by Robin Throckmorton, M.A., SPHR
"Build it and they will come..."
This may have worked for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams but it definitely will not
work for your website. There are many issues that you will need to address prior to building
your site to ensure "they will come..."
The first issue or question is why do you want a website? Many individuals will say to me
— "I need a website" or "I wish I had a website." Like strategic planning, your website begins
with web planning including answering this key question — "why?" Some sample answers
include: a quick referral to your marketing materials, expanding your client base globally,
automating your processes or services, improving communications with others, selling products,
or just because it is the thing to do. I’m not saying any reason is right or wrong but you
need to know why you want or need a site before you begin. It will take a great deal of time
to get started and maintain, and only you can justify the time and costs relative to this reason.
Next, you need to identify a domain name. If you have already gone through the process of developing a name for your organization and registering it with your state, you’ve experienced this process. It’s not easy and you don’t always get what you want. If you haven’t determined a company name yet and registered it with the state, you’ll need to but I would actually suggest you start with the domain name because it is more limited.
As you think of a name, you will want something that is simple and easy to remember; otherwise, you’ll lose customers who can’t remember the address without looking it up. Plus, you’ll want the name to support your brand identity, which will make it even easier for customers to remember as well as potential customers to find you during a search.
There are many resources you can use to search for and buy a domain name. You buy the name for a year
(or more if you want the commitment) with the option to renew before it expires. The cost is about
$35/year. Some common vendors that I have used are
http://www.Register.com or
http://www.NetworkSolutions.com.
Be sure there isn’t another domain name very similar to yours. For example, my website is
http://www.StrategicHRinc.com which I choose even though there
is another organization in another state that has strategichr.com. It has caused some confusion for
my business and theirs but I wanted my domain name to be similar to my business to maintain an identity.
If the name you want isn’t available, consider alternatives that may be close. And, yes, I would
recommend ".com" if at all possible. It is what individuals think of first! But, don’t hesitate to
go ahead and buy the other extensions (i.e. org, net, biz) to preserve your identity.
One option that you do have but I wouldn’t recommend it long-term is to secure a domain name that
is a folder of an Internet Service Provider (i.e. www.GCIS.net/StrategicHR rather than
www.StrategicHRinc.com). Generally, there is no fee to register the name and your monthly
web-hosting fee will be cheaper. But, for brand identity and to demonstrate the stability of
your business, I would not recommend this short cut.
Now you are ready to identify a web designer. I have no "favorites" which is why I design my
own website. If you decide to do it yourself, you can consider using basic web design packages
like FrontPage and/or take classes in HTML (i.e. New Horizons). If your time is limited, I
would suggest you hire someone to do these type of business necessities that aren’t your expertise.
You have a number of resources available: a high school or college student, your Internet provider
or web host, the webmaster of a site you like, domain firms (register.com, network solutions) or a
"web design" firm. The cost will vary depending on which individual or organization you use
and what you need done. Don’t make a commitment until you have done your homework on their
expertise, sample work, expected outcomes, time frames, and customer feedback.
Whether you do the site yourself or use an expert, the typical process you can expect to
follow includes: identifying a web host; conducting a needs assessment, designing the layout,
deciding what to include, piloting, and going live.
This is another service you’ll need beyond your current Internet Provider. As you consider your
options, be sure to ask questions such as what is their level of support, the reliability or down
time of their servers, reporting capabilities so you can track statistics on your visitors, how
long have they been in business, and what do their customers say. For the past five years, I
have used a local provider
http://www.GCIS.net and have been extremely
happy with them. My associate, Linda Gravett, has used
http://www.Cedant.com very happily.
You can also check with your Internet provider. Sometimes they will offer you discounted or free
web-hosting services. For comparison purposes, the general cost of your web hosting is paid on a
monthly basis and can range from $8/month - $150/month with an average around $35/month.
The actual cost will depend on the provider, the services you need, and the size of your website.
