These are all great reasons to put your business on the web. In this article, I will help you understand the web design process so that your website can be a successful part of your business.

A common mistake business owners make when deciding to put their business on the web is to rush into calling a web designer without first having a plan. The following steps should always be taken first, before ever picking up the phone:

1. Define your project.
2. Find a designer who fits your needs and your budget.
3. Think about your target audience.
4. Decide how you will keep your information fresh.

Define Your Project.

Defining your project is probably the single most important step in the process of creating your website. By asking yourself these important questions, you are increasing the chances that your website will do exactly what you want it to do… maybe even more!

• What is the main purpose of your website? Is there anything else you want to accomplish with your site?
• Who is your primary target audience?
• What elements are a MUST HAVE for your website?
• What do you NOT want to see on your site?
• What content will you want on your site and how many pages will you need to accomplish that?
• What will you put on each page?
• What kind of feeling or mood do you want your site to show?
• What will make your site different than other similar sites?
• What do you expect your site to accomplish within a year?
• How much are you willing to spend on the initial site as well as ongoing maintenance?

Knowing the answers to these questions to the best of your ability will put you ahead of the game when it comes time to contact a web designer. Knowing exactly what you want out of your site will help your designer better meet your expectations and help your site accomplish its goals.

Find a Designer Who Fits Your Needs and Your Budget.

Does the designer fit your tastes? Take a look at his or her portfolio. Don’t take the designer’s word for it that he can do what you ask. Make sure he can show you samples. If you like what you see, move forward. If not…. move on.

What about your budget? How much are you willing to spend? Even a simple site will require an initial investment and could cost hundreds or even thousands.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for within your budget, you may need to adjust your budget. Or perhaps adjust your site to better fit within your means.

Take the time to shop around. Designers will vary greatly in talent as well as price. That doesn’t mean cheaper designers are less talented or that the more expensive designers aren’t worth the money. It’s important to find the best person for what you are willing to pay.

There are many factors that could affect the price of a website:

• The price scale of the designer.
• The number of pages you want on your site.
• The coding required to complete the project.
• The types of elements you desire.
• The time it takes to write or edit your content.

You can keep your costs down by finding a designer who fits your budget. Have your content complete and in its final form before submitting it to the designer. Eliminate unnecessary content/pages. Keep revisions to a minimum.

Think About Your Target Audience

What YOU want to see on your site is not necessarily what your USERS will want to see. Try to think about your project from their point of view.

• What you take for granted about your business may be completely unknown to your user. For example, certain industry terminology may be like a foreign language to your readers. Avoid suc terminology where possible.
• What are your users looking for when they visit your website? Can they find it easily? If they can’t find what they are looking for quickly, they’re more likely to look somewhere else.
• Do you expect your users to find your site by looking for your company name or by the services you offer? Keep your keywords in mind when writing your content.

Never forget that the most successful sites were written with the USER in mind.

Keep the Information Fresh

A good website is constantly changing and adding new content. It’s important to keep updating your content because people tend to return to sites that always have something new to offer. Search engines also prefer sites that continually grow (as long as the content is relevant.)

Don’t be tempted to add boring filler content that does not add value to your site.

Some ideas for adding content:

• FAQ Page
• Newsletters
• Blogs
• New Articles
• New links to helpful resources

Mariposa Web Design is committed to your success. I am constantly researching web design practices and tactics to learn what will get you the best return for your investment.

Finding the right web hosting service provider for you can be overwhelming and frustrating. Maybe you’re not sure how much space and bandwidth you need. Maybe you don’t even know what bandwidth is! I am here to help by reviewing some of the service providers I have used for the past few years.

Godaddy.com

My first hosting provider was Godaddy. Godaddy.com is a great place to start for several reasons:

• They are affordable.
• Set-up is easy.
• Customer service is fast and effective.
• They offer a variety of service levels to fit your needs.

My experience with them was a positive one. While I have been testing the waters with other hosting providers, I still use Godaddy as my primary registrar.

My only complaints with Godaddy are what I think are overly aggressive sales tactics and the customer service number is not toll free. Since I use my cell phone for calls anyway, toll free doesn’t really matter to me.

Host Nine

I first learned about Host Nine through my employer at my part time job. The experience I have with Host Nine is with their reseller account.

The reseller account is an excellent program where for a very reasonable monthly fee, you can sell hosting accounts under your own name. The profits are yours to keep. Host Nine is not only a reliable host, they also offer one of the best reseller plans.

