Many businesses struggle with these questions everyday. To be sure there are several questions to be
answered when looking at a presence on the Internet. The answers to these questions will manifest themselves in
different ways depending on how the business chooses to proceed.
The first question to be answered is “do I need a
website?” The answer to this question
comes in the form of another question: what will I do with this website? This may sound simplistic, but consider for
a moment the purpose of the website. If
the website is to be used to market your business and its products or services,
then by all means the answer to the question is yes, you need a website. The website is fast proving to be a very effective
marketing tool when used well.
If your answer is “I just want to get the name of my
business out there”, then the answer to the guiding question is most likely no.
Remember, a website is not the “field of dreams” so just because you build it
does not mean they will come.
The second question may be a little easier to answer. There are basically two ways to go about the
process of creating a website. The
first method is to use a “cookie-cutter” program to generate the site. This method has its advantages in that it is
fast, easy and just about anyone can walk through the process. Often, the free or inexpensive versions of
this software approach do not require you to obtain a hosting agreement, server
space or a domain name. The
disadvantage of not having your own domain name is that you are like a unit in
an apartment building as your identity is a subset of the buildings address and
in the world of the Internet not as appealing to search engines. Also, the
canned process may limit you in so far as layout, fonts and other abilities are
concerned. The cookie-cutter software
labels images with generic titles rather than content specific names, a
tendency of which search engines are becoming less fond. But it is an
inexpensive way to get the job done and can be effective if used well.
The other method of obtaining a web presence is to hire a
company to build a custom website. This
will entail securing a domain name and a hosting agreement as well as paying
someone to produce your site. Many web
developers offer hosting services and will assist you in getting your domain
name. The advantages of this method are
custom design, economy of code, help with search engine optimization and a
broader range of layout possibilities, all of which search engines love. This approach is more expensive than the
canned method, but it does give you a custom designed site over which you will
have more control.