Most small businesses, from law firms to auto repair shops, are realizing the advantages that having a website can have in a challenging and increasingly competitive economy.  Unfortunately, with the restraints on time that most small business people have, starting a website can often be put on the backburner because owners do not know where to start and what is needed to build a successful site.  If you run a small business, you should know that the cost of starting a website is very low, and the rewards are great.  The following are the three things that you absolutely need to begin.

DOMAIN

Think of your domain as your license plate.  You can move it from car to car (or in this case, from site to site), and as long as it is registered correctly, it will tell people where they can find your site.  Commonly, sites will start with “www.”, followed by a business name or easy to remember phrase, and ending with a “.com”, “.net”, “.org”, or similar identification.  Domains are registered online at sites like GoDaddy.com, and if the one that you want is unique enough that you do not have to compete with others for it, it should only be a few dollars per year to register.  It is smart to register your site as early as possible, as hundreds of thousands of sites are registered every day.  Many registered domains can all point to the same website, so if you register your site as “yoursite.com”, it is a good idea to register “yoursite.net” and other similar derivations, just to avoid confusion and the possibility that your competitors might take advantage of your success.

DESIGN

Now that your site has a name, you need to come up with a website design.  A website design is simply computer code giving directions to your web browser on how to put a site together so that you can see and understand it.  In most browsers, you can find an option called “view source” that will allow you to see the website in its coded form.  This comes in the form of words that you may have heard of, such as HTML, Javascript, and Flash, but for the average person, reading this coding is like reading a foreign language.  Programs like Dreamweaver can give you a visual “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) design platform, but many content management design platforms (like Squarespace, used by SmartROI Consulting) allow you to build a site and make changes without buying expensive software.

In my experience, a very poor website can actually hurt a small business more than not having one at all.  Volumes can be written on what makes a website “good” or “bad”, but the main thing that you should consider is that your customers are coming in for information about your service or products, so put those at the forefront and keep it simple.  Decide what you want people to do with your site, and make that easy to do.  Do you want them to pick up the phone and call?  Put the phone number at the top right corner on each page.  Remember, people are coming to your page because they are looking for information, so make sure that you include things like your address, hours, menu, prices, etc.

If your domain is your license plate, then your site design is your car.  It can be flashy and expensive, but if it doesn’t get you from point “A” to point “B”, it is not a good investment.  Professional website design is always a good idea, but don’t get oversold by bells and whistles.  Your “car” needs maintenance to run smoothly, so occasionally check to make sure that all of the information is correct and that the links to all of the pages work the way that they should.

HOSTING

If your site design is your car, then hosting is your parking space.  The coding needs to have a place to sit and wait for someone to find and decode it in their web browser, and unless you have an adequate server at your place of business, you will have to rely on a hosting company to keep this for you.  There are thousands of options for your “parking space”, but it really boils down to cost and reliability.

Most hosting options will depend on how much storage you need for things on your site, like pictures or video, as well as how many times that this information is accessed.  Hosting for basic informational sites can be around $10 per month.  Reliability is often expressed as “uptime”, simply meaning that someone trying to find the site will be able to find it without running into any errors at the hosting site.  Frequently, hosting companies will boast “99% uptime”, which is important, because you don’t want someone to type in your site only to come to a dead end.

You can “park” your website code, along with pictures and video for your site, in your hosting company’s “parking spot” by using a File Transfer Protocol, or FTP.  Most hosting companies have greatly simplified this mechanism, allowing very easy uploads with very little technical knowledge.  As long as the process is followed correctly, your site should appear immediately after it is uploaded.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once you have a good looking site, registered correctly, and on a hosting platform that you feel comfortable with – Congratulations!  You now have a website!

Don’t stop there!  Businesses often have a “build it and they will come” attitude about their websites, but just like a storefront, if nobody knows how to find it, it is not going to work for you.  Make sure that you are constantly updating and marketing your site so that you can get a great return on your investment.