Website Design / Seo

[CWMcMurray]

My wife has a small business that is doing well locally. We have discussed it and believe that it is time to create a website.

I am now trying to find someone to hire to do this for me. I have done an initial search of companies offering these services but I would like to hear if anyone on this site has any recomendations of companies they have used in the past and how much they paid for these services.

I would also like some advice as to what questions I should be asking when talk to these companies or pit falls that I should try and avoid.

Requirements:

1. Doesn't need to be overly fancy but should look professional (not home-made)

2. Would include approximately 100-200 pictures of products

3. Would include a online purchasing tool

4. Primary target is English speakers, but depending on the cost Thai and other Languages may be added as well.

5. Search Engine Optimization (although from what I have read this may have to wait 3 months before it can be done)

[dickie58]

My wife has a small business that is doing well locally. We have discussed it and believe that it is time to create a website.

I am now trying to find someone to hire to do this for me. I have done an initial search of companies offering these services but I would like to hear if anyone on this site has any recomendations of companies they have used in the past and how much they paid for these services.

I would also like some advice as to what questions I should be asking when talk to these companies or pit falls that I should try and avoid.

Requirements:

1. Doesn't need to be overly fancy but should look professional (not home-made)

2. Would include approximately 100-200 pictures of products

3. Would include a online purchasing tool

4. Primary target is English speakers, but depending on the cost Thai and other Languages may be added as well.

5. Search Engine Optimization (although from what I have read this may have to wait 3 months before it can be done)

I use a guy in Bangkok called Wes, his company is called Kodehost, really knows his stuff really good on the seo stuff, he is a British guy:

www.kodehost.co.uk

[rishi]

...

I would also like some advice as to what questions I should be asking when talk to these companies or pit falls that I should try and avoid.

...

Avoid all-in-one solutions where the same guy(s) offer both development and hosting. They're likely to make shortcuts and hardcode specifically to their server which can make it a costly affair to move the site/development elsewhere in case you should be dissatisfied with either hosting service or quality of development. Knowing they've got you dependent they may also prioritize newer clients higher than you and take very long time for finishing your site.

A friend of mine makes pretty good money as rescuer on that behalf.

Edited July 4, 2008 by rishi

[youngkiwi]

The main reason to have your hosting separate from your web designer is some designers provide a sub-standard hosting service and quite often are resellers of a hosting company, so in essence you are dealing with the middleman. This can be a problem if your site goes down and your point of contact is with the designer (who you may not be able to contact 24/7) rather than the hosting company itself. While many designers are reliable in terms of arranging and providing ongoing hosting, if you want to be assured that you are dealing direct with the hosting source, sign-up with a hosting provider directly.

It is not necessarily true that you should avoid all-in-one solutions as the previous poster indicates. Unless the web site you are having built is built around some kind of content management system which the developer uses, designers do not "hard-code" sites specifically to their server. If your designer does use a content management system to build on, make sure they are using an open-source solution such as Joomla, and that you have a backup of your CMS database (usually MySQL) as well as all your web site content/images. This way, you can easily move to a different provider should the need arise.

For most sites which are not overly complex, in fact it may not be necessary to have a content management system in place. A static site is much easier to transfer to another provider than one with a back-end database.

Make sure your domain name is registered in your own name, and not that of your designer or hosting company - so that you maintain ownership control and can transfer the domain name if required. Some designers register their clients domains in their own name, so this is something to look out for.

Regarding search engine optimisation, your site should be constructed from the outset using basic SEO techniques, including good use of META tags and keyword density, etc. An important ongoing part of successful SEO is building links from other pages which link to your site. If you have the time, you can accomplish basic link building yourself and hire an SEO expert to make adjustments to your site where required.

Hope this info is useful, and if you need further help, please PM me.

[BerndK]

My wife has a small business that is doing well locally. We have discussed it and believe that it is time to create a website.

I am now trying to find someone to hire to do this for me. I have done an initial search of companies offering these services but I would like to hear if anyone on this site has any recomendations of companies they have used in the past and how much they paid for these services.

I would also like some advice as to what questions I should be asking when talk to these companies or pit falls that I should try and avoid.

