Want A New Website? - Where to start 
Monday, February 22, 2010, 05:35 PM - Beginners Tips
So you have just bought a domain name, now you want a brand new website to go with it. You could build it yourself if you're feeling confident, or hire a professional to build it for you. Either way, your new website will need to have a purpose. And you'll still need to market it effectively. There is a misconception amongst some new website owners that once they're online they'll make a ton of money. Like with real world business, it'll only work with the right marketing.

Before making any purchase you need to ask yourself these fundamental questions:

1 - What is my website for? (E.g Advertising? Selling? Entertainment? Information?)
2 - Do I have a marketing plan for my new website?
3 - Do I have all the appropriate graphics and text content?
4 - Will I have a reliable point of contact for any future website issues?
5 - How much should I budget for my website?

The last point depends on the old analogy of 'how long is a piece of string'. Depending on what you would like your website to do relies on the budget you have in place. A new 'brochure' website is just that. It contains only basic interactivity (a navigation menu) which is a source of information online. They are usually best used to supplement offline advertising such as newpaper ads and business card distribution.

After you have figured out what you have for your new website, you need to take a bold leap and find out what you want that website of yours to do. Here's a generalised list of websites you may require (the lowest typically priced first):

1-Brochure Website
Is used primarily presentation and showing off, through galleries, advertising pages and basic contact forms.

2-Information Website
You will need a good hosting provider and a secure database for informational websites. These type of websites tend to have a lot of data behind the scenes which is usually searchable via some kind of search page. An example of this type of website is wikipedia.

3-User Login Website
Some websites have a login feature, so visitors can access further (locked) information. Sometimes this can be subscription based. This is also interchangable with...

4-E-commerce Website
This has a built in shopping cart, a store database of products, and a checkout facility where customers can make purchases. Only really suitable for website owners who have a lot of categories of products/services to sell.

5-Content Management based Website
Fits into most categories of new websites. Allows website owners to update information themselves, with minimal technical knowledge. Prices can vary depending on how complex the system needs to be

6-Community/Social Networking Website
Okay so this encompasses a large area, from facebook to twitter. Most of the content is dynamic and generated by the end user. By far the most expensive type of website.

This list is by no means exhaustive and websites can (and usually do) feature more than one of the types listed. Don't forget that websites are organic, so you don't need to put all your budget into it from the start. Get a one page website to start with, market it well and see where you go from there.

More information on what to have in your new website.

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