The first thing I tell small business owners looking to get started on their website design, is to look at the competition in their area. Go ahead and pretend you’re a customer. Google the keywords you think people will use to find your website. For example, if you’re a therapist in Amarillo Texas, google “therapist amarallo” and see what comes up. Look at the websites that are on the first and second pages, notice what pages they have, take notes. From this benchmarking exercise, you can see what the competition looks like, through a customer’s viewpoint.

Then, you’ll be in a better, more educated position to talk to your small business website designer about what you want and don’t want. Do this homework and you won’t regret the time spent.

I tend to do lots of websites for therapists because of my degree in Clinical Psychology (long story). Today, after doing some website maintenance for a therapist he said:

“By the way, the website continues to be extremely helpful to my practice. I’ve had a steady flow of people contacting me because they found my site and were interested in pursuing treatment with me. So thanks.”

This is from a client whose website was started in 2009 and finished in 2010. So it’s about two years old now, and this little comment demonstrates two things I want to point out to all the mental health folks out there who don’t have their own websites.

First, all small businesses – especially therapists, need websites. It is not enough to have a generic listing in a directory. A simple website that has information about you and your practice gives prospective clients so much more information than is available on directory websites. And you can set the style and tone to match YOUR style of doing therapy. You can even have the website do some work for you, like allowing clients to download forms to fill out and bring to their first visits. If you like to write, we an add a blog.

Secondly, make sure you hire a web developer who will be with you for the long term and doesn’t disappear once the website is done. My client’s website was done in 2010 and here is it 2012 and he needed some changes made. There are many developers who don’t support their sites after they’re done, because, well frankly, all the money is made up front. But part of my philosophy is to develop a long term relationship with my clients (just like therapists prefer to do with their clients) – and so when this client needed small changes, I was here to get them done. And receive some nice feedback in the process.

So if you’re a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, or counselor - and you don’t have a website – what are you waiting for? Really, it won’t hurt at all. Contact me for an estimate.

Overview: Domain Name Registration
A “domain name” is your online identity, the “mybusinessname.com” or “mynonprofit.org” or “widgets.net”. Domain names are unique, meaning that once you purchase your domain name from a domain name registrar, you alone own the rights to use it – just like buying a car. You can build a website and use the domain name for yourself, or sell it someone else. New, never used domain names can be purchased from a domain name registrar. You can also purchase a domain from a person who already owns the domain – but they’ll charge you much more than a domain registrar will because they’re trying to make a profit. Since new domains cost around $10/year and existing domains can be much, much more, I generally recommend that new website owners purchase new domain names from domain registrars whenever possible.

Overview: Website Hosting
Website “hosting” refers to a company or person who rents you space on one of their computers, called a “server”. It’s the server’s job to store the various files that comprise your website. When someone uses an internet browser,  like Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer and types in your domain name, the server “serves” the appropriate files, just like a waiter brings you the dinner your ordered. Servers do more than just “serve”, they also execute “server-side” code, which means they are also like the cooks in the kitchen. Servers work really hard, which is sometimes why websites may be unavailable for short periods of time. A website hosting company may have one or dozens or hundreds of servers – depending on the size of the company. I’ve worked with many different hosting companies, and DreamHost.com is my favorite.

Can your domain registrar and hosting company be the same?
Now, it is possible to purchase your domain name from one company (like GoDaddy.com), and purchase website hosting from another (like DreamHost.com). It’s also possible to purchase both from the same company. Domain name registration and website hosting are apples and oranges, but many folks find it less confusing to purchase both from the same company – one less password to remember!

What’s the connection between domain name and hosting?
Domain names and website hosting companies are connected to one another through a setting called “domain name server” or “DNS”. The DNS indicates where your website files are. It’s a link between the domain name and your server. It’s similar to looking up a business name in the phone book to find their address. It says: ‘oh, I see you’re looking for AldebaranWebDesign.com, well it’s located right here on a server at DreamHost.” You can see these DNS settings for any website by using this DNS Lookup Tool.

