Jane Brocklebank » Website marketing

What would happen if your website and emails went offline?

Jane Brocklebank — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:50:56 +0000

Don’t find out the hard way! Recently I had a text telling me that my website and emails were down. Luckily it was a Sunday and I was able to rectify it pretty quickly (after I had kicked myself for being so lax!) I am ashamed to admit that my domain name registration had expired and because I set it up a few years ago, the email address they had been using to remind me and prompt a renewal was one I no longer use.

The most common reason for websites going offline is that either the domain name registration or the hosting agreement has expired. So how can you avoid this happening to you?

Do you know when yours expires? If not, find out and make sure the contact details they hold for you are current.

Don’t forget that the domain name registration and the hosting could be 2 separate organisations – for example 123-reg, Namesco and UKreg offer domain name registration i.e. you buy the license to use the website name of your choice such as www.yourcompanyname.com for a number of years.

Siteground, 1 and 1 and Fasthosts offer web hosting … and many of them offer both. This means they host your website and all its files on their servers, again typically for a number of years.

If you’ve had a domain name for some time, and have a new website created, it could be that they are out of sync with each other, so it doesn’t necessarily follow that because one is due it means the other is too.

To compound the problem, many of us now use several email addresses for different purposes and it’s easy for things to slip through the net.

My recommendation is to keep a file (either a physical one or a digital one – preferably both) containing all the information on your website and emails – who hosts it, who created it, how do you get updates done, when are renewals due etc. and do an annual check so you’re prepared. Designate one email address for all website related correspondence

Trust me, you don’t want to be trying to do this when you’re flat out busy, with looming deadlines and your emails and website aren’t working – do it soon!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net">Photo credit: Free Digital Photos

5 practical steps to planning a website

Jane Brocklebank — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:01:02 +0000

I’m working on a couple of websites at the moment, in very different business sectors. But the basics are exactly the same, so here are my five key things to think about when planning your website.

1. What’s it for?
What is the purpose of your website? Until you think about why your website exists and what you want people to do when they get there, it’s very difficult to plan it effectively. Here are some ideas to get you started. Your website could be for:

People to buy products – an online shop
Demonstrating your product or service
Providing information
Creating a community
Explaining your product or service
Entertainment

2. What will it say?
This is the one that has many people frozen in terror! But move past that and think about what your visitors will need to know. For example it could contain:

An overview of who you are, what you do and who you do it for
A description of your product or service – this may be broken down into sections
About you, your team – establishing your credibility
Some examples of your work, case studies, pictures, testimonials
A shopping area
A newsletter or blog area (what you write on this is a whole new subject which I’ll tackle later)
How to get in touch

My top tip for this part is to get a pad of sticky notes, and imagine each one is a page on your website. Write down the heading of each page on each one, laying them out on a handy table, wall or window so you can visualise your website as pages.

3. What functionality does it need?
This is important when briefing a website developer as the cost will be determined by the functions that you need. For example, do you need:

A gallery of images
An online shopping facility
A blogging area
The ability to update it yourself
A newsletter sign-up option
Integration with your email newsletters
An online booking facility

4. How should it look?
You may already have a company colour-scheme or brand image. Whether you have or not, your website should reflect your company style in terms of colour-scheme, typeface and design.

Modern and funky
Contemporary and stylish
Traditional
Classic
Business-like

You can also think about more emotional words like “friendly”, “approachable”, “professional”.

5. What “tone of voice” will it have?
How will you talk to your website visitors? Perhaps you will adopt an informal tone, or you could prefer a professional, business-like impression. Imagine who your website visitors are likely to be – I mean literally picture them! Give them a name, an occupation, a personality. It makes it much easier to write your content in a language and tone that they will relate to.

Giving these 5 areas some serious thought will help pave the way to a successful website.

Online Directories – FREE advertising

Jane Brocklebank — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:59:01 +0000

There are lots of directory sites that provide local business listings. If you run a business or service that falls into a recognisable category e.g. “hairdresser” or “accountant” you should take full advantage of these as they are very effective and often appear on the first page of search engine results.

Normally there is no cost for a standard listing and it will just take a few minutes to add your details to each one. You may look at these sites and think they are not that exciting, but try doing an online search for your business type and see how often they come up – you’re missing a trick by not being listed!

Here is a list of such directory listing sites in Maidenhead:

http://www.maidenhead-berkshire.co.uk/

www.maidenhead.net

And some nationwide ones that feature local listings …