Creating the Website

As I said, I decided to use Serif WebPlus (now on x4 version) because it was inexpensive and has proved easy to use.  There are plenty of others I'm sure.  I also needed an e-commerce site which WebPlus could do for me.

First piece of advice - do take the time to read the user guide, watch the tutorial videos, etc.  It will save you time in the long run.  If you have lots of repetitive pages (very likely with an e-commerce site) then you don't want to have to keep replicating pages manually.  Use the 'insert page' option and copy the objects across. 

I didn't have this at the time, but UserEffect offer a very useful checklist to follow.  Beyond the initial list, it goes into quite a bit of detail and is an ideal reference point as you go about building your website.

The first thing I wanted to establish was my brand.  I'd got the name - CobWebKnits - partly because of the idea that spiders weave a cobweb, partly because my maiden name is Webb and obviously because I'm a knitwear designer.  I also decided to register as a limited company.  I looked for ages at ways of trying to protect the company name.  There were companies who offered to register it and safeguard it, but when I googled how this worked, a lot of complaints about these companies came up.  They don't appear to be able to do what they claim and you just pay for the privilege.

Don't forget that it's important you can use your company name as your domain name.  If you can't, you need to rethink, unless you have a clever domain name that easily connects with your business name.

So you need a domain name.  You can register with anyone and I.m not going to suggest loads of options.  I can only tell you who I used.  One piece of advice I did pick up at a Business Link seminar was to be sure that your host provider is located in the same country as you.  Can't exactly remember why, but apparently it's important. I did everything through Web Tapestry (upon some one else's recommendation) and I've found them to be very inexpensive, very good value for money and very easy to get support from.  You can search to see if your chosen domain name is available and, if it is, register it with them (very cheaply).  Apparently it should be easy to transfer your registration to a different company, should you wish to when the time comes to find a host, but I've heard tales of hassle so, if you can go straight to the host provider you intend to use.  Having helped a friend set up a website, we registered with WebTapestry and had no problems transferring it to Demon when the time came.  When you are ready to go live Web Tapestry offer various hosting packages.  I have a pretty large website for a 'cottage industry' and their Webmaster package is more than sufficient.

That's probably enough to be thinking about for the moment .... next time, the look of your homepage.