Tips To Avoid Trouble – Domain Name Ownership
Be sure that you purchase and own your domain name – don’t let your web designer do this for you. I’ve had clients who used other web designers to design their sites, and were shocked to find out that their former web designer actually owned their domain name. You can use a website like http://whois.domaintools.com/ to check domain name ownership.

Tips To Avoid Trouble – Selecting An Appropriate Domain Name
Selecting the best domain name for your business is a challenging process, but can be fun. I often use DreamHost.com/domains to see if a domain name is available. But changing your domain name AFTER you’ve established a website can be a painful process. Read here about my own experience changing my domain name.

Pick a Good, Reputable, Reliable Hosting Company
Read this article on how to select a hosting company. I don’t recommend letting your web designer do the hosting – but rather pick a nice big reputable company that has the resources and technical ability to keep your website running – no matter what happens to your designer.

Free email accounts are typically from AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, etc. This means when folks send you email, they are sending to Jane345@hotmail.com or Joe789@gmail.com. Email accounts that are based on your website domain, are in form of “something@yourwebsitename.com”.

One of the decisions new website clients need to make, is whether to continue to use these free email accounts or switch their business email to a new account that is based on their website domain. I wanted to list all the pros and cons so prospective clients of mine could read a comprehensive list and perhaps save myself some typing!

Advantages of Using Free Email

• Nothing changes. You don’t have to learn anything new or do anything differently.

Disadvantages of Using Free Email

• Your email address looks unprofessional and suspicious. It’s one way I tell my blog readers to spot fake spam emails. I tell them if it’s free, don’t trust it. It’s just too easy to set up a free email account and disappear. It’s much more work to purchase a domain and set up email accounts on them.
• You can’t use a contact form because they typically only work with the domain’s email.
• You can’t take advantage of some website application features, because they only work with the website domain email.
• You don’t separate personal email from business email.

Advantages of using Website Domain Email

• Your email address looks professional and trustworthy.
• You can utilize contact forms to make it easier for prospective clients to contact you.
• You have no problem using website application features that send out emails.
• You easily separate personal email and business email, and can configure different signatures for each – way more professional.

Disadvantages of using Website Domain Email

• You have an additional email account to check.
• If you use an email application to read your mail, like Outlook or Thunderbird, you now have to configure it to read your website email.

What about email forwarding?

I’ve had clients who had a free email account, like with AOL, who wanted me to create a website email and have it forward to their AOL account – sounds like a good solution to avoid the headaches of checking a new account with the benefit of still looking professional? Not quite. There are some companies, like AOL, who often refuse to accept forwarded emails because they think they’re spam – and they won’t even let you know when they do this. For this reason, I never forward email to free accounts – your business email is way too important to assume any risk of non-delivery. What would missing a new client cost you?

What’s the bottom line?

For many reasons, it’s generally best to create an email address using your website domain, even if it means you have to go through the hassle of checking another account, or configuring Outlook or Thunderbird. If you’ve already purchased a domain name and set up hosting, an email account based on your website domain won’t cost you anything. Make sure your prospective customers have the maximum confidence in you and your business, by not using your personal free email accounts, and switching to a business email from your website.

How do you know what a domain name is actually worth? If you want to buy it, how do you know whether you’re paying too much for it? Tonight just for grins and giggles, I decided to see who owned Aldebaran.com – it redirected to another website, which meant to me that it wasn’t being used – so I figured I’d contact the owner and see if they wanted to sell it.

You can find out who owns a domain by using a domain name lookup tool. I looked up Aldebaran.com and emailed the owner who was listed. I simply asked if he was interested in selling the domain.

To my utter astonishment, he said he’d sell it for $50,000, that’s fifty-thousand dollars! Or he’d generously lease it to me for $400/month. I don’t know what the point of leasing a domain name would be – what a search engine optimization nightmare. But let’s get back to his price tag of $50,000: How do you know what a domain name is worth?

