Building and Maintaining a Website

•Include the ability to reach more people

•Inform customers about your product(s)

•Provide information about your business

−location

−hours of operation

−product information

•Help business owners and managers analyze customers’ needs

−by reviewing what customers buy and search on a website, a business can see how they are meeting customers’ needs

Plan the website

Register the Website

Select a Web Host

Build the website

Maintain the website

•Determine the goals of the website

•Goals may include:

−generating new business

−informing customers

−driving customers into the store

•Can bring in a considerable amount of revenue

•Could help pay for part or even all of the website

•May or may not be part of the website plan

•Pros:

−brings in revenue

−builds new business relationships

−can link website visitors to other websites of interest

•Cons:

−can make the website look cluttered

−can make the website look unprofessional

−may not bring in the expected amount of revenue

•Involves registering with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers® (ICANN)

−this is completed online with a web registration company

•Includes choosing a website name and an extension such as the following:

−.com

−.org

−.net

−.tv.us

−.biz

•Are the computer codes building the Internet

•Include the following:

−HTML

•serves as the backbone of web pages

−Structured Query Language (SQL)

•programming language which communicates with databases

−Extensible Markup Language (XML)

•language which allows computer applications to communicate with each other

−Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

•language which formats and styles text on a website

•Need to be consistent throughout a website

•Include:

−font

−size of font

−color of font

−layout of images

−layout of website menus

•Should be carefully planned to convey a message consistent with the business’s purpose and other marketing efforts