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Following Andrew Austins
brilliant session last month a few people have asked me about
websites. I am not a professsional in that department but am happy to
share some wisdom.
Andy made it pretty clear
if you are looking for more business you need to be on the www. I
would endorse that. Goggle is the first choice for information in the
circles I move in. There is rarely a second choice, although there are many other search engines. Even if you get many recomendations, where will those people go when they can remember only part of your name or details?
The
KESNLP website is on the server of UK2.net. There is a link to them
on the front page of KESNLP. Through them you can buy a domain name.
These are not expensive, but all the good combinations, or even your
name, may soon be registered to someone else. I suggest you buy your
domain name now. You can worry about a web site later.
KESNLP is built using
“RVSitebuilder” This is online software run by UK2.net. I started
with a very simple template, there are hundreds to choose from, and
built it slowly from there. I would suggest if you were serious about
the web that you start with a couple of pages and work up to several . It takes a time for sites
to appear in the search engines, starting with a page or two gets you
on the ladder.
I started building websites using "Serif" and "Microsoft Front Page" products, but after a while of use discovered they were not compatible enough for serious use. I tried some programmes from cover discs of magazines but they proved to be a bit clunky. "Dreamweaver" was my next stop. I taught myself to use it and it does what it says on the tin, however, because it does everything you ned to know everything. If you have time for a training course on it and intend to build many websites it is an ideal tool. Time is not in abundance at the moment and I only have a couple of sites running so that is now sitting in the "get round to it" pile. Other sellers of domain names offer similar services.
Once
you have a site going you can tell the search engines to send it's robots to
go and look at it. There are several factors that help you get a
higher ranking in the search engine. Refreshing
your site regularly helps, as does having links into it and out of
it. Think about which words people will use to look for you.
Incorporate those in you Page Title Tag and ensure that the Title tag
terms also appear on the page. You will be suprised how many
hairdressers in Tonbridge will have words like stylist, colourist and
hair design, along with local area and West Kent - but not hairdresser
and Tonbridge on their page. One way to get links to your page is to
run a blog, linking back to your site. Wordpress may be a good place to
start. Some people also respond to blogs, leaving their website in the signature at the end.
Every time you leave your name anywhere, leave your website address.
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