What you need to know about building a website

It’s becoming widely expected that every business should have a website. Just about every business could benefit from one. This guide is designed to give you an overview of how to plan your website, the different website options available, what your business could gain from a website, and what is involved in building a site.

The Internet is essentially another distribution and promotional tool for your business. It does offer significant (and often unique) advantages, which is why most businesses now have a website or are planning a website in the near future.

Establishing clear objectives and expectations

Your first step in building a website is to decide what you want out of it. Essentially this means considering how you can use the Internet to improve and grow your business. Try to outline both your current expectations and what you’d like to achieve through the website within the next five years. The clearer your thinking in this regard, the better your chances of success. It’s important that your Internet strategy forms part of your overall Business Plan and includes a budget, timelines and expected results from each stage.

Be cautious in your expectations of extra income that a website might generate. This might eventuate (and indeed exceed your predictions), but there are many other sound reasons for having a website. A reminder of some of them will help your planning.

Benefits of a website

These include:

• Enhanced credibility
• Projecting an up-to-date image
• Better customer service
• Speeding up business processes
• Reducing costs
• Being open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24/7).
• Reaching more customers
• Worldwide coverage.

There is also the potential for extra business that may not be immediately apparent, but which you are likely to discover through the power of Internet technology.