Media Gain Website Start-Up Guide

Information Sheet

www.mediagain.com.au

Website Start-Up Guide

Your guide to getting your business online Do you already have a domain name?

Your domain name is your website address. When selecting a domain name it does not have to be an exact match of your business name. For example, you can use an abbreviated version that is easier to type and remember e.g. www.frwa.com.au instead of www.fleurieuregionalwasteauthority.com.au You also may have noticed that websites end in different ways. Below is a list that explains what these domains are used for. .com.au Commercial entities .net.au Commercial entities .org.au Associations and non-profit organisation .edu.au Educational institutions .gov.au Governments and their departments .asn.au Associations and non-profit organisations .id.au Individuals If you don’t already have a domain name Media Gain can purchase one for you.

Do you have a logo in electronic format?

This can be as a jpeg or gif file. The higher the resolution the cleaner and crisper your logo will look in your website. If you do not have a logo Media Gain can design one for you.

What colour scheme do you prefer?

Not everyone has a logo; therefore, is there a particular colour scheme that you prefer?

Affordable website design in Adelaide

Are there websites that you like the look of?

Providing references, or links to existing sites allows the opportunity for your web designer to see and discuss what it is that you like.

Contact Information

Ensure that you include current contact details. Your site should have a dedicated Contact Us page that provide visitors to your site with more than one way to contact you. You should include: • your landline or office number • your mobile number • your fax number • your address or PO Box • your email address(s)

Social Media

Make sure your customers can find you on social media. Provide links on your website to your Facebook page, your Twitter account, your Google + page, your LinkedIn page, or any other social media accounts that you run.

Do you have your own images?

Images play an important role. Most people relate to images. They can allow customers to connect instantly with your business. Images of you and your staff, your products, your place of business or work vehicles, are all valuable in building your brand awareness. Please keep in mind the quality of your images. If you do not feel your images are suitable, there are many image resources you can use. Media Gain chooses to use the resources of www.shutterstock.com.au, as they offer royalty-free images that are of excellent quality and are good value for money.

Another form of image is video. A short video can quickly convey your message without requiring any real effort of behalf of your visitor. Media Gain is able to create a short video, such as the one on our home page, for your website.

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Do you have your own content?

This may be the last point, but it is by far the most important aspect of your website. There are two reasons why fresh, high-quality writing is essential. The first is that you must be able clearly to convey the message of what your website is about to the people who visit it. The structure of those words on the page can allow for easy reading. Very few people will read the entire text of a website. Many will ‘skip’ across the text until they find something they are interested in, then slow down and read the text more carefully. Rather than having a solid page of text, break it down into short paragraphs with headings. Use bullet points and highlight important words or phrases.

The second reason is for the search engines that crawl through your website. While we humans see the design of the site, search engines only see text. Therefore, while pictures play an important role for us visually, it is the text, or content that search engines see, and it is these search engines that place your website in search results.

Do not under any circumstances copy large blocks of content from another website. If you do this, your site will be seen to have what is called duplicate content and this is very much frowned upon by search engines such as Google. As a result, the ranking of your site may suffer or, in a worst case scenario, no longer appear in search results.

If you do not feel confident writing your own text, Media Gain uses the resources skills of Cadogan and Hall, a team of freelance writers based in Adealide who specialise in writing for the web.

Media Gain provides a range of affordable website solutions to help Adelaide businesses get online.

We take great pride in offering the highest levels of customer service for businesses and organisations throughout South Australia.

Contact Denise Angus on 0412 989 321 denise@mediagain.com.au www.mediagain.com.au This article was written and distributed by Cadogan and Hall, a team of freelance writers based in Adelaide, South Australia. We specialise in producing online content, websites, blogs, articles and press releases for small- and medium-sized buisnesses.

www.cadoganandhall.com enquiries@cadoganandhall.com

www.mediagain.com.au