Are You Ready to Own A Website?

In my time freelancing, I’ve discovered that many clients who come to me for a project don’t understand all the bits and pieces, and what will be required of them after I’m out of the picture. It’s understandable! This isn’t what you do for a living, afterall. That’s why I’m here, and why I’m planning on writing up these articles.

I’m a freelancer working alone. Because of this, there are certain things I don’t handle- and in fact, believe I SHOULD NOT HANDLE- for good reason. In the following series of articles over the next few weeks, I’m going to be writing up an easy to read reference for all current and potential clients so you can understand the process and my thinking.

Topics will include:

• Web Domains: What are they, why you should own one, and where you should buy one.
• Web Hosting: What is this exactly? Why is it important that you have all the information about it and are the person paying for it? We’ll find out.
• Content: Why you need it, the best ways to format it, and how updating it often can help you. Content is where search engine voodoo happens.
• Promoting your Website: This is a service I currently don’t offer, but it is important. I can give you a few tips and tricks on how to go about it yourself, and what kind of folks you should hire to do this for you.
• Goals and Needs: I find that a lot of clients come to me knowing that they want a website, but aren’t entirely sure what to even put on it! It’s more important than you think, and this will be why.
• What is Flash, and Why Do I Need It?: Many clients see sites on the web that they like, and want, but don’t understand that Flash has been used to create them. Flash has its upsides and downsides, and we’ll discuss them here.
• Content Management and its Advantages: Content Management systems are more complex to set up and generally more expensive, but they have their benefits. Is this something you should be considering?
• eCommerce Stores are Special Needs: Many people think that starting an estore online is the easy way to make some extra cash- and they can be right! However they’re often a lot more costly and a lot more work than most people expect. I’ll be discussing pros, cons, and things clients who want a shopping cart should be thinking about.
• Templates are Evil, and Here’s Why: Monster Templates and Yahoo templates are all the rage, and at first glance can seem like a cheap and perfect solution! There’s a lot they don’t tell you however, and there are many advantages to working with a designer on your own personal site. Find out why.
• What You Should Find in A Designer: Hopefully me! (Just kidding.) Seriously though, there are things designers should know, and you may not know them- things to consider when hiring on!

I hope you’ll read along as I cover these topics- if you have any questions or suggestions for further topics, please let me know!