Getting your Business Online It seems like a lot of people here are interested in creating a website for their detailing business so I thought I would write up a little how-to for everyone. Here are the basic steps for creating a great website that is inexpensive, easily modified, and functional. 1) Business Name and Domain Your business name should closely match your domain name if possible. The domain name is the what customers would type into a web browser to visit your site. So if your business was called 'Bills Detailing' you would ideally want to have the domain www.billsdetailing.com. Many times the domain name you want is already taken so you should try to strike a balance between your business name and an available domain name. To check and see if a domain name if available you can use any number of 'whois' lookup services but in this post I will be using www.godaddy.com as an example. Simply type the domain name you are interested into the lookup on godaddy's home page and it will tell you if it is available or not. Do not get hung up on having a .com extension. Although .com extensions are preferred, .net and most other extensions will not cause any problems with search engine rankings or customer perception. Once you have decided on a domain name you simply buy the rights to it through a registrar like Godaddy and you 'own' it. It usually costs less than $15 a year for any domain name registration. 2) Purchase a Hosting Account While you are at Godaddy you should purchase a basic hosting account, this is what will 'host' your website. The plans will vary in cost but the cheapest plans will easily host pretty much anything you will want for your site. Linux or Windows accounts will work and some plans can be had for under $5 a month. 3) Setup Email Now that you have a domain name and a hosting account you need to get your email address associated with your domain. Nothing is more professional than having an email address at your own domain. For example instead of bill2435@hotmail.com your email would be Bill@billsdetailing.com. Many people over look this step because they think it is complicated or expensive. It is actually easy to do and free. You simply use a mail provider (I recommend Google) and setup your email account through your hosting provider. Godaddy also provides free email addresses when you purchase an account but if you ever decide to change hosting providers it will be more complicated to move. Try and stick with Google on this one. 4) Create Your Site Now that you have a domain name, a hosting account, and your email setup you can select a platform to build your website on. I recommend something like WordPress because it is easily installed and has plenty of free templates. You can also use Weebly, Joomla, or a variety of other platforms. If you have used Godaddy you can simply install Wordpress through your account and start creating a site. There is loads of information on the web about creating a basic site using Wordpress and if you have basic computer skills it should pose no problem. These are very simplified instructions that are just meant to give you a quick overview of the proper way to create an online presence using a CMS based web platform. This method requires little to no HTML programming. If you want a really flashy or custom site you will need to design a standard site which will require extensive knowledge to do properly. If anyone needs a little help setting up their site or some advice, just send me a PM. I will do my best to help.
