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Other costs
Apart from website design, there are other costs involved
in setting up a website that you need to know about.
We'll explain them to you, without that geeky jargon,
and we can point you in the right direction.
Domain Name
Website Hosting
Changing your Website
Promoting your Website
Google & other Search Engines
You need a Domain
Name
A domain name is the address of your website - the
www bit. You need to choose what your website address
will be, but keep in mind that
- it needs to be unique, so you can use the
box below to check if the one you want is available.
- it needs to be memorable, so that people
don't have to scratch around for your business card
to remember what it is called.
- and, ideally, it needs to be concise and
easy to type.
We recommend that if you are a New Zealand based business,
and most of your customers are here too, that you choose
one that ends in .co.nz rather than a .com as .com really
indicates a US based business. If you are a NZ business
then people will be expecting your web address to end
in .co.nz too.
To book a domain name you need to do it through a Domain
Name Registrar. There are lots of Registrars in New
Zealand. We recommend RegisterDirect who charge $59.95
per year plus gst.
You can use the box below to check if your domain name
is free, and if it is you can book it. RegisterDirect
accept payment by credit card or cheque. You don't have
to book your hosting at the same time, if you want you
can do that later on when your website is ready.
If you have any Domain Name questions, just email
us.
Website Hosting
Once it is designed, your website needs to be stored
(or hosted) on a computer server that is linked to the
internet 24 hours a day. There are lots of companies
that provide website hosting, and their prices and services
vary a lot.
For static websites
we recommend RegisterDirect - they provide a good, budget
hosting service for $99 + gst per year. To take advantage
of this cheap deal you must have your domain name registered
with them too - email
us if you have any questions.
For CMS websites we
work with another company that provides a CMS system
for $35 + gst per month (less for non-profit groups
and clubs). Content Management System (CMS) website
hosting costs more because they require more computer
facilities to make them function.
For more about static or CMS sites click
here. If you have any Hosting questions, don't stress
about it - just email
us.
Changing your Website
If you want to change your website regularly you should
consider having a CMS website. To find out more about
CMS, click here.
Most websites don't need to change very often, so it
is often much more cost-effective to pay someone to
do it when you need it.
Web designers rates vary a lot - anything between $50
and $150 per hour. We charge $65 per hour, plus GST.
On the whole if you send changes through via email they
are very quick to do - especially if it is a cut and
paste job.
You don't have to get us to do your changes - anyone
can do it. If you do decide to use someone else, first
check out if they have a minimum charge. Most designers
charge a 30 minute minimum - we don't. We only charge
you for the actual work we do - if it takes 5 minutes,
we only bill for 5 minutes.
If you have any questions about changing your website,
just email us.
Promoting your Website
As part of the price we will make sure your website
is accessible by search engines by ensuring that key
words and other website information is included in the
code of the website.
To see what we mean, right-click on this text and select
View Source. You will then see a lot of text - this
is the actual code that creates the visual webpage that
you see. At the top are "meta" tags - the
text included here (title, description, keywords) help
your website's performance in search engines and we
make sure that relevant text is included.
You can help us (and yourself!) by making a list of
words and phrases you think people will type in a search
to find your website or service.
Once that is done, its up to you to promote the website.
First you need to tell all of your existing customers
about it, and encourage them to spread the word. Next
you need to make sure your www address is on all of
your printed material, as well as your emails.
And finally you need to make sure that Search Engines
know about it.
Google and other Search
Engines
You can do this for free. Most Search Engines have
a link somewhere (usually at the bottom of the page)
that says "Add My Site" or "Add URL"
or "Submit Site" or "Add a Link".
Click the link and fill in the details about your website.
Usually these are free.
Some of these links can be a bit hard to find - for
instance the Google add link is at www.google.co.nz/addurl.
And Xtra keeps on changing too, with each time they
change their "partner". Currently its at the
"Suggest a Site" link at the bottom of http://nz.yahoo.com.
There are lots and lots of Search Engines, and the
more you are on and the more links you have to your
website the better it will perform in Google. So add
your website to as many as you can.
Hurrying it up
Getting your website onto search engines can be slow
- Google often put your site up there immediately, but
only briefly. It can take 6 months plus to be listed
permanently. And since you have paid for your site already
you want to be on there as fast as you can.
Google is the biggie and one thing you should consider
is using Google AdWords. This is where your website
details and address appears in the "Sponsored Links"
on the right hand side of the Google webpage and you
pay a fee each time someone clicks that link.
You pay fees each month by credit card, and you can
limit the amount you pay per click and per day (eg 30
cents per click to a limit of $2.00 a day). The more
you are willing to pay the higher your listing is. You
don't have to use AdWords forever - you can use it as
an interim measure until it appears in the ordinary
Google listings.
Visit http://adwords.google.com
to find out more. You can set it all up yourself - there
are quite comprehensive instructions there.
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