FAQ

There are lots of products and websites out there that help you build your own website and for some people this can be a great solution.  However, it doesn’t suit everyone and I think there are two potential problems with taking this route.

1. You need to find the time to sit down and actually do it, write the words, find the pictures… – one reason that many businesses don’t have a website in the first place is that there just isn’t the time to get it done.
2. The DIY approach means that the process has to be simplified – I found that when I started out I wasted a lot of time trying to fit my requirements into this kind of simplified shell.  I also felt the results lacked that ‘professional’ quality that I saw elsewhere on the internet.

The first point is that you should pick one out and register it sooner rather than later.

Getting the right domain name for your business can be tricky because so many have already been taken.  The .co.uk is arguably the best suffix for UK businesses selling primarily to UK customers which is why I include one for you in the Starter and Buisness plans.  You might, instead, choose to go for a .com if you have international plans – or just prefer a more cosmopolitan image.

To explore your options search for “Domain Registration” you can go to http://www.tsohost.co.uk/domain-registration.php and explore what is, and what is not, available.

Finding a good domain name sometimes means thinking outside the box – I can help you with the process.

I think one of the reasons that many small businesses don’t have a website is we think its going to be expensive to get started.  By fixing the scope of what the website will contain, I can make the development process very predictable so that the costs are transparent and as low as possible.

I use the WordPress content management system with pre-written templates as the start point for most projects – this means development can be very rapid indeed.  However, you get a great looking highly professional website supported by industrial strength technology.

I’m not going to get rich writing £99 websites – but I hope that you will find the TTGO approach to getting online easy and rewarding, and that you will choose to use my services for any future development.

The majority of the websites I build are based a technology called WordPress.

This is a ‘content management’ system which means once the site is built – making changes to the existing content is no harder than writing an email, or editing a document in your word processor.

You simply log on, select the page you want to change from a list and type in the updated information.  If you choose to add a blog page to your site – you can add content and images in a similar way – which is a very good way of communicating new products and services to your customers.  You don’t have any of the site stored on your  own computer – its all on a remote server – so outs very secure and you can access it from anywhere, even your tablet or phone!  

I build most of my websites using WordPress – the world’s leading content management system.

This has a number of modules available that ‘plug-in’ to provide e-commerce options which make adding a retail option relatively straightforward.   We would need to upgrade your host server to support secure payments and build the interface for your shoppers so some work will be required.

Don’t forget that you’ll need crisp images of all the products you ant to sell online so your customers can see what they are buying.  The good news is that TTGO can do that as well – so you get a one stop solution.

How do your existing and potential customers easily find your phone number to place an order? Where would they go to check your opening hours or to get a location map? Even a very basic website with simple, everyday information can prove invaluable to your busy customers and help with your sales.

But so are your competitors. Your potential customer has to make a choice – maybe if they could click on a link from the trade directory and read your shiny website they would find some reasons to visit you and not your competitor?

Start with a simple one page site – and include an overview of what you do, where you are, your contact details and business hours. Take our ‘Buisness Plan” option and you’ve got more space – so more information about what makes you unique, the products or services you sell, more images and so on. We can extend the scope of your site to allow customers to buy online, add feedback, include a product catalogue etc etc and so on.