There are many free domain name appraisal tools out there on the web. One such tool is SwiftAppraisal.com. It said Aldebaran.com was worth under $100. It’s interesting to use one of these free tools to see what questions they ask to determine the worth. Things like number of words (fewer is better), whether the domain name is associated with the business/product, whether it was easy to spell/remember. Aldebaran.com failed all of these tests. So why would this fellow ask $50,000 for a worthless domain?

What is “Aldebaran” anyway? It’s a star; the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus. It has nothing to do with web design, or any other business for that matter. You can’t sell a star.

Needless to say, I turned down this ridiculous offer.

But what if I had somehow trademarked “Aldebaran”. Then I would call a trademark attorney and see if this guy was guilty of cybersquatting. I don’t know if I trademarked “Aldebaran Web Design” if that would be good enough, but it’s something to keep in mind.

In general, to avoid all of these headaches – I advise my clients, whenever possible, to get domain names directly from registrars that are available. You can use domain name checking tools to see if a particular domain name is available. If it’s available, it’s only $10 per year. What a bargin!

This article is written for those of you who are in the process of looking for a website designer. One of the good things to do when you’re shopping, is to look through the web designer’s portfolio. Most folks looking through a portfolio of websites will notice the obvious, like what the websites look like. This article was written to hopefully help you notice something a big less obvious: whether the web designer is using “real” domains, creating “sub-domains”, or “directories” for his website clients.

When you’re looking in a web designer’s portfolio, don’t just rely on the images they provide. Click in the URL (web address) of the websites they claim to have designed. (If you find a lot of broken links, this is not a good sign). Take a good look at the URL, it’s at the very top of your browser and begins with “http://”.

First, let me explain what these three things are and how to tell them apart.

1. Domains: These look like “http://www.yourbusiness.com” or “http://yourbusiness.com”. Domains are registered and owned by YOU, the small business owner.

2. SubDomains: These look like “http://www.yourbusiness.yourwebdesigner.com”. Once someone buys a domain, they can make all the subdomains they want, for free. Sometimes web designers will create subdomains for their clients – but they are not owned by the business owner – they are owned by the web designer. You as a small business owner have no rights to a subdomain on some else’s website.

3. Directory: These look like: “http://www.yourwebdesigner.com/yourbusiness/”. These are simply directories that the web designer has created to put your files in.

You want to see a web design portfolio where everyone has their own domain name, like #1 above. This is the only professional, and in my opinion, ethical way, to do website design for other people. Since domain registrations are so inexpensive ($10 per year), and hosting is also inexpensive ($10 per month) there is just no reason why a small business owner couldn’t afford to get their own domain name and their website files living right on that domain.

Why do some web designers use subdomains and directories? Laziness? Ignorance? For profit? Since it costs them nothing to create a subdomain or directory, maybe they’re charging folks for “web hosting”. Maybe they don’t know search engines work. Either way, this practice is NOT in the best interests of the small business owner who wants a website that will perform well over time in search engines. Let’s talk about that next…

How important is search engine traffic to small business websites? Super duper critical. Google knows the difference between domains and directories. In order to rank well, you want to have all of your content be just about your business, not mixed in with who knows how many other small businesses on who knows how many other directories. Domain age is another factor in ranking, and the sooner you get your own domain the better. Eventually, if you’re a serious business, you’ll get your own domain, and all that time you’ve spent living on someone else’s domain won’t count.

Don’t you want control over your own website? I can’t even begin to count how many people contact me with “my website designer has disappeared” stories. Over and over again. The only way to have complete control over your website, is to own your own domain.

And the same goes for web hosting: You will also want to control your website hosting (read this article on how to select a website hosting company) and I don’t recommend that you let your website designer do your website hosting. These are really very different skills – and you can get very good website hosting for very low rates ($10 per month). Would you let your housing contractor own the land that your home is built on? Of course not. Don’t do the same with your website.

Be Independent! By following this advice, your website designer can disappear, and your small business website will be just fine. You just need to find another person to make modifications, but your website will remain up and running in the meantime, and no one will be able to steal your website files or your domain name.

