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FAQ - Frequent asked questions
To follow, the most frequent questions and basic answers about website design and Internet marketing:
- What is the Internet and how can you benefit from it?
- What are the main uses of a website?
- What is a domain name?
- What is a hosting service and how do I contract one?
- What is a URL?
- What is the cost of a website?
- What is shopping trolley software?
- What is a content manager (CMS)?
- What does SEO mean?
- What are Adwords?
- What are web statistics?
1. What is the Internet and how can you benefit from it?
The Internet is a communication network which enables the existence of services such as web pages, e-mail, chat, instant messaging and file transfer.
Its ability to reach a vast number of people at low cost makes it an ideal medium for direct marketing, which consists of communication without intermediaries between companies and clients.
Moreover, it allows 24 hour access during each day of the year, which makes the Net ideal for electronic catalogues, on-line businesses and the international promotion of your company.
Return to top of page2. What are the main uses of a website?
The main uses of a website are :
- Worldwide reach and availability all day long all year long.
- It is a cheap, powerful and dynamic marketing tool. You can change, add or remove products from the "electronic catalogue" with immediate results and without printing costs.
- It is a powerful tool to capture clients.
- If it is well-designed and has good content, it will bring prestige to the company.
- It facilitates communication between the company and its clients.
3. What is a domain name?
A domain name is a denomination which you contract for your website. The generic domain (the extension) indicates its type. So, a ".com" indicates commercial entity, a ".net" indicates a service related to the Internet, an ".es" is a Spanish website, an ".edu" is that used by educational establishments, an ".org" is used by non-profit making organisations, etc.
The name you wish to contract must be available. The best extension for a commercial website is the ".com". In second place are the ".net" and ".es" (in the event the website is in Spain).
An example of domain is calitae.com. The "www" at the beginning is simply an indication that a web service is required. If the FTP service of this domain were required, then the url would have to indicate ftp.calitae.com.
The domain name is important as it is your brand on the Internet. It must correspond with the name of your company or one of your products/services, or make mention of the web content (e.g.: travels.com).
Depending on where it is contracted, the price will be more or less. The average cost in Spain is between fifteen to twenty euros a year. If the contract is not renewed after this time the name is lost. Several years at a time can be contracted in one go.
A domain can be contracted with the same Internet service companies that provide web hosting. It can, however, also be contracted separately..
Return to top of page4. What is a hosting service and how do I contract one?
A hosting service is an Internet service which enables you to access your website and electronic mail from anywhere on the Net. Companies who provide this service rent disc space on their servers and connectivity facilities to make this possible.
Depending on the disc space of the hosting service contracted and the maximum amount of data transfer, the cost is either higher or lower. Practically all the plans include electronic mail with your domain address and most of them allow for the possibility of databases and support for dynamic page programming languages.
Here you may find an article on web hosting.
And here you will find a website specialist in the analysis of web hosting companies.
Return to top of page5. What is a URL?
A "url" is the address keyed into the browser instruction box to access a website on the Internet (egg: http://www.google.com). The "http" indicates that the protocol to be used is that of transfer of web pages. Another protocol is the "ftp" (file transfer).
Return to top of page6. What is the cost of a website?
There are various factors that will affect the cost of your website. These factors include the number of pages it will have, the required graphic design, whether you are going to sell products or have a catalogue function, the degree of interactivity it will have and the number of forms it will need (contact forms, etc).
As with all other services, it is best to achieve a good balance between quality and cost.
7. What is shopping trolley software?
The "shopping trolley" software is used in electronic commerce to make it easy for clients to purchase products from your website. This programme enables the client to place products in a trolley. When the purchase is confirmed, the software calculates the total of the order and the delivery cost.
This application often includes a method of accepting the client’s credit card information, and relies on the payment gateway of a bank or specialist provider to carry out financial transactions.
Return to top of page8. What is a content manager (CMS)?
A content manager is a system via which the design content can be independently managed. The content is uploaded to the server via a control panel and the design is based on some templates. In this way, the design can be changed without affecting the content.
It is a good way to create websites of minimal traffic and hierarchical content because the registration and publication of the content is already done. On the other hand, if the website has a lot of traffic or the content is not well structured, the best solution is a tailor-made system.
Return to top of page9. What does SEO mean?
In English these letters stand for "search engine optimization". SEO is a part of search engine marketing and attempts to achieve the greatest number of hits and of the highest quality from the search results. The key is to position yourself well in the lists when searches are carried out for your keyword terms.
Keywords are the terms which describe and identify your website. So, a web design website located in Barcelona would have the following keywords: web pages, web pages Barcelona, web design, web design Barcelona, and some others along these lines.
The idea is to know Google's indexation algorithms and those of other search engines and to then prepare the content of your website in accordance with what they attach most importance to. There are a series of techniques which ensure the search engine better understands what your website is dedicated to and thereby awards it greater relevance. These techniques are called SEO.
Return to top of page10. What are Adwords?
The other huge part of search engine marketing is "pay per click" (PPC).
The most important system of this type of advertising is Google Adwords, which incidentally, is the greatest source of funding for this search engine. By means of the small adverts which Google places above or to the side of the search engine results, hits are achieved. The client pays per click made, i.e. per visit that this medium has produced.
The most important factors in this system are the CPC (cost per click) and the conversion rate between the total number of visits by this means and the number of visitors who carried out your target action (purchase of a product, information request, etc..).
You can get more information on this subject in this article about Google Adwords.
Return to top of page11. What are web statistics?
Web statistics (also called web analytics or metrics) consist of the measurement of the behaviour of visitors to a website. Their main use is that through these the parts of the website which are working best can be measured; together with those that least achieves the website objectives.
A very good website statistics application, and free, is Google Analytics.
The key is to track the most important statistics and see how they evolve over time. Another important key is to make changes one by one and see what the visitor’s reaction has been, whether better or worse. In this way you will achieve a constant improvement process, key to a successful website.
You can get more information on this subject in this article on Foundations of a successful website.
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