:: Web Steps ::

Domain Name Registration - Step 1

Domain Name Registration is one of the first things that you will have to arrange - at about the same time as the new site is being conceived for you.

Decide upon a name for your URL, think about whether you should use .com, .com.au, .org or .org.au or any one of the myriad of extensions that you can now choose from.

Use a search engine to locate 'domain names' and type in your desired name to see whether it's available. If it is, and you want it, grab it there and then. Register it, pay your money and in a short time you will receive notification that your URL (Universal Record Locator - your web site address) is registered and ready.

To find out if your URL is available (or not), click here. Check out the costs for a new URL while you're there.

URL's that use the Australian '.au' are available and renewable on a Two Year basis only.

They are also more expensive - yet there is an incredible variation in cost!

Most other URL's are available and renewable on a yearly basis.

Why it costs so much extra for an '.au' is anyone's guess!

Obviously, when deciding what extension you want, consider if your business is to be seen as Australian with the '.au' attached - not that it makes a big difference.

There are quite possibly a number of companies that use the '.au' to give the impression of being Australian, yet are based out of Australia and wouldn't even know what AFL stands for!

Click the tab for your next step to Web Site Design.

NOTE

By way of finishing with the registration of URL's, take note that there are some spurious sorts of characters out there who will try to get you to pay for your web address - AGAIN!

An official looking invoice shows up sometime later in the post (or as an e-mail) telling you that your URL renewal is shortly due. You're too busy to worry much about it - thinking it must be real - and you send them off a cheque.

Guess what?

Web Site Design - Step 2

Have you registered your Domain Name yet?

Do you have a web site?

Is your web site generating genuine sales enquiries?

Is your web site's content easy to update and can you do it yourself?

Does your web site portray your corporate image?

Why do most web designers build a site for a client that cannot be found through search engines?

Why do most web designers control the copyright of your web site after you have paid a fee to have it built, and it is not transferable to another web designer?

Why do most web designers not offer on-going services like project management, consultancy and search engine submission (SES), optimisation (SEO) and marketing (SEM) after they have built the site for you?

Redback Web Studio can design a site that will suit your needs - a site that is consistent, stable and can be found.

Our designs are compatible with Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, Opera and Safari web browsers.

As a smart business operator, you will aware of good value for your money.

We have a range of Packages for you and your business, with a web site that will suit most budgets.

In designing your web site, we not only look at the product or service you are promoting, but get inspiration from them, giving us a concept of where you want to go.

Our ultimate goal is to supply you with a web site that will put your and your product on the market.

To achieve this, we follow a successful methodology in:

thoroughly identifying the client's product/service,
defining the character and personality of the client,
creating an architecture for the site that portrays the product or service in the best light,
designing a site, laying out the basic pages, and consulting with the client to:
- seek out and fix any shortfalls;
- gather ideas that they may have, and
- offer suggestions to further enhance the site.
- designing the site so that search engines may effectively find your product or service;
- offering total ownership and copyright of the site that you paid for, together with the ability for the client to update the site if required;
- keeping the client up-to-date with any technological changes that may later affect the design or performance of the site, and
- strengthening the relationship between Redback and the client, by offering professional and timely service.

We have found that there is usually some doubt with clients concerning a web site.

They generally ask:
- Do I really want to take the step of having a web site?
- Is a web site going to be successful in promoting my product?
- Is it too expensive to set up?
- Are site maintenance costs high?
Our answers would be:
- If you have a product or service to promote, and that product or service should be available to those beyond the local area;
- Like any product on the market, that will depend upon: the design of the site and users easily finding your product on the Internet;
- the quality of the product;
- the value of the product, and
- the timely delivery of the product.
Our web site packages are value-packed, giving the client the freedom to choose, or customise, what it is they want, how much expense is involved up-front and where they want to go.

Depending on the product being promoted (whether it is constantly re-assessed, re-designed or re-priced), site maintenance costs will remain flexible. However, Redback tries to keep these costs to a minimum.

eCommerce is waiting for you ....

Web Site Hosting - Step 3

The hosting service we use - as do most of our clients - offer excellent human service during regular business hours (AEST), and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via the Internet.

Located in Sydney, New South Wales, they have their Web Server backed by some of the biggest names in the world. So you can depend on your site 'being there' for all to see.

