Creating, Managing and Marketing Your Own Web Site by Andy Crowther BCS Belgium Section WebMaster

1. Creating, Managing and Marketing Your Own Web Site by Andy CrowtherBCS Belgium Section WebMaster

2. Contents • Introduction • Creating • Marketing • Managing • Lessons Learned

3. Increased Use of Web • More and more people are using the WWW each day whether it be for • Business or pleasure • Hobbies • Online banking

4. 95% of Web Sites Fail Some Reasons are: • It is generally a lot cheaper to start an online business than an offline one • It takes time and effort to make a successful online business • No or inadequate marketing

5. How much will it Cost? • As much as you want to spend • With the tools available on the web today it can all be done for free • A Consultant can do it all for you at a price • A route some where in between

6. My History • Working in IT for over 15 years • Started as a Programmer and occupied numerous roles including Team Leader positions • Working at HP in Belgium for last 3 years as an Independent

7. My Web Site • With my technical background I decided to try my hand at developing my own web site in early 2002 • I launched my first site CoursesForFree.co.uk in August 2002

8. Aim of Presentation • Not to promote my CFF website, although if you want to explore it you can! • The aim is to share my real life experience gained along the way • Help anyone thinking ‘I want to develop my own web site’ but does not know where to start

9. Aim of Presentation • There is no definitive wrong or right way to produce a web site • I will provide a lot of information to help you Create, Manage and Market your own web site

10. Creating Your Web Site • Planning • Idea • Purpose • Demand • Site Structure • Web Site Name • Web Host • Development • Testing • Implementation

11. Planning • As with any project this is essential • Will save you time & money in the long term

12. Idea • When you have an idea for a web site you should first start by doing some general investigation and research • Stimulate ideas

13. Stages • Find similar sites using search engine • For each site found answer the following: • What is its aim? (selling, informing) • What are its good and bad points? • What do you like and don’t like? • Where could you do it better?

14. Idea • If it does not feel right then leave it alone as it is more likely to fail • Use your own area of expertise we all have one in either work or leisure • Start thinking about keywords for your idea and make a list

15. Idea Keywords CoursesForFree examples: • Course • Education • Information Technology • Computing • Free

16. Purpose • Hobby • Information • For Profit • Promote/Support off line business

17. Demand • Look at search engines and see how many searches are made for your keywords • Establish if demand exists • Niche market or offline customers may not be as critical

18. Defining a Structure • Will there be a dbase? • Will the screens be fixed or dynamic? • What screens are required?

19. Web Site Name • Usually tells people what the site is about • CoursesForFree.co.uk • CoursesForFree.com • .co.uk - registered in the UK • .com - registered in USA • .be - registered in Belgium

20. Purchasing Web Site Name • Shop around as price differs considerably for same extension • For .co.uk I use • https://www.123-reg.co.uk/ • 2.59GBP approx $4.14 (minimum 2 years) • For .Com I use • https://registrar.godaddy.com/ • $8.95 per year or $6.95 if buy 10 years

21. Be Warned • They sell the web site names at minimum profit and make money out of other things they offer • Web hosting packages • Submission to search engines • Email accounts • Web building tools • You do NOT need to purchase these from the same source

22. Existing Web Site Names • As more and more names are registered less choice available • Alternative buy an existing name • Via Auctions • Expired not renewed • Direct approach to owner

23. Web Host • You can get free or relatively inexpensive web hosting on the internet and in a lot of cases you get what you pay for • After developing a web site you do not want to find it is unavailable all the time as the server is down

24. Web Host Requirements • Uptime Guarantee • Disc space • Bandwidth • Dedicated IP Address • POP 3 email • Windows, Unix or Linux • Dbases • Scripting languages

25. Web Host Requirements • Forum to buy direct • http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ • Shared WebHosting Special Offers • Dedicated Servers Special Offers • Web Hosting Requests - place own web request

26. Web Host Pricing • Work out the price per year so can compare like with like • Some price monthly some annual • Some offer substantial discounts for annual payments in advance as less administration

27. Web Host Pricing • Things to add to the cost • Initial set up cost for account • Extra disc space charge • Extra bandwidth charges • Procedure if exceed bandwidth

28. Web Host I Use • Very reliable and stable company state of the art equipment • 50 MB disc space • Unlimited bandwidth • Free trial • $10 setup fee • $14.95 per month • Refer 6 people get hosting for free • http://www.cashculture.com/?ref=andychess

29. Development Common Pages • Introduction • FAQ • Feedback • Newsletter Sign Up

30. Development Platform • Own PC or server • On web

31. Development • There are thousands of packages on the market that allow you to develop your site faster • They are designed to build your site without having to learn the languages • They are very helpful but not necessary

32. Development Products • Instant site maker • FAQ factory • Pop up Creators • Deadline Generators • Payment acceptor & protector • Instant meta makers

33. Development Tools • These can all be bought on the web • I have bought a partnership in a software company that allows me to use and resell over 60 software products and 100’s of ebooks • You can have 1 for $39 • http://www.free-software-forever.com/sales/sale-00162002.htm

34. Testing • This is very important • Need detail testing plan • Someone else to test on another PC if possible

35. Testing Plan • Tick list to detail every screen and all the • Buttons • Links • Proof Reading – spelling • Feedback form sends email • Registration form • Adds user to list • Sends appropriate email to user • Displays correct thank you screen

36. Implementation • Move all code to production server • Go through all items on the testing plan to ensure they still work

37. Marketing • ‘If you build it they will come’ • Does not apply to the WWW • People have to know your site exists

38. Traffic Required • Indicated that only 1% of visitors to a web site will want what is on offer • Others say it is as low as 0.1% • This means you need 1000 visitors to reach 1 person who is interested

39. Traffic Utilisation • To best utilise traffic to your site • It is suggested that you create a newsletter and capture email addresses of all those interested • People who do not want what is on offer today may be interested in the future

40. Traffic Generation • There are hundreds of methods for promoting your web site • You can do it all for free or you can employ a marketing consultancy to do all the work for you

41. Search engine Pay per click Pop up Window Pop under Window Classified Ads Banners Exit Exchange Link Exchange Free For all Safe lists Traffic Generation Online

42. Traffic Blasting tools • To increase your coverage you can now buy tools which blast your 1 web site advertisement to many places at the same time • Classified ad blaster • Safe list blaster

43. Traffic Auctions • Numerous sites auction advertisement specials on the WWW • These can provide cheap access to a diversified market • You could sell advertising on your site to generate profit

44. Traffic Co-ops • If you do not have time to spend marketing your business then you can pay a traffic co-op to generate the leads for you • This is now big business on the WWW with businesses dedicated to it

45. Traffic Generation • Do not forget, just because your site is on the WWW does not mean that you can not use traditional offline methods of advertising • In fact combining both offline and online marketing can be the best combination

46. Traffic Generation Offline • Newspaper Ads • Trade Magazine Ads • Posters • Flyers • Direct mailing • Business Cards

47. Managing • Once your web site is up and running and you have started marketing your web site you have to consider the ongoing management • A web site should be a living entity, constantly evolving

48. Management Tasks • Responding to email queries in a timely manner • Production of newsletters • Updating site content • Updating advertisements • Checking site for dead links • Backup • Dbase • Website • Mailing List

49. Lessons Learned • Took longer to develop than expected due to the number of new skills required, but these new skills should enhance my future job prospects • HTML • PHP • MYSQL

50. Lessons Learned • Need to shop around for the best deals on web site hosting and domain names • Marketing of the site is a bigger task than I expected