Take Home Message: When shopping for a web designer, look at their portfolio. Visit the websites they claim to have designed. Look at the URL and make sure the business owns their own domain (not a sub-domain of the designer, not a sub-directory of the designer’s site). Pick a web designer who is ethical and responsible enough to allow the small business owner maximum control of their website. In the end, if that web designer disappears, you’ll be glad you did.

I had a client recently ask me whether or not his hosting company was backing up his website files. At first, I thought this was a silly question, because I thought the answer would be “of course!” I host my own website and have nearly all my website clients hosted with DreamHost (for a bunch of reasons listed here), and I have, on occasion, become overzealous and accidentally deleted something I shouldn’t have. Yes, even web designers make mistakes

I accidentally deleted my entire blog, including the database on one awful day, when I was rushing too much and not thinking. Literally, all of my blog files and my blog’s database was gone. In a total panic, I submitted several DreamHost support tickets (like people who push the elevator button multiple times because they believe the elevator will hurry). And without even making fun of me or chastising me for doing something so stupid, DreamHost simply restored the blog and it’s database. Poof! It was back, all safe and sound. Disaster averted.

So when my client (who doesn’t have his website hosted with DreamHost) asked me if his website files were backed up, I was pretty confident that they were being backed up. And if he did something stupid like I did, he could simply submit a support ticket and everything would come back. But because his website was hosted with Aplus.net, I told him he should ask them.

The answer that came back totally surprised me. I wish I had saved it, but it was definitely not heartwarming or encouraging. I was stunned and he was angry. So I made a mental note just to do a quick experiment of my own, and write in to several hosting companies asking them this question: “Do you back up my website files?”

I sent inquires to DreamHost.com, Aplus.net, and NetworkSolutions.com. Network Solutions refused to answer my question via email – why, I have no idea. Here are the responses from Aplus.net and DreamHost:

From Aplus.net:

Dear Jill Olkoski,

Note that personal backups are provided only by exception and once.
It is customers' responsibility to do backup of their files.
There is no guarantee that a custom backup request would be
resolved successfully. Please let us know how you would
like to proceed.

And from DreamHost.com:

Hello Jill,
I would be glad to answer your questions about our service.
Yes we keep automated backups of all of our customer's data
(including databases,emails and site files!), you can read
more about this server (and how easy it is to restore
the data) here: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Backups

Of course it may be good to note that these backups are
provided as an extra service and are not guaranteed, so
we consider it mandatory that our customers keep their
own off-site backups, just in case of moose herd gets
into the data center (or other un-expected event).

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask me.

Perhaps you detect a difference in the level of customer service? In attitude? In sense of humor? So before you choose a hosting company, ask them if they back up your files. See if they answer, see what they say and how they say it. Sometimes a very simple question can reveal a lot about a company.

First, you want the website font to be readable. Generally speaking, fonts that are “sans-serif” are considered a bit more readable than “serif” fonts, but some studies that compare different fonts have found mixed results for different font types and sizes. The study noted:

Overall, Verdana was the most preferred font, while Times was the least preferred font.

Secondly, fonts all have different emotional characteristics/values or “ethos” or even personalities. Some are more casual, while others are more formal. Think about your small business clients and what type of products or services you are selling and pick a font that strikes an appropriate mood.

Thirdly, try not to mix and match fonts on your website. Mixing font types just makes your valuable content harder to read.

Lastly, the font size, font color, font weight, and background color will have an impact on readability. The study mentioned above noted that contrast was a very important factor, so make sure there’s enough contrast between your font, and your background. Font size is also a huge factor so make sure your font size isn’t too small – ask someone over 40 (who has lost their near-sighted vision) to take a look at your fonts. The Witchita study found:

Older Adults are more accurate with, and prefer larger font sizes. They also prefer sans serif fonts over serif fonts.

The Witchita study stated that for all age groups:

Fonts at the 10-point size were read more slowly than fonts at the 12-point size.

Here’s my font selection tool. Simply click on the font name to see what the font looks like. I’ve specifically chosen this subset of fonts because they are widely available on both Mac’s and PC’s.

If you find this tool useful, please do leave me a comment. I just love comments! They encourage me to build more tools like the font selector.