Check out 'hosting services' in a search engine.

Your hosting can be done directly by you, or we can handle it for you. After your Domain Registration is established, it's a simple matter of logging on to the Hosting Service and arranging for a package and payment, where yearly (sometimes quarterly) in advance, you will be debited with the agreed amount.

That amount will depend on the package/plan you opt for.

Hosting Service's costs for the:

Basic Package are from $AUD5.95 per month ($AUD71.40 per annum), and
Business + Package are from $AUD14.75 per month ($AUD147.00 per annum).

Hosting Services are normally payable 12 months in advance.

and there are others available also.

If Redback were to handle this task on the client's behalf, add $AUD20.00 per quarter - that's only to pay for our administration charges.

Hosting Services also provide your authorised staff with statistics - detailing not only the number of visits to the web site's home page, but how many 'hits' of each other page of the site.

You could look around the Internet, using a search engine for "hosting services" and you'd find many that offer cheaper prices and so-called better deals.

'More megabytes for your bucks' did I hear you say?

Well, that's the case all right! But when push comes to shove, those others may let you down.

They could go out of business, have very 'ordinary' servers, or have customer service that is extraordinarily 'ordinary'.

It is really a matter of choice, and as you're doing the choosing, it's up to you.

Why spend your money on a brilliant web site to be let down by a dud Web Hosting Service?

Hosting should be as painless as possible, and not many companies can list that as one of their advantages.

All pricing includes G. S. T. and are current as of August 2007.

Web Site Publishing - Step 4

Simply put, publishing is the uploading of your web site's pages to the Web Server that is operated by your Hosting Service.

Publishing occurs with a new site going on-line or when information on established site pages has been updated.

This task takes place via the Internet, and is protected by Usernames and Passwords. This disallows unauthorised users from accessing client's web sites.

Publishing can take place in a number of ways:

FTP (File Transfer Protocol);
Frontpage file transfer, and
Dreamweaver (Put and Get)

There are perhaps a couple of hundred other means of publishing to the web as well. These are all based on much the same method as FTP.

Check out a free Open Source FTP programme at filezilla.

In fact, Frontpage and Dreamweaver use such methods, but are not as capable to closely monitored errors or corrections, should they become necessary.

During publishing via the programmes mentioned, the publisher (i. e. perhaps the client's webmaster) is able to select those pages that have been updated/upgraded and require publishing.

The publisher is also able to remove/delete old pages and files that are no longer relevant to the web site.

Depending upon the scope of the web site - whether it is a site that has regular price and/or product updates - sufficient time will be needed to allow for not only the pages to be updated, but also for publishing them to the web server.

During the time of publishing the new or additional pages, visitors will usually view the site as it was before publishing has commenced.

Should anything untoward take place during publishing, the site might go 'off-line' until repairs have been undertaken.

Visitors to a site that is undergoing repairs or updates, and is coincidentally off-line, are generally advised of an error, and to return to the site later.

Web Site Maintenance - Step 5 Open Step 5

Maintenance of a web site is not an event that occurs that often.

Generally, maintenance is undertaken by Redback Web Studio at a convenient time during the early hours of the morning, and often coincides with publishing updates or upgrades of web pages when necessary.

Oftentimes maintenance is part of regular and scheduled service by the Web Server with which your site is hosted. Sort of like changing the oil in your car every so many kilometres!

You may have experienced a maintenance service in action when you have logged onto an Internet site to find it 'down'.

In general terms, web site maintenance is most important when updating content.

Depending on the product being promoted (whether it is re-assessed, re-designed or re-priced), site maintenance costs will be flexible.

However, Redback tries to keep these costs to a minimum and is is based on an hourly rate. Contact us for details.

The idea is to have a plan and stick to it.

Decide:

what needs to be updated;
as to how long the client will take to update and finalise the information, and
on a schedule (with advance notice) for the webmaster to be able to do the maintenance.

Given the procedure is handled with attention and care, nobody will even notice when your site is undergoing maintenance.

Some clients prefer to do their own text updating by way of a Content Management System (CMS). These systems allow the client (or authorised persons) to take charge of the content.

CMS is normally performed on-line directly with the Hosting Server, and is updated almost immediately, providing it's properly undertaken. There is nothing scary in doing this, but it may take some time, sometimes.