According to the results of a study published by "Cyveillance" in July 2002, the "World Wide Web" is estimated to contain more than two billion pages of publicly accessible information. The web continues to grow at an exponential rate: tripling in size over the past two years, according to one estimate.

Add to this, the fact that the Web lacks control standards we take for granted in the print world: There is no equivalent to the ISBN to uniquely identify a document; no standard system, such as that developed by the Library of Congress, of cataloguing or classification; no central catalogue that holds the entire contents of the Web. In fact, many, if not most, "web documents" (web sites) lack even the name of the author and the date of publication.

Imagine you are searching for information in the world's largest library, where the books and journals (stripped of their covers and title pages) are shelved in no particular order, and without reference to a central catalogue. This is a researcher's nightmare - without question.

How is it organized? 

Instead of a central catalogue of sorts, the Web offers the choice of hundreds of different search tools, each with its own database, command language, search capabilities, and method of displaying results. These are known as "Search Engines". There are thousands of search engines out there in cyber space, but only a few are considered major. One of the best search engines is "Google". Get to know this one. In fact, it's such an important player in the search engine world that Yahoo uses it inside its search engine. 
 

Finding out about what all these "Internet Terms" are about is easy!

All you need to do is do a little surfing for yourself… Here are a couple web sites that you can look at and use as a "Glossary" reference in the future.

http://www.ebiz-u.com/glossary.htm

http://whatis.techtarget.com

Take some time and browse through these to get to know some of the terms you have heard. If you get confused, just find any nine year old kid to help you.
 

Some of the more important terms we should know: 

ISP - Internet Service Provider

Web Hosting Company - These are the guys that actually provide a space for your web site to live and function. It could be anywhere in the world. You would want it to be in a place that is NOT effected by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes…

HTML - Hyper Text Mark Up Language - This is the code that is used to write web pages…

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) This is how you "upload" your web site to the Hosting Company.

Search Engines - Web sites that contain directories or listings of web sites. Very much like a telephone book. 

URL's - Commonly referred to as a "web site address". Such as www.yourname.com

Web Site Hosting Services - Free vs. Paid ( You get what you pay for! )
 

Your agency web site - think about your image!

When people look at your web site, they see your business! Free web hosting services normally have ads that you can't control on the top of your web site. This makes for a very bad image for your agency. Stay away from them at all costs. 

A hosting company doesn't have to be expensive.

It needs to be stable and provide good back end support when you need it. The key here is "support". You may not use it everyday, but when something goes wrong, you will be glad it's there. When I investigate a company that provides services to me, I always contact the support number first. If I can't get through to them, then I do not want to do business with them. It's funny that you can always reach the sales line.

All web servers "go down" from time to time. Don't let anyone tell you they don't. It's a fact of life. This is where support comes in. If you host your web site on "Billy Bob's Web Hosting and Tire Care Center", you may have to wait until he gets back from the track. Not good.

Your site can go down for lots of other reasons besides your hosting company. When you type in "www.whatever" your computer is going to connect to a dozen other computers - each one relaying information. Any glitch along the way can cause things to happen. 

What does all this mean? Try and find a web hosting company that is a key player. Ask your web designer who he uses. If he says he has "his own server" in his garage - run! Most good web designers will have a couple of web hosting companies that they contract with and use on a regular basis. 

Web Site Development

There are many ways to have your site developed. Here is one example that I call the "Do it to yourself" site. It looks and feels like it was built by someone with a different day job. You've all seen them, all the text is centered down the page with bright colors and large text. Lots of flashing images and big bold capital letters... Yuck!

One of the most important thing to keep in mind is that your site will need to be maintained and updated often. How often? That depends on what "features" you have on your web site. (More on features later.)

For most agencies, your web site is going to be like a "Brochure". The purpose is to attract customers. You want them to see your site, pick up the phone and say "yeah man - here's my money - sign me up!" 

Studies show that when someone "sees" your web site for the first time, you have about seven seconds to grab their attention before they surf to another site. Always keep that in mind. 
 

Developing a winning web site for your agency!

Planning is key!

Discuss your web site needs with key people in your agency and determine what they need the site to do for them. Remember that your web site and its needs can change, so you want to build flexibility into it.

Selecting a "Domain Name" for your agency.

This is very important to think about when setting up your web site. So take some time to really plan this out well. Some things to consider are:

- You can have more than one domain name and have all of them "point" to your main web site! This is pretty cool...

- Keep your name simple and as short as possible. A domain name like this . . .
www.thisismyagencywebsitesohireme.com is not going to work. It's way too long. Remember, most people (like me) don't type well, and it's easy to misspell a domain name. 

- Think about spelling. If your company name is such that it's easy to misspell, you may want to have more than one domain name. 

- Make it easy to remember. Like "PI Coffee Shop". You get home and enter www.picoffeeshop.com and you're in. Simple. Try it yourself right now... Open a browser window and go to the "Private Eye List" web site. 

Discuss web site features with someone who knows.

Every web hosting company offers different features. Think about these before you get hosted. You may not need all of them right now, but you want to be able to add them later on as your site grows. 

Some of the more common features include "guest books" (hate them!), hit counters, links pages, email forms, music, "Flash" graphics, animated graphics, etc.

Other things to use to make your web page more exciting could be Music / Flash, Animated Graphics, Links Pages, and a "What's New" Page.

"Hit Counters" are a good thing to have on your site to monitor traffic, but they can also hurt you. If your counted only shows 100 hits in 6 months, people will not want to do business with you. If you can, try and "hide" the counter so that only you can see it. A good counter will show you a lot more information besides just the hits you get.

Keep your web site updated at all times.

All web sites need to be updated. That means that you, or someone else, will have to go in and make changes. How often depends on what features your web site has. Here are some of the neat things that you can have on your site and how often they need to be updated.

This guide should help you keep your site up to date.

Off line Promotion for your web site.

One of the most commonly overlooked ways of getting people to your web site is what I call "Off Line Promotion". Simply put, it mean telling people about your site. Promote your web site on business cards, brochures, invoices, quotations, contracts, telephone messages, signs, pencils and pens, etc...  Put it one everything that you can. Even if you just get a cheap rubber stamp made up and use it on the back of business cards - that would be fine.

Check competitors web sites. 

Look and see what they are doing. See how they are using the web and make note of the features that they have and how they use them. This is good information to have when designing your site.

Web Site "Tips and Tricks".

Another way to promote your site is to purchase "Keywords". This can be expensive so you need to put a lot of thought into this before you jump into it. A good place to explore is "Google". They have a very good plan in place that allows you to set up and monitor a marketing plan for your web site.

There are lots of ways you can gain an upper edge with your web site… 

Create a special "Entry Page" for your web site that targets viewers.
Keep your site simple.
Update your META Tags often.
Know what your competition is doing.
Don't waste money having your site submitted to hundreds of search engines. 

Things that make a web site bad.

Having non stop music!
Way too many pictures on the same page!
One long, long page that seems to go on forever!
No META Tags!
Web site designed for only one browser!
Bad Links or "Dead Links".
Bad Spelling!