Up time has been 100% since we joined Host Nine. Customer service is fairly prompt by email or phone.

My only complaint with Host Nine is the occasional technical glitch when I create more than one new account at a time. The positive in this is customer service takes care of it right away for me.

Host Gator

 Host Gator is my current hosting provider for many of my sites. The unlimited websites option is what attracted me.

Host Gator also offers a number of extra perks for their business customers. Free SSL certificate on the primary domain. Also you can get a free toll free number for your business.

Reliability has been very good. I have not had any experience with customer service yet. I will soon when I install the SSL on my domain. I’ll post an update on customer service when I can!

My only complaint is I wish I could put the free SSL certificate on a different domain. I don’t need it on my primary domain. I can still get one, but I have to pay for it.

All three services are very good. I can’t say I have a favorite yet. I hope these short reviews help you decide on which service would best suit your needs.

I want to talk about that part time job for a minute to explore what constitutes good business building practices.  I work very closely with the owner and am privy to most of his business building efforts.  A partner of sorts. 

What is bothering me is he started out in one direction.  But as I’m working on this particular task, I can see these e-mail messages popping across my screen telling me he’s off on yet another adventure.  The following week he hands me this pile of information, finally shedding light on the e-mails I was seeing. 

This is a similar, but obviously separate project.  So I’m off…. cleaning up the project and getting it online.  Meanwhile the other project is sitting dormant.

Then he comes to me and sits down to talk about his business plan… for yet another aspect of the business.  That’s great… but what about these other projects?

Last week, he complained to me that things are taking longer than he expected.  I had to be honest and told him we’re doing so many things all at once that nothing is getting done.  No sooner do I start on a project, I’m pulled off to do something else. 

He talks about outsourcing some of the work.  But which projects will be outsourced? 

I have to admit, while I have learned a lot about building a business from this man, I have to disagree with all of this jumping around.  I’m ok with having multiple streams of income, but you need to finish one job before starting another.  Finish the job, then outsource the administration I say.

I then think about how that affects my business.  I am a web designer.  I need to continually market my services to keep clients coming in.  Before I know it, I will be faced with more projects than time, just like I am at my part time job. 

That’s where scheduling comes in.  And at least, since I am working for myself, I can’t keep interrupting myself with new ideas.  Let’s check things off our to-do lists… one at a time.

As I am new to the web design business, I know my strengths… and I also know my limitations. I sell static html/css designs. 

Today, I receive an inquiry regarding an existing e-commerce website.  He needs someone to help update it and make some changes to the check out system.  I thought about it for a bit… and decided to walk away.

You see, I have dabbled in e-commerce.  I actually have as many as four pending e-commerce projects.  One is my own.  The other three are for my employer.  The problem is I don’t feel very confident yet in my ability to build or manipulate one quickly.  I am using the osCommerce platform, which has a ton of room for customization, but you need to know what you are doing.  This potential client was not using osCommerce.  Which means I would have to go in and learn a whole new platform, and then figure out how to do what he was asking.

Don’t get me wrong.  I LOVE a challenge.  And this project would certainly have been a challenging one.  But how would it look if I accepted the job and could not deliver because of my obvious lack of experience in that area.

I know what I am good at.  So for now, that is what I will focus on for my business.  I will learn additional skills in time.  After all, I do have four e-commerce projects.  Once finished, perhaps I can accept more with confidence.

So I’m selling cheap designs.  Yep, $100 for a website.  Plain and simple, HTML/CSS websites.  5 page maximum for that price.  I need the practice and every little bit helps.

It’s times like these when I wish I had chosen this field when I was still in college.  That way I could have taken advantage of internships and a structured learning environment.  But now I am relying on my own ability to open a book and people willing to let me hone my skills by building them a site for next to nothing. 

Any takers?  Visit my site for Small Business Web Design. 

Meanwhile, I left my coveted PHP book at my parents’ house after a weekend visit.  As I opened up my new e-commerce site to try to customize it, I see I could really use that book.

I decided it’s time to take things to the next level.  I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but forever wondering where I will find the time to hit the books again.

Keep in mind I am not taking formal schooling at this point.  I can’t afford it, nor do I have the time.  I share my kids with my ex and my time with them is precious.  During my “off” time, I must make money to pay my bills.  And the final factor is the massive student load debt I already carry.

