Things to Consider When Creating Your Web Site

Though a domain name isn’t expensive (you can buy one for an annual cost of $30-$75), be careful whom you register it with. Some companies will try to hide clauses in your agreement that say you’re leasing the site -- not buying it. If you choose to purchase a domain name, be clear about the seller’s policies and your ownership rights.
Choose a short, easy-to-recognize domain name that describes your business. You can check the availability of your choice on the Internet by typing in the name and adding “www.” to the beginning and “.com “ (or .org, or .net) to the end in your browser address bar.
Your site has to be hosted someplace. Look for a host that is reliable and low-cost, and that provides e-mail services so your e-mail address will match your domain name. Some services also provide a mailing list that site visitors can sign up for, allowing you to send them info via e-mail. A total web hosting package with domain name registration and e-mail service should run around $300-$700 for the first year (not including the cost of site design).
Avoid free hosting services that place pop-up ads on your site. These ads are very unprofessional (and very annoying to most of us); if you have them the chances are that you’ll lose more in sales that you saved on the hosting fees.

Keep your site simple. You only want enough glitz to it appealing—too much increases the page loading time and confuses the customer. More graphics also means more work by a Web designer, which usually means higher costs for you.
It’s vital that your Web material and your printed material “go together”; business cards and literature should have a look and feel similar to your site. Just one way to tie all these elements together is with a logo that can be used on everything that the public sees about your company.
Check out what your on-line competition is doing. That doesn’t mean that you have to copy them, but take the opportunity to learn from their strengths and their mistakes, and see if they have neglected any customer needs that you can fill.
Be careful about linking other firms to your site. Such links invite your visitors to leave your site before finishing your material, and present a distraction that may annoy customers and increase page-loading time.
Stay away from Flash files, which are too large and spend too much time on page loading. The average person is still using dial-up connections with limited speed, so unless your customers have high-speed connections, don’t use flash-oriented material.

Though your Web site can’t make your company successful, it is a VERY cost-effective way to advertise and to explain details about your products and services without spending a lot on printed materials. If you have business cards that include your Web site address, or run some small ads that point people to your site, the site can help "close the deal" by giving customers the additional information they want.
Sales via the web are generally not a good source of income–just ask the many now-defunct dot coms. You stand a much better chance of doing well by motivating people to call or visit your business. For that reason, you need to advertise your site everywhere you can: on business cards, in publications, in newspaper ads — wherever you can put the “www.yourplace.com.”
Consider online coupons. Web site statistics can tell you how many people look at your services, but they won’t tell you whether your site is actually generating sales (unless they’re online sales). Including a printable coupon on your site will tell you how many of the people who visit your site are actually walking through your door.

This information was provided by Avery Publishing Graphics. For more information about Avery and their services, visit www.averypublishing.com .