5 Steps to taking your business online

1.Register Your Domain Name

Before you can launch a website or get a website hosting plan, you first have to register a domain name.

Domain names are an extremely important tool for distinguishing your company from other businesses. Selecting an appropriate domain name enables you to successfully promote your brand online and can determine how easily visitors can find your website. Your domain name is essentially your address on the Internet, so make it clear, concise and memorable.

Registering a domain name is cheap and easy and can be done through a registrar or directly through a website hosting provider, such as Level Studio. Even if you're not ready to launch your website, register the domain name that you think you’ll need for the future before a similar business beats you to it!

It's also a good idea to register similar domain names and have them redirect to your website using something called a domain alias. With domain aliases in place, potential customers will be pointed to your website whether they type www.tomsfishingtackle.co.uk or www.toms-fishing-tackle.co.uk or even www.tomsfishingtackle.com

If you need any help with to register your domain name, click here

2. Find a website hosting provider

Choosing a website hosting provider can be very confusing, if you are new to website hosting and just want to get your website online then you can probably relate to the following sources of confusion:

It all seems very technical - lots of features that you are not sure if you will need.
Hosting provider websites filled with flashing ads and marketing hype. Causing more confusion than clarity.
There are thousands of website hosting companies - which one is best?

If you have only a simple website, for example a website designed to be a low-key informational website or a simple hobby website then almost every website hosting plan will meet your needs.

If you plan to take your business online then put some thought into what features you think your website may require.
In evaluating website hosting plans some of the most important factors to consider are:

Factor	Why Is It Important?	When This Is The Most Important Factor?
Price	Because you want to get a fair deal and not pay more than you need to.	If your website is just for fun and not mission critical.
Reliability (Uptime)	Because you want your website to be available.	If you have a mission critical website where every moment of downtime equals lost revenue i.e. e-commerce. All website hosts have downtime from time to time. Anything over 99.5% is excellent.
Customer Support	Because you want to have hassle free setup of your website and you want to be able to get help quickly if something goes wrong.	If you have an important website then getting fast and responsive customer service is a must.
Scalability	Because you want your website to grow as your business grows.	If you have a fast growing business or are ambitious about growing your business online

A word about cheap website hosting

There are many website hosting plans available that are very inexpensive, even FREE! These can offer great value, but remember that you get what you pay for. If you are taking your business seriously then take your website hosting seriously too! With FREE or cheap website hosting don’t expect high levels of reliability, customer support, scalability or any comeback when the provider goes bust. That's not to say that you couldn't find great performance for £1 a month, but there is a limit to what can be provided at low cost. Low priced hosting plans are bundled together with hundreds of other customers on a single website server - reliability and performance invariably suffers.

If you need any help with to register your domain name, click here

3. Design your website

Once you decide you need a website, it's time to decide who will build it. Outsource the work to a professional designer – unless of course you have website designers in-house. Don’t be tempted to let your college student nephew or the man in the burger van ‘have a go’ – your website is your shop front to the world! A poorly designed or badly maintained website will cost you money, drive away customers and damage your reputation. Follow a few basic steps to increase your odds of hiring a creative, technically savvy and cost-effective design company.

Shortlist some candidates and evaluate their work. Website design companies can be found through recommendations, website design associations, and competitors’ websites or via the Business Link Suppliers Directory. By evaluating a company’s work (portfolio) you can assess their potential. Also review their fees. A website doesn't have to be flashy to do its job, but it must be ‘usable’ – usability is king. Consider hiring a local company or one familiar with your particular industry.
Evaluate their range of services. Decide if the company meets your needs. If you want to sell your products online, look for proven e-commerce experience. If you're considering a one-person company, does the designer have the skills necessary to create everything you need? On the other hand, will you get lost at a larger company with lots of other clients? Determine what extras the company offers that you may require, such as logo design, Internet Marketing or other services.
Meet face-to-face. Your website design company, whether a one-person shop or a multinational, is going to present your web persona to the world. You must be able to work collaboratively. Ask yourself these questions and rely on your gut reaction:

-Do they listen to my needs?

