Elements of a Website

We often get inquiries as to what is required for setting up a website. Every website has basic elements in order to make it successful, informative and functional. These range from the type of website, to the technical and content-related aspects. While there can be enhanced features to your website to make it dynamic, this article mainly provides the basic elements to get your site up and running.

Types of Websites

In order to appeal to the appropriate audience, your website should be designed with the correct layout and functionality so the user gets the most out of your site. Depending on the nature of your business or organization, your site might need custom features. The following categories offer the basic website types:

Informational

Informational websites offer basic information about your company or organization and give you the basic exposure you need to be found on the web. This could be who you are, what you do, what products or services you offer, and how to contact you. These components also serve as the backbone for most websites and customized sites can build their structure from here.)

E-Commerce

Most companies that sell something want an e-commerce website in order make their products available for viewing and purchasing online. Moreover, e-commerce sites help businesses expand their potential client pool to national or worldwide. Mosts e-commerce sites are built within content management systems to help businesses manage their products and content conveniently through a web interface.

Community Websites

Community driven websites offer interactivity for users to register and login to your site. Common features found in community driven sites include blogs, articles, polls, forums, etc.

Blogs

A blog is a term derived from the phrase "web log". Originally, blog sites were built around the concept of offering personal thoughts, advice and information from the everyday user in the form of articles, posts or entries. These days, blog systems such as Wordpress have expanded functionality and plugins so that businesses or organizations can utilize the blog content management system to maintain their own content.


Site Development through HTML Editors or Content Management Systems

For convenience, websites can either be developed using a HTML editor such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage, or through a content management system (CMS). CMSs are being used more often by companies because it lets the company manage their own content easily through a web interface rather than depending on a web designer to maintain the site through a licensed web development application such as the HTML editing softwares. CMSs also provide additional plugins and modules to extend the functionality of their sites flawlessly.


Tech Basics

Domain

The domain for a website is the www.mycompany.com. Domain registration is handled either when a hosting package is purchased or separately from a domain registrar. Domain registration is renewed every year or when the set of years purchased for the domain expire. It is important to make sure your domain registration is up to date, otherwise once your domain expires, your site will not be available online. Many domain registrars also charge additional fees to reinstate your domain after 30 days.

Web Host

A web hosting company maintains the necessary servers so that your site is online. When you purchase a hosting package, not only do they provide you an account where you upload your web files to the internet, but the company makes sure all servers are running efficiently so your site is available online 24/7 and your email servers are functioning normally. They also provide other features and assistance to run your site, enhance its reliability, manage your files, and supervise your site's statistics. Web hosting packages are usually renewed on a yearly basis; if your hosting package is not renewed, your site will not be available on the web.

Halal Print recommends Powweb for it's clients. Powweb is a web hosting company that offers great reliability and functionality for your site at a great price. With Powweb, your domain registration is free for the first year when you also purchase your hosting package.


Other Technical Options

Payment Gateway

A Payment Gateway is service provider that is used to collect and process electronic transactions, such as PayPal or Authorize.net. If you intend to accept payments through your website, you must setup an account with a payment gateway in order to collect your funds. Depending on the amount of transactions and type of transactions you will be accepting, you will need to carefully select an account type so you get the best account suitable for your site. Please be aware that some payment gateways require setup fees, monthly fees, service fees and per transaction fees.

SSL Certificate

SSL, or secure socket layers, certification is necessary for websites that collect sensitive data such as personal information or payment information. Secure sites transition from http pages to https pages, and usually show a padlock icon on the browser's bar to reassure the user that the webpage is secure and that the data that is transmitted is encrypted. SSL Certificates can be purchased from web hosts or from domain registrars, but we recommend them to be purchased from the web host to ensure compatibility. Some web hosts offer shared secure servers for free, but your website's URL will usually change from https://www.mysite.com to https://username.webhost.com for the secured pages.

