Once you have decided you want / need a website, there are a few key areas to think about.

The clearer you are, and the more information you have collected, the less time your web designer will need to spend on set-up, and the less cost to you.
So answer these questions as fully as possible, to help you prepare for your online presence.
(Download my handy Web Preparation Worksheet HERE)

When you are ready to proceed, CONTACT me and we can get you online!

Q1: Why do I want a website?

  • Do you have a business and want more customers to be able to find you?
  • Do you have a product or service to sell?
  • Do you want to extend the range of your business from your local area to the state? The country? Internationally?

Q2: Who is my target audience?

  • Who am I trying to attract to this site?
  • What message do I want to give them?
  • Why should they pick my business over someone else’s?
  • What do I want people to do when they visit? Buy something, make a booking, be informed?

Q3: What name do I want for the website?

  • Your domain name needs to:-
  • Reflect your business brand
  • Differentiates you from your competitors
  • Is simple and easy to remember

Q4: What extension do I want?

  • Do you have an ABN for your business?
  • Do you need to target a regional area or do you want to be more international?
  • Is there a top-level domain for your industry?
    • New top-level extensions have now been released. They include extensions like .melbourne, .sydney, .photography, .guru. Though not all are available in Australia, you can see the full list HERE.
  • Some examples of extensions are:-
    • .com (international business)
    • .com.au ( Australian business – needs an ABN)
    • .net (international business)
    • .net.au (Australian business – needs an ABN)
    • .org /.org.au (for charity type organisations)

The cost of registering the domain will depend on the extension – .com.au is always more expensive, however it is useful for Australian- based websites. (.com costs about $13 per year and .com.au costs about $35 for a minimum two year registration)

Q5: Web Hosting

Hosting companies are the ones who put your website out there in cyberspace.

I generally use an Australian company called Serversaurus to host the website – they cost about $35 per year for a basic website.

The size and type of hosting package you need will be determined by your type of website, the amount of content you need to host, the number of additional domains you want to park there or run from the account, the number of email accounts you need.

For businesses that need 99.9% uptime, business hosting plans starts from $30/ month.

Q6: What feel do I want to have on my website?

  • Professional?
  • Entertaining?
  • Beautiful?
  • Fun?
  • Slick?

Jot down some websites that you like the look of, or that have features that you like.

Q7: What design scheme do I want?

Do you want the website based on your existing brochures / cards / logos? Or do you want to start fresh and tie them into your website design?

What are your favourite Fonts? Look at Google Web Fonts to find free web-friendly fonts that can also be used for printed materials.

Q8: What features do I need on the website?

  • e-commerce store?
  • Payment gateway integration? eg Paypal
  • Contact form? (this is much better than putting your email address on the website and helps protect you from spam)
  • Mail service integration such as Mailchimp?
  • Photo gallery?
  • Facebook / Twitter  / other social media links?

Q9: What pages do I need?
Every website will have a home page / welcome page, then usually a contact / location page, a page about you and the services you offer, your philosophy etc. Less can be more and the beauty of a website is that it can be updated / edited at any time.

Q10: Do I want to be able to edit some things myself?

Manage it completely? Let someone else manage it?

I provide a basic training guide to help you do simple text and image editing and I can also provide 1:1 training in using the website for more complex tasks, if so desired.

Q11: Do I also need a business Facebook page?

How much time per week am I prepared to devote to one?

Facebook is very powerful, but if its not used well it can have a negative impact. You need to be able to devote at least 1 hr per week to updating your page, however this can be tied into updates on your website simultaneously.

Q12: Do I need a separate email marketing account eg Mailchimp or Constant Contact?

A email marketing account lets you set up templates to match your website so the emails look attractive. It also provides a powerful database organiser so you can send targeted emails out to selected parts of your client / customer database.

Checklist of things that will be needed.   Download my handy Web Preparation Worksheet HERE

  • My domain name:   Already purchased  / Need to purchase
  • My ABN: (needed for .com.au domains)
  • Business Name:
  • Phone Number:
  • Text for each page (can be emailed or supplied on usb)
  • Location specifics for google maps and google business pages
  • Email Addresses: eg my name /admin / enquiries @ mywebsite.com
  • Redirection email address (your webmail addresses can be sent to one of your existing emails so you can access them easily, or I can show you how to collect them directly into your email service eg outlook, live mail, gmail etc.
  • Photos / images (can be emailed or supplied on usb)
  • Logo if you have one plus copies of existing business cards, brochures etc if you want the website to reflect them.
  • Facebook / Twitter  / Google details if you have accounts
  • Paypal account or similar ( if you need an e-commerce store)

Questions to ask Katie ?

If you have any other questions or would like to book a consultation please phone me on 0400 722 786 or send me a message HERE