-Do they explain issues in ways I can understand?

-Do they know my industry?

-Do they share my vision for the website?
Check references. Browsing a company's work is helpful, but you also want to know how they work. A website design company can be the most creative in the world, but if it never finishes your website or is slow at responding to customer requests, it won't do you much good. Call their clients and ask if the design company:

-Adhered to deadlines.

-Met their requests.

-Was responsive to suggestions and questions.

-Fixed problems promptly.

-Worked within the original budget.

If you need any help with designing your site, click here

4. Market your website

So you have your website, but without proper Internet marketing and search engine positioning few people will ever find it. There are over 10 million registered .co.uk domain names alone and your work of art is in danger of being lost in the galaxy. Internet marketing is a vital and often overlooked component of your Internet strategy. Ignore Internet marketing at your peril – having a website alone is not enough for business success. Internet marketing is a specialised field best left to a professional Internet marketer but presented below are a selection of the key areas you should focus on:

Optimise your website for search engines. Hundreds of millions of searches are performed on the Internet through Google, Yahoo, and other search engines every day. By using a set of techniques known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) you can get your website to show up higher in search results. For more info on SEO visit here
Buy keyword ads on search engines. Known as Pay Per Click (PPC) many businesses are finding that keyword advertising on search engines can be beneficial. Here's how it works: If you sell gardening tools from your website, you might buy a small ad on a search engine such as Google that would show up when someone types in the search box a term that you designate (such as "gardening tools" or "buy garden tools online"). If the searcher sees your paid ad and clicks on it, he is transported to your website and you pay Google a cost per click (CPC). The goal is to get qualified prospective customers to your website. For more info on PPC visit here
Build up your Email List. One of the best and cheapest ways to sell online is through email marketing. It's a great way to communicate with customers and prospective customers. So it is very valuable to collect email addresses from visitors to your website. Offer them something worthwhile for their email address - such as a discount or a free newsletter. Make it easy to get someone's email address, but also be sure that you have set forth a Privacy Policy on your website describing how you will use any personal information. And be sure you are up-to-date on the laws affecting email marketing, such as the CAN-SPAM Act.
Send Periodic Email Newsletters. Email newsletters can prove to be effective communication tools for existing customers, prospective customers, and other key audiences. Email Service Providers (ESPs) are companies that provide turn-key Email marketing solutions.
Provide Great Customer Service. A satisfied customer will return to your website. So go out of your way to give great customer support and service. And for those who are not happy with their experience, try to turn them around with an offer of a discount, a free product, or some other benefit.

If you need any help with marketing your site, click here

5. Upgrade and enhance your website

Well your website is set up, and customers are rolling in, what next?

Add a Content Management System (CMS). Once your website is setup you will want to make ongoing changes. These could be very small, such as changing a phone number, adding a news item or changing prices. If you have a simple static website, adding a Content Management System (CMS) to your website will allow you to make ongoing changes to the content of your website – putting you in control and saving you money.
Add e-commerce trading. If you like the idea of selling your products or services via your website while you sleep then e-commerce is for you. Having an e-commerce website will allow you to distribute, buy, sell and market your products and services over electronic systems from your website 24x7x365. Your competition is probably already doing this.
Continuously improve your website. Stand still and you will be overtaken by the competition! There is nothing static about the Internet so keep up with and hopefully ahead of the competition:

-Evaluate competitor websites to see what they are doing.

-Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an iterative process and not a one shot event – optimise, optimise and then optimise again!

-Keep abreast of the latest channels for presenting your business on the Internet and don’t be afraid to take the plunge before your competition – don’t wait until it is mainstream, it may be too late!

-Carry out a usability assessment of your website. Your website design should be ‘usable’ but check it! Have a company carry out a Usability Evaluation to be absolutely sure.

If you need any help with to register your domain name, click here