Menta
Setting up a website
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Set your objectives: for example, marketing to existing or potential customers, providing product and sales support, making direct sales or recruiting employees.
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Look at competitors' and other websites to generate ideas; develop an outline of what you want your site to include.
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Assess your technical requirements: for example, how large the site will be and whether it will use any special technologies, including product ordering and secure payment facilities.
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If setting up a trading site, obtain merchant status allowing you to accept credit-card transactions; assess legal and liability issues.
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Check all in-house and outsourced back-up resources if establishing a trading site: consider dispatch and delivery, customer support, stock control and replenishment.
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Confirm your Internet service provider (ISP) will be suitable for hosting your site; check costs, and the process for publishing and maintaining web pages.
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Source any technical or web design consultancy you need; ask for references and evidence of successfully completing similar projects. Make sure that design or copyright is assigned to you.
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Establish design guidelines in keeping with company style; aim for visual clarity and easy navigation; avoid complex graphics which are slow to download; consider developing a site which allows users to access a text-only version.
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Consider accessibility issues for disabled users and ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act.
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Register your desired domain name.
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Build the site; ensure that pages include appropriate keywords, meta tags and page descriptions to help search engines list them.
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Test the site, using different versions of various browsers, to ensure that pages download quickly and page links work.
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Assess the site's appeal and ease of navigation; ask employees and key customers for feedback and suggestions.
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Launch the site; register it with search engines to make it easy to find, and identify other sites you can link to and from.
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Promote the site: by emailing target customers, for example; include its address in your letterhead, brochures and advertising.
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Monitor usage and how effective the site is at achieving its aims.
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Keep the site up to date; add new, time-critical material, particularly on the home page, to keep visitors coming back.
Cardinal Rules
Do:
- set clear objectives
- create a well-designed site, using consultants if necessary
- promote the site
- keep up to date.
Don't:
- be over-ambitious with a site you can't afford to maintain
- get carried away with complex gimmicks
- launch your site without thorough testing
- assume your website will automatically create traffic and interest.
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Further Information
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