Thinking of Taking Your Offline Business Online- Part 2

Ok we now need to look at the costs of setting up this website and running it.

The first cost is buying the actual domain name. When searching for a domain, if you happen to find the one you are looking for then it would be a good idea to buy the domain straight away before someone else does. There are actually people out there buying up domain names to resell them as they know there are many businesses looking at moving their operations online.

Even if you don’t plan on setting things up straight away, buying the domain could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the future. On researching domain providers there are several companies that are competitively priced. It should cost no more than $12 for the actual domain, but you will need to keep this domain registered which will cost between $3- $5 per annum. I believe this is well worth doing right now.

The next step would be to get your website built. There are two options here. You can either go to a web-design firm or hire an independent programmer. There are many independent programmers out there who can provide the same service as a design firm, and for less money. Most of these programmers worked for design firms before striking out on their own. There are advantages and disadvantages to using each method. Independent programmers may be less expensive, but you’re limited to receiving only the service that particular programmer is skilled in. If you decide to add a component to your site that your programmer can’t develop for you, you’ll have to pay someone else to do it, which will obviously cost more but more importantly will take time as you have to find the right person for the job.

Most design firms employ programmers of all capabilities in order to meet their clients’ requests, and their services are part of the deal when you hire the firm.

Independent programmers are also harder to locate than design firms, but finding a good one will be very cost effective. Part of what makes an independent programmer less expensive is the fact that he or she doesn’t have the same overheads as a design firm.

Now the costs of this will vary depending on whether or not you are going to run an e-commerce site (selling products and/services by allowing credit card payments) or you just want to provide information about your product. Having had some quotes from some top freelance web designers, you are looking at around $800-$1000 to get a simple yet very professional website built.

Getting a fully customized e-commerce site built or designed would obvioulsly be more costly. You would have to speak to the particular contractor about your site and product specifics to get a quote but you can hire programmers of the highest quality will work for 60 dollars an hour.
The next cost would be hosting your website. This is a necessity and many companies’ who sell domains will offer hosting as a package. This gives you your own piece of virtual real estate and will cost you around $100 a month. However, as and when your business grows you may need to upgrade your hosting plan which would cost more.

When you outsource your website creation or other services such as search engine optimization you must treat this like would do any normal offline partnership by getting everything in writing. This means going beyond the initial contract you and your designer sign. Keep notes during meetings and save every e-mail and written communication that you have. There may be times when things are decided during “casual” meetings, such as when certain elements of your site will be completed, or something as simple as adding a graphic or a new product that you might be selling. By tracking these conversations, you’ll have a record to return to if things stumble off schedule.

Some web-design firms provide their clients with site administration tools that allow you to make simple changes and updates as needed. This type of technology can be more expensive, but worth it if you have is reasonable tech savvy as it will give you more control of your website.

Determining the look and feel of your website (the design) and actually building the site itself are two different processes of launching a site. Be sure to understand what’s included in your contract and make sure you know exactly what you are getting and what will cost extra. If you wish to add an e-newsletter for current or potential clients to sign up to, find out how much extra this may cost before you sign a contract? You will most likely be responsible for setting up your own merchant account if you are setting up an e-commerce website.

You need to discuss with your programmer if this is included in the package before you sign any contract to find out what extra costs may be incurred. Ok so you might be wondering what a merchant account is. Well, a merchant account inter-connects your website and customers with your bank and the credit card companies.

The things you need to know will be, are you charged for every e-commerce transaction? And if so what are the costs going to be for every accepted credit-card payment.
There are a wide variety of merchant account providers, so it’s vital you do your homework and make a decision on what you determine to be most efficient provider, while at the same time cost effective. You can expect to pay a continuous monthly fee to maintain your account, and normally a fee for every transaction that is made but bear in mind every merchant will be slightly different.
Ok now that everything is set up you will need to get your website in front of potential customers. There are basically two ways of getting traffic to your website. Paying for traffic or generating free traffic from search.

Getting found in the search engines requires your site to be well optimized especially for Google as around 75% of the online community uses this search engine. If your niche is very competitive then hiring a search engine optimization specialist would be a good idea. The other option is to pay for advertising. There are various options here but the most effective payed marketing methods for the optometry niche are ad words or pay per click (you pay for every click through to your site), ezine advertising and banner advertising.
Ranking in the free search areas of the search engines will take a little longer and will cost more upfront in terms of money if you have to hire and seo expert or time if you are doing this yourself.