Internet Marketing textbook.pdf - Vula

Website design and developmentCHAPTER 2You will be given the chance to make small corrections as the project progresses,within reason, but understand what it means when you “sign off” on something.Signing off means that you are happy with and fully approve the feature underdiscussion; after you have signed off, the element cannot be changed again(except at considerable cost when the developer must revert the project to anearlier phase). Be completely sure that you are happy with something before yousign off on it.Refer to this resource (boagworld.com/business-strategy/web-design-brief) forsome excellent advice on communicating with your web designer and developer.5.3 Hosting and domain name options5.3.1 HostingHosting is the service of storing your website on a specific computer, called aserver, so that web users can access it through their browsers. Every websiteneeds to be hosted somewhere. You have two options for hosting:1. You can hire space at a web host. Getting your site hosted externally is agood and affordable option for websites that are small in size and that have amoderate number of visitors. A small or medium website can be hosted for aslittle as R150 a month, although with the cheaper the option, you get fewerfeatures and extras.2. You can host your website yourself. This is a more complex and expensiveoption up front, but can be worth it if your website receives a lot of traffic.You will need to have an IT professional to manage the server, but you won’thave to pay monthly hosting fees. This option is generally only viable for bigcompanies.5.3.2 Domain nameYour domain name is your website’s web address, like www.nandos.co.za. First,you have to pick a domain name that represents your company. Consider thefollowing points:• Are customers more likely to look for your company name because yourbusiness is well known and reputable, or will they look for the service that thebusiness offers in general terms?• Keep your domain name short so that it is easy to remember and type. Atthe same time, avoid confusing acronyms (www.frdll.co.za) that nobody willbe able to recall.• Use keywords. Like you will learn in chapters 3 and 6, keywords are specificwords that you use to describe your product. Try to include a keyword inyour domain name to make your website easier to find. For example: www.abcwebdesign.co.za – just bear in mind that it still needs to be relativelyshort. Having a keyword in your domain name isn’t essential. You could alsochoose something that is easy to remember, through you will need to build a46GetSmarter Internet Marketing textbook