.  So if you want a website, don’t waste your valuable time.  Call Visual Edge Design.

Michael Graves

Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Visual Edge Design

mike@visualedgedesign.com

www.visualedgedesign.com

877-775-2530