Alternatively, some payment gateways offer hosted payment forms where the user leaves your site and enters their payment information on the payment gateway's secure webpage.


Content

Content Writing

In order to have an effective website, the content must meet certain criteria. When a user comes to your site, you want them to feel welcomed and informed, all while in a user-friendly environment. You want them to be able to understand who you are, what you do and what you offer, all without having to drill down into your navigation. This is what makes content writing an important element to your website. Moreover, with the surging importance of search engine optimization, you want your content to be appropriately indexed by search engines such as Google or Yahoo so that potential customers can come across your site easily.

If you are unsure of how to compose and layout your content for your site, then Halal Print will help you develop it so that its structure will have the impact you are looking for.

Imagery

Imagery plays an important part of conveying your message on your website. Whether it is for accentuating the look of your site or having the products displayed, the high quality and resolution of your images are essential.

Halal Print's approach to website graphics follows a certain criteria and can be found on our website's About Us page or in our Terms & Conditions and Design Terms.

Make the Most of Your Marketing Materials

With the momentum of the electronic media taking over every industry, marketing through websites, social media, blogs, and maintaining contacts through smartphone address books have made many marketing executives question the use of classic, printed marketing materials.

Conferences and seminars offer company’s the opportunity to hand out brochures and flyers. Business meetings with possible clients let marketing executives pass out presentation folders and sell sheets. Casual gatherings give individuals the opportunity hand out their business cards. As you can see, even in this digital era, there is still the need for print literature.

Literature is the printed pieces that present your company, its vision, its products and/or services. This can include brochures, business cards, flyers, postcards, sell sheets, posters, catalogs, newsletters, letterhead and even your company envelopes. Every single piece of your marketing material gives an impression of your company’s professionalism, uniqueness and expertise.

With the vast availability of desktop publishing programs to make your own print materials, many companies attempt to internally meet the needs of marketing design.

This is where companies need to halt the urge: since marketing is all about your appearance of professionalism, this aspect should be left to professionals who spend time learning about the latest design techniques, utilize the latest design program suites, and study the industry-specific market as to what is appealing, what works, and what doesn’t.

Here are some points to consider in order to make the most of your marketing materials:

Get your logo and your marketing materials professionally done.

Your logo and marketing materials such as the business card, letterhead, envelope, presentation folders and brochures should convey professionalism. By having your marketing materials designed by professional graphic designers, you ensure that it is designed according to industry standards such as design file dimensions, resolution and bleeds. Furthermore, graphic designers can also suggest paper stock and features such as UV or matte coating, silk or linen stock, spot UV, or other printing features to enhance your materials in the most befitting way. Learn about Halal Print’s graphic design services.

Keep them consistent.

Designing your marketing materials around the same theme and layout will help keep a consistent look across the board, therefore making your print appearance uniform and compatible in any marketing combination.

Use stock imagery or professional photography.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what sort of impression do you think you are giving with low-resolution, fuzzy and/or questionable images? Investing in stock imagery or professional images of your products for your print materials helps visually represent your company positively.

Don’t be quick to rebrand.

Branding is the sign, symbol, name or design that identifies a company, its services or products from its competitors. Rebranding is the act of reinventing your company’s image through changing its brand. While many companies want to keep up with the newest trends, before rebranding, you need to consider a few things. Is your logo confusing? Does it not portray your company, its products or services appropriately? Consider your clientele, as many customers grow an attachment to a company’s personality and style. One recent failure in rebranding was the store The Gap; when they changed their brand, the outcry was so immense that the company changed back to its original brand within 2 weeks. They also easily recognize your company through its logo alone, so changing it could make customer’s question if the company has been purchased by another company, or if the company is changing its direction.

Analyze first.

There are plenty of other factors to consider with making the most out of your marketing materials, and each one can be determined when a marketing design specialist analyzes your current materials or helps shape your logo and brand for your start up company. If you need assistance designing your materials or brand, then please feel free to contact Halal Print.