 I
invited my clients to submit comments that might be helpful
to new web site owners. Here's what a few of them had to say...
 All
I can say is Plan, Plan and Plan! And then find
a great designer and plan some more!
I started "working" on my website about 6 months
prior to contacting my designer to request his services.
Although I did not have the "know-how", after months
of looking at other web sites, their design, color schemes
and user friendly-ness, I knew what I wanted. At least enough
to describe it to the designer. That was the easy part...
Then came the content for the website. In my case, I have
a lot of competition. There are certain catch phrases that
run in my industry. I wanted to make sure I used all of them
in a way that made sense. You can't just use a phrase/keyword
on a page without a proper paragraph to contain it, yet,
you also don't want to sound like every other website on
the internet. I spent months writing, re-writing and editing
and writing again. This process can go on forever, at some
point you just have to say...This is it!, and send it off
to be posted! Of course, don't rush this process and don't
post your content until you are satisfied with it. You can
always ask your designer to tweak some words or paragraphs.
The one thing that I wished I knew more about before hiring
and discussing my ideas with my designer, was online payment
methods. This was a very new process to me, and as my designer
would tell you, I waited until the last minute to decide
which way to go. There are so many options, providers, fee
schedules! Ugh, the fee schedules! All I can say is, find
a vendor, read their information, talk to them and get all
your questions answered. Remember, they want and need your
business. Even if you think your question is a silly one,
ask it! The answer you get might just be the deciding factor.
Research a couple of different vendors, compare pricing,
features and company policies. With an e-commerce website,
the merchant (you) are responsible for every transaction,
good or bad!
I was lucky to find a local bank that would provide me with
my merchant account. This bank partnered with certain online
payment gateway providers, so my choices were narrowed down
for me. I researched the payment gateway providers and found
one that offered everything I was looking for in a vendor.
Lori Herniak
melangecosmetics.com
One
great piece of advice I received as I was writing
the copy for my Web site is 'Don't try to be perfect. Web
sites are constantly evolving.' That really freed me up
to at least start by getting something online. I could
always update and 'tweak' it if I didn't like it later,
because it's not final copy like a printed brochure. As
someone who gets caught up in 'perfectionism,' this was
critical for me!
As a freelance business writer, a Web site has been extremely
critical for my business. It helps provide a personality
and credibility to this strange name an editor sees in his
or her inbox. It also helps set me apart by showing that
I took the time, effort, and expense to create a Web site
to showcase my previous work samples. It provides a great
introduction to editors to see testimonials and writing samples
that I am a professional writer able to meet deadlines and
write according to the assignment.
Vicki Powers
vickipowers.com
I
publicize my site by making the url part of my email signature,
and I've procured links from several nonprofit anti-death-penalty
sites. I will keep the site as long as I can afford to
just because I enjoy keeping it updated and receiving the
occasional email contact it generates from like-minded
individuals. Perhaps I can use the site to generate some
buzz for the book I'm currently working on--but that's
a ways off.
Eliza Steelwater
hangmansknot.com
I
believe the biggest mistake most people make when
planning a website created is that they think [the designer
is] going to provide the content as well as the design
and layout. I was told, "Tell Tim to just be creative,
we’re pretty easy to please." He’s not
alone; a lot of people do not realize that [the designer]
cannot come up with the words about their business/organization.
Penny Garrett
gascity.com |
