Building a web site for an existing company can be a much easier task then many people think. To get a.com or domain name is hopefully the easier side of the equation. Many companies simply use their name, initials or slogan. We’ll go on to those in further detail later.

Selection of your web host is another very important feature. Your web host essentially is your bit of the cyber real estate. Many hosts offer a plethora of features including very good, user-friendly site builders. You don’t need to know HTML or any of the other programming languages like Java or Perl, just essentially what your company does and what you want to advertise.

A .jpeg or .jpg of your company logo is nice to have too added to your index page, or the front page of your web site.

2. Choose a writing/design/construction tool that works for you. Trellix and other on-line designers are heavily tuned down versions of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors like MS Front Page, Macromedia’s Dreamweaver which in turn incorporate all of the brass tacks coding that most of us don’t have to learn anymore just to pen a simple commercial or personal site. Obviously the more advanced the writing mechanism, the more bells and whistles you can insert. The middle of the road is where most of us should end up, because a certain amount of fine tuning is necessary for proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This only matters if you are attempting to produce a commercial site where you hope to compete with the world in selling whatever widget or service you have to offer, not so much with personal sites.

3. Hosts and Domain Names. Do some research on this; there are plenty of good hosts out there for reasonable prices ($5 a month even). We use Startlogic and are very pleased thus far. Your domain name is very important as it is what you hope others will be able to remember as they attempt to remember you and or your business. TheGreatandRatherSatisfactoryThigamajig.us is much less preferable to ourproduct.com or ourcompanysinitials.com. Short and easy to remember, with few to any misnomers where possible is always preferable (i.e. no mine2.com vs. mineto.com vs. minetoo.com), unless of course you want to purchase all these domain names in an attempt to catch all of the possible misspellings/misinterpretations.

4. Communicating with the host. Now you will need to get your files/idea/information onto the host’s computer in some way, typically via FTP unless you are using one of their on-line designers or file managers. It’s not difficult, but if you have never used this application/protocol before do a little reading.

5. Publication! This is what you’ve been waiting for right? Don’t forget, whatever you create is now available to the world. Kind of scary, kind of neat. But really there are sooooo many sites out there – how will anyone ever find yours? Google is currently the search engine of choice, so most designers attempt to bend to their requests and suggestions in the hopes that it may make their site more visible. In short, it’s a good idea. Submit a sitemap, find a few of the FREE search engine submission sites and plunk in the data. There are literally thousands of scams out there trying to part you from your money, pitching the idea that only they can get your site seen. DON’T FALL FOR IT! You’ve done all this; you can go the extra little .001 mile to get your site visited. Google likes sites that other people and other sites like. Submit to link directory’s, ask your friends who blog to include a link to your site, participate in forums, post on blogs with a linkback to your site.

There now wasn’t that easy?

More tips and ideas to come.