Your Domain Name

A Domain name is the Address for your website. E.G.. http://www.yourcompanyname.ie.

As a lot of .com and .ie Domains have already been bought you’ll need to search for available Domains on the Blacknight Solutions Website, use the drop down tool on the top right hand side of their page. It is very important to pick a good Domain name. A couple of pointers for when choosing a Domain name:

- The Domain name should be short and snappy so it’s easy for people to remember. So instead of http://www.yourcompanynameandassociates.ie it is better to use the shorter and snappier http://www.yourcompanyname.ie. A good example of this is Blacknight Solutions whose Domain name is the more simple http://www.blacknight.ie

- Another way to pick your domain name can be to use a term that describes what you do. E.G.. A travel company that specialises in organising weddings for Irish people in, say, France might call their website http://www.marriedabroad.ie

Consideration should be given to choosing whether you pick a .com or .ie Domain.

- If your business is going to be aimed at a world wide audience then a .com domain is advisable as it’s used by sites all over the world and web users are well used to it.

- If your company wants to highlight the fact that it’s Irish or if your customer base is in Ireland then a .ie Domain is well worth considering.

Getting a .ie Domain:

- The Irish domain registry do not allow anyone to buy any Domain name they chose.

- You have to prove that you have a link to the Domain name you’d like to buy.

- The Irish domain registry guidelines for domain registration and the documentation needed.

Pride Design do not act as a Domain name reseller but I’m happy to advise on what name to pick and I can organise buying your domain name through Blacknight Solutions.

Functionality

Functionality

What do I want my site to do?

Okay. so now we know what to call your site. The next step is deciding what you want from your site. Examples of different types of functionality are Online shops, Discussion Forums or the ability to showcase properties.

We do this before starting the design process as the functionality of the site will have a bearing on how we layout the homepage.

We should also decide what functionality we want before buying Hosting as different hosting packages can or cannot host the various bits of software used. Also if you are going to have a lot of traffic on your site it might be worth buying a hosting package with more bandwidth so as the site doesn't slow down - and therefore annoy your potential customers.

A quick introduction to the various options avaliable. We will cover these and more in more detail later.

Brochure HTML site:

As explained above An online brochure showcases a company’s products and services in a clear, logical way with easy to find contact details. This is the most basic site build and as such it is the cheapest option.

Process:

- Build Site Template in HTML and CSS.
- Input Photos and Content.

Content Management System (CMS) Site Build:

With this option the client will be able to make changes to pre-defined parts of the website: Text and images. This is ideal if you need to change prices or information on a regular basis.

Process:
- Build Site template in HTML and CSS.
- Input Photos and Content.
- Define fields that will be editable by client. Add CMS code.
- Test CMS code.

See more in the CMS section later.

eCommerce:

There are a few different options for setting up an e-commerce solution, depending on your needs from the system:

Paypal Shopping cart:
This is the quickest and easiest system to set-up. However it lacks some functionality when compared to the more complete solutions:

Shop is not content managed - therefore the Client will not be able to change the price of products or add new products.

Stock Control - There is no stock control on the site, so you will need someone with Web experience to take an out of stock item offline.

Actinic and or Oscommerce:
For a more complete eCommerce solution I can use one of two off the shelf eCommerce solutions, either Actinic or Oscommerce

Actinic is hosted locally on your machine whereas the Oscommerce system can be accessed and edited through any browser, both systems have similar features but Oscommerce has multi-language capabilities.

Once we have the various shipping and tax rates set-up the software works out VAT and Shipping as a customer checks out. When there’s an order on the site you get an email. You have a program on your desktop which you open and download the orders, the software then allows you to print a packing list, invoices and so on. Once an order is packed, shipped and an invoice is printed the order is marked as closed.

To use Actinic or Oscommerce I’d recommend you register with either WorldPay or Realex Payments. They vet the online credit card payments for you, and after a period transfer the funds into your bank account. You can see the various terms and conditions and rates on their sites:

WorldPay
Realex

As well as the licence for the product [Actinic: £300-700 depending on package needed, OsCommerce is free] the quote for an Online shop will depend on the number of products you will have online for the site launch.

Optional extras for any site:

Online Enquiry Form:

An online enquiry for allows customers to place an enquiry through your website. In order to stop Spam I now build into the form as standard a visual confirmation panel. Also in order to stop customers from making an enquiry without giving you important information we can set certain fields on the form as mandatory. e.g.. So a user cannot submit the form without giving you their contact details. [yes, people will do that if you let them!]

Blog:

A Blog is basically an online diary. Having a blog on your site allows you to keep customers and interested parties up to date on company news, e.g.. A new menu, special offers and so on. While not necessary, incorporating a blog on your site has certain benefits.

- They’re a great way to get your personality and passion for your business across to potential customers.

- Google likes fresh content, so it helps your Google rating and over time this will improve your traffic.

However I’d only really recommend a Blog if someone in the business will have the time to commit to regular updates. There’s nothing worse then a blog site with no recent updates, it reflects badly on the company, so this should be a key consideration in deciding whether or not to incorporate a blog into the website.

Process:

- Create a Database on the clients server.
- Install and set-up blog software -> connect Blog to Database.
- Edit blog template to fit website branding.
- Set blog settings: account users, categories, comments etc.

Flash Gallery Tool:

A Flash Gallery is a great way to showcase products. I use slide show pro for this: http://slideshowpro.net/

Process:

- Decide on Photographs. Crop Photographs to the right size.
- Add Photographs to Gallery
- Integrate gallery to website.

Hosting

Once you have chosen a Domain name you then need to select a hosting package that best suits your Website and it’s needs.

Hosting is where your website will reside on the Internet.

As with Domain names Pride Design do not directly provide hosting but we’re happy to advise and arrange the best solution for your needs.

We recommend Blacknight to our clients, they're professional, friendly and Irish.

Final Considerations

A few final considerations when thinking about your website before we get started.

It's well worth making a list of Websites that you like, possibly about three or four. It's even better again if you can have a list of features from site that you'd like your website to do.

You may as well make another list of sites that you don't like.

From there we can discuss the feel you'd like for your site and what functionality we need to incorporate.

you can read up on the various options available below.