
So you need a website, now what?
When creating a web presence there are three things you need:
1. Domain Name
2. Web Site
3. Hosting
Domain Names. cheapest and best place we've been able to find is Namecheap.com. They will register your domain name for around $10 a year. Your domain name is what directs people to your site on any given server (ie- portfoliositez.com). No Matter what method or company you go with for websites you will need at least one domain name. You can always have additional domain names point to the same place if you would like, for instance both portfoliositez.com and portfoliositez.net can point to the same webpage.
Web Sites. The first thing to do is decide whether you need an individual portfolio (template) purchase, or if you would like to go with one our our service based plans. If you already have hosting then you probably will want to go with the individual template so that we install it directly on your hosting account. Below is a simple breakdown of our services, additional information can be found in the pricing section.
We offer two different services as follows:
Hosting. Hosting is your chunk of space on a physical computer that shares your information with the world wide web. With a service like ours this is included. If you choose to go with a service where you need to get this separately a couple great companies are bluehost.com, lunarpages.com, and site5.com.
When dealing with websites you should keep in mind that the internet is a growing industry. More and more people are turning to the internet to provide information. If you do not have a web presence you may be missing out on potential clients who do not want to consider your services because it takes more effort to find out about them then to find out about your competitors. Web sites are also changing at a rapid rate. Your website design/style may get outdated in as shortly as 1 year. Staying up to date with the latest trends such as client proofing, online ordering, etc. is important. When comparing options you should consider that this is not going to be a one-time purchase that lasts you 10 years. You need to budget in what it will take to refresh your look every couple of years at the least to ensure you are looking at your web presence in a realistic financial plan.