Enjoy!

There were several issues I discovered in trying to work with the website pages that were generated by this particular website builder tool. From the client’s perspective, these issues were completely hidden, but from a web designer’s perspective, these issues were pretty serious.

Web pages are not related to one another via a template

The website builder is a tool that often acts as a website template, meaning that you can change something in one page, and it is automatically changed on all pages. When we were forced to leave the website builder environment, we were forced to give up that feature, and all website pages became completely independent. To make a change to the web site’s footer, I had to change it on every single page of the website, one page at a time. If the website had been created using the standard website tool Dreamweaver, we could have easily added the shopping cart and not lost this ability.

Pages are not W3C Compliant

Ok, so what the heck is “W3C Compliant”? It’s a consortium that determines the standards for website code, and when I do a website from scratch, I make sure that I use the W3C Validator to validate all the code. This not only makes for “best in class” design, but helps eliminate pesky cross-browser issues (meaning the website will be more likely to appear the same whether you use Firefox or Internet Explorer or Safari). The pages that were generated by the online website builder tool had, on average, 50 or 60 separate errors. If you’re trying to get good organic search engine rankings, you need valid page code.

Extra Junk In the Code

Website builder tools often add extra bits and pieces of code to help them manage the website code. These extra characters were added to the ends of page names, to the end of image files…all over the place! It makes the code much more difficult to understand and therefore maintain.

No indentation or comments in the code

Good website designers often use indentation so that their website code is more readable. If indentation is not used, all the code runs together in one huge continuous line. What’s this like for a website designer trying to make a change?

It’slikereadingthissentenceanditrunsonandonandonandyoudon’tknowwhereitstops.

Good website designers also often use commenting to remind themselves what certain regions of code are used for. Again, both these techinques are taught in all basic computer coding courses as good design practices. Neither of these techniques are used by online website builder tools, since they’re expecting you to use this tool forever. Therefore deciphering the website builder code in order to make changes is extremely difficult and time consuming (and therefore costly!)

Thinking of using a do-it-yourself online website builder tool? Think twice. You may be trying to save money, but in the long run, working with a website that was created by an online builder is extremely time-consuming. And believe me, your needs will change as your business grows and you will want changes done to your website! A website builder, even a free one, might not be the most cost-effective long-term solution or your website, especially if you want to add on useful features later such as a blog or a shopping cart. What you think you’re saving upfront, might be an illusion, since the web pages generated by these website builders are often extremely poorly constructed and hard to maintain by “real” website designers who use “real” website design software packages.

Addendum: 12-8-07

If you’re considering using “Homestead.com” to build your own website, be sure you read this article first: Homestead.com – Your Domain Name With Strings Attached. It offers another warning for small business owners who are trying to save money by using online website builder tools – and what happens when the tools don’t live up to their promises and they have to contact a professional website designer to fix it.

Before you pay for an website builder, contact me to get an free estimate on designing your website from scratch using professional website design tools. It will be easier to perform website maintenance upon and much more versatile in terms of future web application integration.

Check out the website designer’s portfolio carefully.

A good designer should be proud to show samples of their work. (Click here to view to my portfolio). Take a close look at the websites the designer typically creates and try to notice both the appearance and functionality. Take note of the degree of diversity of the websites to discern whether the website designer is simply using a template to create websites from, or is really designing them from scratch. Also notice what kinds of features the websites have, for example, if you’re looking for a shopping cart, does the designer have examples of shopping carts, etc.

Graphic Designers/Artists vs Website Designers/Engineers, know the difference!

As you might know from my resume, my background is in engineering, computer science, quality, and human psychology. I’m not an artist or graphic designer. This means that my websites are extremely functional, easy to navigate, simple in structure, cross browser compatible, per Google’s quality guidelines, W3C compliant, focus on content and search engine optimization…. and so on and so on. But some clients are more interested in how a website looks – they want eye candy, flash, moving pictures, entertainment. And depending on their market, that may be entirely appropriate. So take a look at your target market and match it to the particular skills of who will be creating your website. Sometimes you may want more of an engineer’s view (content and functionality), sometimes more of an artist’s view (appearance and visual impact)…but be aware of the differences in the websites they create.