As with any project, it is important to conduct a needs assessment. As we discussed above, be
sure you are very clear on why you are developing a website — what will be the purpose of your
website. Next, you will want to determine who will be your target audience and what they need.
Plus, you’ll need to decide what look or feel you want as well as what content will you include.
You may find it helpful to gather information from your customers, peers, and/or business advisors
through surveys or an evaluation of past requests.
The design of your website is as critical as the content you will include. Definitely begin by
creating and finalizing your design and then loading your content. Your design should support your
company’s brand identity. I’ve found this to be the hardest part of the entire process and would
recommend you use a web or graphic designer to help you unless you are extremely creative and
software savvy. If you have a vision or idea of what you want, share it early with the designer.
If you need help getting ideas for a vision or look, search the Internet and make notes of sites
you like and why (i.e. color, layout, logo, buttons, home page, etc.) and share that with the designer.
There is some very basic information that I would recommend every site include. First, you’ll need
to include key information such as your company name, a business description, and the key words that
describe your business. At a minimum, you’ll want this on your home page but you may want to figure
out a creative way to have it on all pages. Second, you will want an "About Us" page that provides
details about your business including a business description (skills, services), information about the
individuals in your organization, a picture to help personalize the site, and a customer list
including feedback from your customers. Also, be sure to include a "Contact Us" page that includes
all your contact information (how many websites have you been on when you couldn’t find this information
anywhere?) as well as a way for someone to request you contact him or her.
"The sky" or Cyberspace is the limit for what you can include on your site. One common tool you
could include is links to other resources that your visitors may find beneficial. Plus, if you can
get other sites to agree to adding your website as a link on their site, it will increase your rating
in the search engines. Another excellent resource to add to your site is an archive of articles you
have written. It provides the visitor with "free" information and demonstrates your expertise. When
you are ready, you can begin offering products and services through your website. The key is to think
what will draw individuals to your site AND what will get them back! For example, I host an HR
JobShop on my website which includes postings of individuals looking for jobs as well as listings of
job opportunities posted by employers — FREE.
Finally, as you decide what to include, you’ll need to decide if you are going to write the content
yourself or hire an expert. Don’t depend on the web designer to create or edit your content
unless they have a specialty in that area.
Before you launch your site for the entire cyber audience, be sure you pilot it. This may require
the designer to setup a website where you can test it under password protection. Check and recheck
all the links, forms, grammar, and spelling. Plus, be sure the content makes sense and flows naturally
from one page to another. To get a fresh perspective, ask others to demo your site to provide you
feedback on content, design, and errors before it goes live. Check how the site looks with different
browsers (Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 and Netscape). You will be surprised how the site "look"
and "feel" will change including the navigation buttons. Also, be sure to check the site using
different monitors, colors will vary. The last thing you want is to launch the site and find
problems that may have lost visitors for you. Now, you are ready to go live...well, almost!
As you probably have already realized, this isn’t going to be a small task that you do one Saturday
morning. For me, it has been worth the time because it has given my name and business more exposure.
I always say folks need to hear my name twice and then THEY CALL ME. So this is one marketing tool
that I use to make that happen. But a successful website requires some technical know-how,
immediate response to requests, constantly updating of the site, and always be looking for other
ideas to improve the services and resources of the site to attract visitors and keep them coming back.
Remember earlier when I disagreed with the concept of "Build it and they will come..." Well now,
we have addressed many of the upfront issues and built the website. But, they still won’t flock to
our site like they did to Kevin Costner’s baseball field. Your next task will be to begin
marketing the website which we will discuss in detail in another article in January 2003 titled
"Marketing Your Website". In the meantime, hopefully, these tips will get your started.
Thanks to Robin Throckmorton, M.A., SPHR for contributing this article. Robin is Senior
Consultant at Strategic Human Resources, Inc.
(http://www.StrategicHRinc.com) and a partner
of e-HResources.com in Cincinnati, Ohio. She welcomes your questions or comments and can be
contacted at
Robin@StrategicHRinc.com.
Back to Articles
|
