What I can Offer
In my opinion there are a number of key components that must be considered when dealing with setting up a website. I'll talk a little about each one below.
Design & Development
Obviously you want the website to look good and function properly. You are putting your website out there for the visitors to see and use, so it needs to be appealing to them and easy for them to find the information that they are looking for.
With the experience I have I'm confident in my abilities to use the different web technologies to create you a site that accomplishes exactly those things.
Here is a sampling of the technologies that I can utilize for you:
- (X)HTML(Extensible) HyperText Markup Language - Used to organize the content of your website.
- CSSCascading Style Sheets - This is used to layout and present your content to your visitors.
- JavaScriptThis is client side technology that is used to make your website interactive with your visitors.
- ASPActive Server Pages - This is a server side technology which is used on Windows bases web servers. Used to make dynamic and database driven sites.
- PHPPHP Hypertext Preprocessor - This is a server side technology which is used on a wide variety of web servers (typically Linux or Unix based). Used to make dynamic and database driven sites.
- DatabasesDatabases such as MySql, MSSql, Access, are all used to store information involved with your website to be used later. It could be a database of products, or information about your visitors, or many other things.
Domain Names and Web Hosting
Other important things to consider are your domain name, which is your website address people will use to find you, and your hosting plan. There are many options out there for both these services and not all are the same.
While I don't directly offer these services, I do have companies I can use to setup and purchase on your behalf to make sure you get a quality service that will provide the features needed to run your website properly.
Site Maintenance
Once your website is done and out there for your visitors to see you will want to keep it updated so that people have a reason to come back.
There are a couple of options to do this. If you believe the updates are going to be minimal to the site than the best option could be to have me make the changes when necessary. However, if you plan on making regular updates, which I would recommend, than you would probably want to make the updates yourself.
The majority of the websites I create are built with a custom administrative area where you are able to login and easily make changes to the content of your site.
Promotion
Obviously having a website that no one can find isn't going to do you any good. One of the most common ways people will find you is through search engines like Google.
Just because you have a website does not mean that Search Engines will list you in their results, and there are never guarantees on where you will show up in the results. However there are steps that can be taken to help your chances of getting good placement.
When creating your site I will build it using code that is search engine friendly. Because search engines are computers they don't see a website the same way we do, there are techniques to use that will make it easier for them to index your content.
So when your site goes live to the internet I will submit your site to the major search engines and other directory websites so they know you are there.
For Annapolis Valley clients I can also offer advertising on this Annapolis Valley Guide site www.OurValley.ca
