I want to have a website. What are the basic items that I need to prepare?
Good. Now you have decided to have your own website. There are 2 types of websites. Let us list by the category.
| Items Needed | Description | Static / portfolio site | Ecommerce / Corporate Website, |
| Website URL / Domain | This is the key. You can see at the top ‘vegamsoft.com’ in the address bar. It is called URL or domain name. Users use this name to reach your website. You need to register this with a domain registrar like godaddy.com. There are many domain registrars available. You can use as per your convenience. Keep it in mind, your domain name is your asset. Always ensure that you have final control over it. It may cost £5-£10 per year. Some special names may be costly up to few hundred thousand pounds. |
Need to Buy Domain | Need to Buy Domain |
| Hosting server | All the website information is developed into multiple web pages. These web page files are kept in the server called hosting server. When user uses the domain name to view the site, actually the servers provide the information to display in the screen. Some of the key factors you need to consider when you buy a server are Hard disk space, RAM space, linux/windows, bandwidth limit, up time & processing capability. For simple static websites it may not make a difference, but for ecommerce or larger websites the performance parameters will become critical.There are 3 types are hosting servers by capability: Shared Server: These are the cheapest version. The cost will be few ponds a month. For e.g We provide shared hosting server for £1.66 per month. Typically upto 100 websites may be hosted and running in the shared servers. Virtual Private Server(VPS) Normally 10-20 sites will be hosted in VPS servers. This will improve performance significantly. Normally cost will be in the range of £20 – £100 per month. If the static websites are larger and woocommerce based ecommerce sites may need these servers. Dedicated servers: These servers are dedicated to the website. Demanding websites including Magento based ecommerce sites will need a dedicated servers. Cost may range from £100 – £500+ per month based on the capacity of the server. |
Shared Server / Virtual Private Server | Virtual Private Server / Dedicated Server |
| Logo | Logo makes key part of your website & branding. Irrespective of text based or graphic based, it should be professional looking. Web design companies would be able to design it for you. You can do it yourself if you have photoshop or any other design tools. | As per your budget and need | As per your budget and need |
| Images / Photos / Banners | The images ideally should come from your business to make more connection with users. You can also make use of Images purchased online. Be aware of copy right issues, if you are taking from other website. | Needed mostly for slide shows | Needed for Products & slideshows |
| Print / Text content | This is the key from user point of view. Keep this crisp to make more impact. | For pages like, About, Contact, Terms etc | For pages like Products, Shipping, About, Terms, Privacy etc |
| Contact details | You may want to provide the location, email, phone numbers to reach you quickly if needed | Address, email, phone numbers etc | Address, email, phone numbers etc |
| Payment Gateway | This is needed only if you are going to accept payment through your website. In most of the cases you can start with Paypal. If you have budget and reason, you can go for other payment gateways. There are plenty of other merchant account / gateway providers out there. Note that Payment Gateway approval process may take upto 3-4 weeks. Account for this delay for your live date. |
Paypal & other payment gateways methods |
Final Prints:
The key are Domain name, hosting, logo & content for your website. If you are choosing vegamsoft to do your website design, they will help you to get these organised for you, any design company you choose for that matter. There are also options to have your content without having your own website name like using blogger etc. We are not discussing those options here, as we are talking about website for serious businesses.