So, you have decided to get a website or update an existing website. Here’s a simple guide - 7 elements - based on my experience with web design in McAllen and elsewhere in the country:

GMAIL ACCOUNT: Step number 1, open a separate Gmail account for your online presence. Use that Gmail account for registering and renewal of everything from the domain name (see #2 below) to website hosting to social media accounts, etc. Share the account name and password with your web developer and use your work email as your backup. An unscrupulous and disgruntled web developer may still find a way to take ownership of the Gmail account but, should things end up in a court of law, you have a better than average chance of demonstrating your ownership of all your online assets especially if you name the Gmail account in the name of your business.
Why Gmail one might ask? Least amount of spam. Google owns it, it is free, highly efficient.
DOMAIN NAME - this is the name that folks will type in to reach your website directly. It should be short, easy to remember, and preferably with a .com extension. A .org or a .net extension are the next best options if .com is taken. Anything else such as .info or .biz, etc., have a watered-down effect. Using keywords in your website name such as ‘mcallenswebsitedeveloper.###’ has little impact in being found but, is certainly recommended over a cryptic website name.

The .com domain costs about $12 a year to register through Domain Registrars such as domains.google.com or GoDaddy or Bluehost or similar registrars. ALWAYS register the domain name in your name so that the ownership is with you and not your web developer. Things do go sour between a web developer and a Customer and sometimes, getting the web developer to release the domain name can be a challenge. Consequently, the Customer has to start from scratch in creating a website, lose traffic already built, and potentially resort to legal remedies to recover their domain name. Avoid such complications by registering the domain name in your or your firm’s name.

You can register a domain name through a domain registrar such as Go Daddy or Fatcow, I recommend Google Domains for their simplicity, efficiency and, speed. With anyone else, you will get endless marketing junk once you sign-up through them.
WEBSITE HOSTING PROVIDERS: The most common one that folks have heard about is Go Daddy. Then there is Wix, Weebly, Web.com, Squarespace, and, many more. If the primary purpose of your website is online sales or eCommerce, either, BigCommerce or Shopify would work well. If your eCommerce is less than 50 products or SKU combinations, Squarespace works well as they offer a good blend of a website and eCommerce features. I use Weebly for two of my websites and Squarespace for two of my other websites. BigCommerce or Shopify do not offer decent website features but are robust for their online sales or eCommerce features. Weebly also offers eCommerce which is a lighter version than Squarespace’s version now that Squarespace has 7.1 out. Wix is for a regular site, I don’t recommend it for eCommerce. Cost-wise: best to evaluate their prices when you are ready to start on your project as their prices do change along with the features they offer.
www.artbypino.com McAllen Architecture and Portrait Photographer. Squarespace.
www.heffnerdesignteam.com McAllen Landscape Architect. Wix.
www.daneenjames.com Motivational Speaker. Wix.
www.hinaminabeauty.com McAllen Eyebrow Threading - Landing Page. Weebly.
www.pinoshah.com McAllen Web Design, eCommerce, SEO, Digital Marketing & IT Consultant. Squarespace.
Also see previous article on selecting web platforms including a discussion on WordPress.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS: Assuming you have a great site developed and it is search engine optimized (SEO), the next step is to implement a traffic tracking system that is free, again, provided by Google that shows you traffic trends to your website. Where are visitors coming from, what content are they viewing, how long are they staying on each page, who is sending the traffic, etc.. I set up a basic dashboard that is emailed daily - shows prior day’s traffic, a weekly dashboard and, a quarterly dashboard. This helps to measure the efforts you are making in promoting your site.
EMAIL PROVIDER: Having an email address with your domain name in it ‘digital@pinoshah.com’ shows professionalism compared to pinoshah@gmail.com. Here again, I recommend using GSuite from Google which charges $6-10 per user per month depending on the package you subscribe to. This email is for your business email accounts.
EMAIL MARKETING PLATFORM: You may have received emails from Constant Contact or Mail Chimp or similar. Those are email marketing platforms that typically charge based on the number of contacts you have in your email list. The goal is to collect email addresses from your website or as part of doing business, exchanging business cards - seeking permission from folks to add them to your mailing list to send marketing information to them. This allows you to market to your existing Customer base or keep them informed. It serves as a powerful marketing tool as in most cases they are highly targeted individuals that may already be Customers. Setting up a pop-up form on your website to collect email addresses is a good way to build your mailing list.
CHAT: With Facebook, it is fairly seamless to implement the Messenger feature on your website. Alternatively, third-party applications are available but, given that most folks use Facebook, it is the simplest and most efficient way of implementing a chat system for your visitors.

It should be noted that you can have one company that provides several of the above services. Or, you can go with a different company for each one of them. In other words, your domain registrar and your web host provider, and your email marketing campaign platform can be one company. Some folks prefer to have a different company provide each of those services as they find features they absolutely need available only from certain companies - for example, Mail Chimp or Constant Contact provides email marketing campaign platforms but, not domain registration services or email accounts.

In the next post, we will look at the other recommended online presence as part of your online strategy. In the third post on web design, we will look at eCommerce.

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