The first thing you’ll need is a ‘domain name’.  This is your address on the internet, your ‘URL’.  You know, ‘www.blahblahblah.com’ or ‘www.thingybob.co.uk’.

Think carefully about the two parts of the address, the ‘blahblahblah’ bit and the extension [...]]]>

In my second installment we’ll look at what you need to get started in the on-line world.

The first thing you’ll need is a ‘domain name’.  This is your address on the internet, your ‘URL’.  You know, ‘www.blahblahblah.com’ or ‘www.thingybob.co.uk’.

Think carefully about the two parts of the address, the ‘blahblahblah’ bit and the extension ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ (or a multitude of others) it can reveal a lot about your company and it’s ambitions.

The first part would ideally be your company name, but the world is a big place and your address (or URL) may already be registered, either to another company with the same name or to someone who has registered the name in the hope of making a fast buck and selling it on at a profit.  You may need to opt for an alternative.  Sites where you register your domain name (for example I always use www.123-reg.co.uk/) will usually do a free search and list some alternatives if your first choice isn’t available.

For the extension, think about what you want to portray.  ‘.com’ is usually seen as a big corporation or global company, think Microsoft.com or IBM.com.  ‘.com’ extensions are relatively expensive however, about £10 per year.  Country extensions, such as ‘.co.uk’ can prove far more cost effective about £3 per year.  Some companies also like to use their extension to show the country they are located in, or a bit of patriotism (the BBC are at bbc.co.uk rather than bbc.com (although they do own bbc.com and it redirects to bbc.co.uk).

This brings me on to redirecting.  You may have one site but want to have several routes into it.  This is easily achievable.  Now this alternate address isn’t important, but it’s worth thinking about if you web address may be typed incorrectly or maybe as something for a future marketing campaign.  Try entering www.virtuallyeverythingdoneforyou.co.uk into your browser.  What happens?  You end up back here! a purchase for one of Sara’s marketing campaigns… This should all be handled by your host; I’ve not had to do anything ‘clever’ other than link the two addresses.

So, you have your web address(es) what next?  You need a host, someone to hold all your web site files so they are available for everyone to see.  My next entry will be about finding a host and some things to think about before you finally settle on one.

If you would like Above Parr PA Services to help you create your web presence, contact Sara.