So you have decided you want your own website, a presence on the internet.
What happens next?
What do you need to consider?
Please read through the following guide and consider the various options and make a note of your thoughts.
These will help Susan Ann create a basic design from which your unique site can be created.
1. Website Name (Domain name)
What name do you want for your site? There are several options:
a. You already have a name registered.
This can easily be used by Susan Ann. She will need the access details to your host company, so your new website can be uploaded to your existing package.
b. You do not have a website name at the moment. Susan Ann can register a domain name for you and help you to decide on the most appropriate name for you and your business.
When thinking of a name please consider the following:
- do you have an existing business name?
- would you like your website name to reflect your personal name eg www.johnsmith.co.uk?
- would you like:
.co.uk (UK based websites)
.com (usually commercial enterprises in USA)
.org or .net (usually used by organisations or networks)
The most common ending for individuals in the UK is .co.uk. However, Susan Ann generally recommends that you also register the .com version as well. People surfing on the Internet will often just type in .com as a matter of habit - they may then be taken to a totally different site. The .com version can be forwarded to your .co.uk site.
Remember there are millions of website names that have already been taken. You may come up with an absolutely brilliant name that reflects your work and energy and feels 100% right to you, but unfortunately the name may have been taken long ago. You have to be a bit flexible with this one! Susan Ann will work with you to obtain the best name possible.
2. What will your website promote?
Before we consider the page layout etc, we need to consider the content as this will often determine possible layouts of the design.
What are you promoting on your website? yourself? information? your therapies?
Perhaps spend a few minutes writing down what you do - all the different therapies you practice.
Think about the page headings you would like for your site. Here a few ideas:
a. If you practice only one therapy, for example you are a Reiki practitioner, you might consider page headings as follows:
Home page: This is the first page that is automatically loaded when you ago into a website. Contact: With details of how to contact you. Profile or About: A profile page about yourself What is Reiki?: A description of what Reiki involves, its history etc Consultations: Details of length of time, cost, where appointments are held. Links: Links to your favourite websites: Search engines like links to other sites and will move you up their ranking tables if you have lots of links
b. If you practice several therapies, for example you are a Reiki practitioner, Healer and offer Past Life Regression, you might consider some of the following page headings:
Home page: This is the first page that is automatically loaded when you ago into a website. Contact: With details of how to contact you. Profile or About: A profile page about yourself Reiki: A description of what Reiki involves, its history etc Healing: A description of what healing involves and how it might help Past Life Regression: A description of what past life regression involves and how it might help Consultations: Details of length of time, cost, where appointments are held. Therapies: You could combine all your therapies on one page
Perhaps you also offer teaching or workshops about your therapies, so page headings such as Workshops might be appropriate.
c. If you want to promote information about your therapies or other interests you could consider the following page headings or something similar:
Angels: What are angels, their history, how to connect with them etc. Homoeopathy: What this therapy involves and how it might be of help Sacred Sites: Details of various sacred sites around the world, where they are etc. Meditation: how to meditate. How meditation can help you.
Remember though, with the standard package TBL web designs offers, you are limited to 8 pages, including the home page and the contact page. Although additional pages can be added at an additional cost. You don't have to use all of the 8 pages, you site might benefit from just having 4 or 5 pages, specific to what you do and what you are promoting.
Please look at the sample websites to see what other people have used.
3. What layout would you like?
Now that you have decided the page headings you would like, you can start to think about the layout of your website.
Perhaps you already have a design in mind, maybe you already have a logo or previously had leaflets or business cards made. Susan Ann can create your website to reflect these if you already have them.
Please give Susan Ann any stationary items you already have.
If you don't have something in mind already, the following will help focus your thoughts and give you some ideas:
a.General Layout:
Have a look at the sample web sites and decide which layout appeals to you, or look at your favourite websites on the Internet. The basic layout is sometimes limited by the number of pages available to view. Web sites with a great number of pages may often have the more attractive layouts, with several boxes and columns. This is not always possible to achieve with only a small site with 8 or less pages, so do bare this in mind. Make a note of any appealing websites as Susan Ann can take their design into account when creating your website.
b.Colour: What colours would you like?
Think about the overall colour impression. What appeals? What colour resonates with you? What colour would your friends think of, if they were to think about your energy? White, purple, yellow, blue, green etc.
Do you like pastel or bright vibrant colours? Bare in mind that sometimes colours that are too pale can look very washed out or even gray on a computer screen.
c.Top Banner: Most websites have some sort of banner at the top of each page. If this is too deep it takes up too much of the web page when it is loaded on a computer, removing space for the important information on the web page. So we have to get a balance between an attractive header and its size. What would you like in your banner: a picture of yourself, something meaningful to your therapy? A lovely picture?
d.Navigation Position: The number of pages and their content will often determine the position of the navigation. A site with 4 or 5 pages looks best if the navigation is either horizontal across the top of the page or vertical along the left hand side, but not a mixture of the two.
Please visit www.angelhealingwaters.com to see this kind of layout.
Navigation on the right hand side is not commonly used in web design and may lead to the navigation being off the page and needing the viewer to scroll the page to see it.
Some people, if they have 7 or 8 pages, like to have personal navigation (eg Home, Contact, Profile, Consultations, Links) in a horizontal bar across the top, and have more information based pages (eg Reiki, Healing, Past Life Regression) in a column on the left hand side.
Please visit www.karaemmott.co.uk to see this kind of layout.
Horizontal or vertical navigation with drop down sub navigation is only suitable for large websites where the number of web pages exceeds 20 or more. Please visit www.touchedbylight.co.uk to see a vertical navigation drop down menu or www.lightspirituk.co.uk to see a horizontal drop down menu.
e.Navigation Style: Some of the options available include:
Simple words: That change colour, become highlighted or underlined when you move a cursor over them.
Boxes: That change colour when you move the curser over them.
f.Pictures: Please note that Susan Ann does not provide a photographic service, but she can assist in obtaining suitable copyright free pictures from the Internet and can tidy up your own pictures.
Pictures help to bring your website alive and give it a sense of your energy. Take some photos (or get a friend to help) of your therapy room, where you work, special objects, ornaments from around your home, flowers or your altar area if you have one. Ask a friend to take some pictures of you, or use professional photos if you have them. Remember when taking pictures, please look at the background behind the object or person. A light, plain background often works best for a person or portrait picture.
Featured Website
This month we present 'On Line Angel Course' as the featured web site
