Affordable Website Development

'Affordable website development' is much touted by hosting companies, but you must see the package in context.

First Things First

Only when all aspects of the business plan are finalized, and you're clear about your payment methods, is it time to think about your 'affordable website development'. In order of increasing cost and complexity, your options are:

1. build your own through an all-in ecommerce hosting solution.

2. build your own with an 'out of the box' package'; host the site with a third-party hosting company.

3. have the site built by a web design company; host with the design company or with a third-party hosting company.

4. employ an application service provider; host with the ASP, with a third-party hosting company, or on your own server.

5. Build in-house; host on your own server.

Developing your Website: First Principles

Remember that the ideal site should be:

• distinctive, promoting your brand in a memorable fashion.

• professional-looking, inspiring trust and confidence.

• appropriate to the product or service sector.

• organized around the purchasing process — attention, interest, desire, decision and purchase.

• impossible to get lost in: all customer actions have been anticipated and properly channeled.

• fast to download, no more than ten seconds at 56K.

• prominent in its display of guarantees and returns policy.

• provided with FAQs to cover all eventualities.

• complete with a bona fide address, email address and customer support telephone number (toll-free if possible).

• broken into sensible sections, i.e. into pages whose appearance in the traffic statistics report helpfully on visitor behavior.

Specific Points

The sites listed on our resources page provide fuller advice, but these may be the essential points:

:Customer Appeal

The site has to look good and function well. Ensure that pages:

• have attractively-written and useful content.

• follow a consistent design scheme and copy style.

• are laid out intuitively, with clear navigational elements.

• still look good in 256 color monitor displays.

• display properly in the main browsers and their usual versions.

:Search Engine Friendliness

Though not entirely free any more, the search engines still provide the best marketing tools. Ensure you get a good ranking by:

• researching the best keywords for each page.

• optimizing title, description, page copy, links, alt descriptions and meta keywords for the researched keywords.

• avoiding splash pages and lengthy Flash introductions.

• Avoiding frames and deep directory structures.

• moving Javascript/Java coding from the page header as much as possible.

• Avoiding having all copy generated by database look-up.

:Download Speed

Avoid or minimize the following:

• heavy graphical elements: optimize graphics with special software.

• complicated layouts with nested tables, etc.

• unspecified dimensions for graphic elements.

• Java applets.

• database access.

:Marketing Devices

If using affiliates for marketing, make sure the site will still function and look good with the various add-ons supplied.

:Security

Transactions and site need protection from data theft and alteration.

:Site Hosting

Choose your hosting company with care.

:Traffic Statistics

To understand visitor behavior, you need detailed traffic statistics.

Affordable website development is covered by our ADVANCED GUIDE TO ECOMMERCE, now in its seventeenth edition. Also included are ways of testing your business plan, and building the website that will work effectively: many won't.


An overview . . .

• The Internet's most detailed guide to ecommerce: 230,000 words / 850 pages in pdf format.
• 160 reference sheets summarizing a particular aspect, with advice and resources as appropriate.
• Over 3,100 resource listings grouped under 260 headings: each hand-picked on its merits.
• Fourteen comparison tables in key product areas.
• A proven approach to planning ecommerce.
• Practical advice on improving sales and conversion ratios.
• An extended guide to pay-per-click and sponsored listings.
• Use of business blogs, advised and ill-advised.
• Practical security aspects: keeping yourself safe.
• Testing sites and ideas at negligible cost.
• Some 100 case studies, both successes and failures.
• Notes on ecommerce strategies and use of the resource listings.
• Tutorials on AdSense, ePublishing, eBay, RSS feeds, commercial blogging, ecommerce for free, widgets, collective intelligence, seo revisited and using ppc effectively.
• Ten up-to-date surveys of ecommerce prospects worldwide.
• Insider information based on Internet research and our own studies.
• Strategies to test customer behaviour and improve sales.
• Comes as an interlinked webpage ebook (2 Mb), a sequential webpage compilation (2 Mb) and as a pdf document (4.6 MB). The one purchase gives you all three documents, plus free updates every six months.

Click here for a full contents listing of the current edition.

Our $37.50 e-book comes with a 30-day, no-questions-asked guarantee. If not fully satisfied, then simply email us for a prompt and full refund. Material is continually being checked and extended, and purchase includes free six-monthly updates.

The e-book is provided as three documents: interlinked webpage compilation for ready reference (2Mb) a sequential webpage compilation (2 Mb) and as a PDF document (4.6MB, 850 pages) for extended reading. The content is the same in all documents, but while the PDF document can be read on all platforms, the webpage compilations can only be read on Windows platforms ( Windows 98x, Me, 2000, XP and Vista machines). Your one-time payment gives you all three documents, plus free updates.

Our January 2011 free update will include a tutorial on collaborative websites and an updated list of internet payment service providers.

Ordering is quick and safe. Simply pay through your account or credit Simply pay through your account or credit card on Paypal's secure order page for immediate downloading. (Click the 'Redirection to Site' button after payment processing for download instructions.)

 

No product placements. No wishful thinking. Just the facts on affordable website development.

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