Getting a Website

Getting a web site involves a number of steps that usually begin with finding a designer; the most difficult often being the getting-the-designer part. Once that has been accomplished the designer can then facilitate the setup of the remaining steps or actually perform these themselves for you. From start to finish you should be looking at anywhere from 2-4 weeks for final production and launching of the site. Most designers don't want to go much longer than 4 weeks as they do need to get paid and wrap up the building phase of the project.

Steps involved in getting that website:

• find a credible, professional web designer that can offer competitive rates without comprimising quality
• decide on the purpose of your web site and its intended target audience
• provide your designer with any necessary images, photos, documents, content, etc.
• your designer will begin the site build and await your approval on the draft product
• decide on a domain name (the yoursite.com, yoursite.ca name); your designer will be able to facilitate the registering of this domain name for you and consult with you on an appropriate name and its possible availability
• register the domain name and purchase a web host account to host the domain's files (the website); your designer will be able to facilitate the setup of this account for you and should have some recommendations about what company to go with
• complete the site build and the designer will upload live to your web host account once approval for the draft product is given
• the site now goes into maintenance mode if you wish the designer to stay on board to take care of the website
• monitor your website to ensure that content and images are fresh and not out dated

Switchwebs.com closely follows all of the above steps as pertaining to the designer aspect of getting a website. My job is to make this as easy and hassle free for my customers as possible and to take care of the mundane items that most clients don't have the time for.

Selecting a Designer: Too often, designers will go with the "wow" effect with their customers by using high-end, high-tech visuals and graphics on a website that tend to do little towards the functionality of the site. Unless you're sony.com or disney.com, you don't need to spend the extra money to try and "wow" your visitors. Your designer must be able to do more than just great graphics; they must be able to place your site's content on the pages in a logical and coherent fashion that is practical, readable and understandable for your visitors. If they are good, they will create a design that balances the "wow" part (a moderated "wow" part) with good page form and site functionality.

As a good designer, you will also need to know if they have some in-depth knowledge of the Internet and the inner workings of a good website. This means a good understanding of HTML coding, branding and marketing, search engine ranking, placement, indexing and submission. Without this latter part your site has pretty much failed from the start.

All of the above are part of my philosophy and strict work ethics as a website designer. Afterall, my reputation is at stake and I need to put my all into helping your website succeed in order to help my business succeed.

We're available from 9:00am to 11:00pm (EST), Mondays through Sundays. Email responses are sent out within 24 hours of receiving your email. Whichever you decide, you can have confidence that Switchwebs.com is a capable and reliable solution to your website needs.

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