That said, I picked up a book at Border’s over the weekend.  PHP For Dummies.  It’s a start…. not quite where I wanted to start, but it hurt the wallet much less than the giant PHP/MySQL bible that caught my eye.  Maybe next time…. if this nice yellow bound book doesn’t quite to the job I am hoping it does.  Perhaps a book review to follow?  I will let you know how it goes.

My first goal to accomplish with PHP is quite simple.  I want to process my own contact forms rather than rely on some third party.  Sound reasonable?  I think so.

Perhaps there are other ways to process simple forms, but PHP is important for a budding web designer to know.  As great as static web pages can be, a few interactive elements can’t hurt.

Funny… I still see sites like that today.  As a matter of fact, I have seen about a million and one get-rich-on-the-web sites that look just like the sites from the late 90′s.  They look like the “designer” spent a whole 30 seconds putting the site up… the ultimate goal being to make money on people brave enough to purchase their get-rich-now product. 

I’m not saying their product doesn’t have some value.  Many contain great tips on SEO and marketing.  From the looks of it, so much time is spent on social networking and PayPerClick campaigns that there is little time to even think about how the site looks.  Personally, I hate to see sites like that, and they ruffle my feathers the wrong way.  I am not about to give such an unprofessional looking site my credit card number.

As a designer, I have had assignments to create sites just like that.  I can still feel the bile rising in my throat at the thought of such a strategy.  Of course these get-rich folks swear by the tactic, saying it’s not the design that matters, but the content.  But is it? Are there enough people in the world who don’t care about how a site looks that they can make money this way?

So, what makes you stay on a website and actually take that next step and purchase something?  I would love to hear comments from users and designers alike about what makes a great website.

Being my own boss means training myself, knowing all aspects of the business, from accounting to creative design, and having the motivation to do what needs to be done without a boss telling me to get on it!

I started this journey in the middle of 2007.  I had become soured on Corporate America and chose to set out on my own. 

I wanted to be a web designer.  I had been in Communications for 10 years, working primarily in television production.  I had some creative experience and loved working on the web, so it only made sense to give it a shot.

I started with next to nothing: intermediate level computer skills and a video editing background. I had already begun taking classes in information systems at the University of Phoenix, but the theory and management classes did little to teach me the actual skills themselves.

So I set out on my own, HTML book in hand.  I got lucky that fate threw me into an aweful job with a fast growing marketing firm.  Why do I consider it luck?  Because one of my jobs, by pure coincidence, was to update the company intranet. 

Having gotten my feet wet doing very simple web work, the door was opened to learning more advanced skills.  That being said, the job was aweful for other reasons and lasted only a year.  At that point, the world became my oyster.

I continued to study and practice on my own.  In another bizarre stroke of luck, I landed a part time job.  I needed the extra income because what work I had from home was not paying the bills. 

I was only looking for a part time clerical job.  Something easy that I could go to work and go home with little to worry about in between.  But that is not what happened.  What little web experience I had was enough for my new boss to take a chance and try out some new marketing tactics.  I have since designed four complete websites for him, five if you count my first attempt that didn’t look too bad for a first try. 

During this time, I grew very comfortable in my HTML skills and learned a great deal about CSS.  At home, in my spare time, I built my own website and started to market my own web design business.

My website, if you care to take a  look, is www.mariposanet.com.  It’s always a work in progress as I learn and develop new skills.  I’m currently only offering basic HTML/CSS websites, but I intend to expand as I learn.  We all have to start somewhere.  In this blog, I will document that journey.

My current project is an e-commerce website. I have the products and the supplier lined up.  I have the shopping cart installed.  I am working on the design, hoping for some divine inspiration for the perfect look.  Wish me luck!

I started out with an economy plan for $4.95 a month… or something close to that.  It had everything I needed, including more than enough space to do what I wanted it to do.  Customer service was great when I needed it.  My only complaint is the lack of a toll free number.  Maybe that is how they keep prices down.

The problem is I wanted more than one site hosted, and their free hosting option requires that I run ads at the top of my page.  That wasn’t what I was looking for so I moved on.

That’s when I found HostGator.  Unlimited space?  Unlimited domains? One price?  I dove right into their business package, which costs a mere $10 a month more than what I was paying GoDaddy.  I get great hosting plus a whole host of additional perks that go along with the business account.   

Check it out for yourself.  It’s worth at least taking a look.

I’ll be trying this out for a while.  I already got my main site up and running and a handful of additional domains waiting for me to work my magic. I’ll let you know how it goes!