Read testimonials from actual clients, or contact them yourself.

Some website designers include testimonials from clients. (Read my testimonials). Read these carefully to determine if they look generic or phony. You can always contact a web designer’s client yourself and ask about their experience in working with the web designer. A good web designer has nothing to hide. I recommend you talk to a client who has had both design and maintenance experience with the website designer…because some website designers are good at doing the initial design, but are not responsive to request for changes later on.

Have a good idea of what you want your website to contain.

The more you know about what you want, the better you’ll be able to judge whether or not the particular website designer is a good match for your website project. Make an outline of the pages you want so you’ll know approximately how big your website will be. List any special features you might want included in your site. Special features range from the simple, like contact forms, to very complex, such as implementing a database and user interface. Shop around to see what features the websites of your competition have to get ideas.

Don’t pay for your entire website design upfront.

I’ve already had several people contact me because they pre-paid for their entire website design and then the designer never finished their websites. Please don’t let this happen to you! In some cases, the website designer refused to grant access to the client’s original files. If the website designer has already received payment in full, you’ve lost your leverage. So I strongly recommend finding a designer who will accept payment as the website is being developed. After all, there is no large cash outlay that a website designer has to initiate when they start a new website…it’s only time, so there’s no reason a website designer needs a large pile of your money before any work is done. (Read more about website design costs).

Be sure to ask about website maintenance.

All websites need to be updated from time to time, and it’s important to find out how your website designer plans to support these changes. Some website designers charge their clients a monthly maintenance fee. Some website designers (like me) charge a per-change fee and don’t require any monthly contract. In a sense, you’re getting into a long-term relationship with your website designer, so find out about your website designer’s maintenance policy. (Read about my maintenance policy.)

Make sure you own your domain and own your website files.

When you purchase your domain name, make sure it’s from a reputable domain registrar and that YOUR name (not your website designer) is listed as the owner. I recommend NOT purchasing the domain through a website designer and instead purchasing it from an independent domain registration company. A website is simply a collection of files that live somewhere out there in Internet-land on a website hosting server. When you pay for website design, you are paying someone to create those files. Make sure that when your website is done, you actually own these files and know how to access them in the event that you end up having a falling-out with your web designer and need to hire someone else. (I have many people contact me with this very issue!) I have my clients purchase both domain names and hosting from outside companies, so that they main full autonomy over both of these items throughout the web design process, from start to finish.

Make sure the website designer is a good listener.

Your ability to clearly communicate your website needs to your designer and have that website designer listen carefully will make the difference between getting a website you’re satisfied with versus getting a website that you LOVE. Whether on the phone, via email or in person, make sure you get the feeling your website designer is listening to your requirements carefully. You’re going to be spending many hours interacting with your website designer, so make sure you enjoy the communication – because there will be LOTS of it.

Understand the technical skill limitations of the web designer.

What languages, other than HTML/XHTML does the prospective designer understand, and can they show you examples of this work? If you might want an online store eventually – do they know how to install and customize ecommerce applications? If you might want a blog installed, do they know how to install and customize WordPress? Have they ever designed and implemented a database for a client? Some of the more common languages are PHP (server-side scripting) and MySQL (for databases). Ask what they know and ask to look at examples of their work.

Thinking of hiring a friend or relative? Think again.

It’s very, very common to have prospective clients contact me and make a confession: I need my website redesigned because the original design was done by my (friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, ex-husband, ex-wife, cousin, son, daughter…). And the problem with doing this is multi-layered – the sites are often amateurish and unprofessional. They rarely are designed with an understanding of search engine optimization. And the person has often lost interest in keeping the website maintained. Sure, having a friend design the website might seem like an inexpensive solution – but add up all the new clients you might never get because they either can’t find your site online, or once they get their, it looks cheesy. Spending a little more money up front will pay off later. Your website is representative of your business, critical to how you will be perceived online – having a horrible website is sometimes worse than no website at all.