The Web Question: Why you need a website.

One of the first questions you may ask yourself is why should I invest in a website? Because that’s what it really is, an investment. One of the best reasons to have a business website is to have a 24/7 web presence, so your customers (or potential customers), can find out information about you and your business.

That information might be your business location, or a product, or service, you offer. In a world driven by technology you can’t afford to be left behind. Your competitors are most likely already utilising web technologies, and hold an advantage over you because of their progressive attitude. A website allows customers to freely access everything related to your business. A website can sway a buyer's opinions-whether that’s good or bad. This is why you need a professional in charge of your web design. Blue Liquid Designs will get the best possible results for your investment.

Now you understand why you need a website, the next step is knowing how you go about getting one. The first thing you need to figure out is what a website can do for you. You need to ask yourself: Do I just want to display information? Or is my business constantly changing? Do I need to be able to quickly and cheaply update my website? Perhaps you want to start selling your products directly online and you might want to think about expanding into E-Commerce.

Selecting what you want your website to do is vital. If you aren't exactly sure what you want, we can help you decide. In our initial free consultation we can discuss your options further. If you contact us at this stage, we can help talk though your needs, eg the costs involved and possible options for your online web package.

After the initial consultation, the choice is in your hands. You can either choose to use our services or walk away-there is no obligation. If you decide you want us to build your website, a service agreement needs to be signed regarding: payment ownership, termination of contract, and the responsibilities of both parties. This ensures that we both know exactly what is expected.

Once this is completed, a 50% deposit is needed before any work commences. The other 50% is to be paid after you agree that the website meets your expectations. This is a standard practice among web designers and gives incentives for both parties to get the website up and running quickly.

It is your responsibility to provide text, graphics, logos and any other information you want on your website. Unless of course you pay for custom graphics, logo designs or professional content.

During this process, the word domain will come up. You’ve all heard of a domain. You hear it every day, even though you might not know what it means. It is the address you type into your browser to access a website e.g. www.yourbusinessname.com. To get your website online, you will need to purchase a domain name.

When selecting a domain, it is important you select one that reflects your business. You aren’t limited to buying just one either. You can hold as many domain names and extensions as you want-except ’.au’ extensions (because of stricter Australian laws). The idea behind buying more than one domain is to protect your business name. Because of the relaxed laws on some domain extensions, it is possible for your competitors to hold a domain with your business name in it.

Along with a domain, you will need to purchase web hosting. This is an environment where your website is kept. The domain acts as a pointer to this environment and you can’t get your website online with out one-even if you have purchased a domain. Web hosting usually incurs a monthly fee. Depending on the web hosting company you select you might have to pay the annual cost, upfront.

The good news is you won’t have to worry too much about the details surrounding your website design. Leave that to the experts. That's what you're paying them for. You tell us your needs and we will do our best to fulfil them. We handle the entire web design process-from your web design to getting your domain and hosting setup.

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If you would like to order one of our packages or for more information email or phone us.