Requirements:

1. Doesn't need to be overly fancy but should look professional (not home-made)

2. Would include approximately 100-200 pictures of products

3. Would include a online purchasing tool

4. Primary target is English speakers, but depending on the cost Thai and other Languages may be added as well.

5. Search Engine Optimization (although from what I have read this may have to wait 3 months before it can be done)

My best advice is- do it yourself.

Yes you can and IMHO should for many reasons.

The way the internet and Search Engines are changing and keep changing....you want to able to be in control of you own website.

Yes it is work but it is well worth it since it can grow your business and extend it nationally and internationally.

Well worth the effort to do it yourself.

SEO as it was known, is a thing of the past. SEO'ers don't want anyone to know. Search Engine Spiders who crawl the web are becoming more and more sophisticated. Google has the highest paid search engine geniuses working for them.

There are things to know about search engine but it has and is changing.

Content and human behavior (visitors) are measured more and more.

It's not just about tweaking pages anymore. They also consider offline criteria i.e how long someone stays on one page.

Content is becoming more important than ever and keeping it real and not trying to optimize for computers but optimize for humans. Someone who creates a website for you would still need your expertise to write the content.

Linking and link building is a criteria as someone already mentioned.

Building a website is never done so why not do it yourself? It's a business like any other.

No get rich quick with a website sorry. It's work and efforts pay off.

Doing it on your own will take months and it will keep changing and growing but it will work.

It's like any other business.

Someone creating a website for you does what? There are literally billions of webpages out there.

If you don't get free traffic to your site you will have to pay for traffic. When you stop paying for traffic, your business dies.

If it is for a business that is only local and you intent to put the address (url) on business cards. Yes you can hire someone for that.

Noone will care about your business as much as you do! You already have a business and know that.

There is a lot more to having a website than any domain name service, web developer, designer or Seo-er wants you to know....and maybe they don't know. Most people want to sell you something and that's it.

I would include a link to the site where you can learn about it but I am not sure I am allowed ito do that in this Forum.

Do it yourself.

[CWMcMurray]

I would like to thank everyone for their advice and I would welcome more as well.

I would like to add that I am not looking for a get rich scheme and am hoping to use this website to complement an existing business and would not expect random websearchers to account for a large portion of new business.

Yes, this would be put on a business card and would be given to prospective clients. It would also be used as a tool for existing clients to make purchases.

I have some friends from various parts of the world who have expressed interest in working together and they believe our products would do well in their countries. I would ask for their help in Translating into their language and let them use it as a tool once they return home.

I will definately take your advice as to ensuring that the domain in in my name and check for hosting companies directly. I will also make sure that open source software is used in constructing the website.

Has anyone used any good webhosting companies here in Thailand? Does the webhosting need to be done here or can it be done anywhere?

When I buy a domain, are there any differences between: .com, .org, .net, .biz, .eu, ect...

Is it only that the .coms are pretty muched all taken,or are there other legal or other implications depending on which you chose?

[youngkiwi]

If you use a content management system, open-source software such as Joomla is one of the best options. There is a strong developer base and excellent support via the Joomla forums. Joomla is also easy to "skin", ie, install templates which you can obtain for free, or purchase from Joomla template providers.

Web hosting can be provided by any competent provider worldwide. It would be wise to go with one of the larger companies, which ensures you are dealing directly with the source, and not through a "reseller" which is often the case with many small providers both here and internationally. As I mentioned in a previous post, dealing with resellers can cause headaches in the long run if your site goes down and you can't contact the reseller. Best to deal direct with the source and ensure they have 24 hour availability to deal with any support issues which may arise.

Choosing the location to host your site largely depends on your target market. If your main target is the US, hosting in the USA would provide the best connectivity to that market. Hosting is not dependent on the providers location.

There are no technical differences between the domain suffixes you mention, .com, .net, .org, etc. Traditionally .com domains are the leading domain suffix for commercial/business sites. The .net suffix was established for network based operations in the US, and .org domains for organisations. In saying that, all of those combinations are widely used for commercial/business sites, regardless of the registrant's location. Any good provider can arrange the registration of any virtually any domain you require, as well as any localised domains in particular countries required (eg, .co.th if you have a Thai registered company). On another note, .asia domains are gaining in popularity and these are being snapped up fast by companies who want to expand into Asia.

[youngkiwi]

Just a thought, as you want to include online purchasing, you may want to consider using Oscommerce or Zencart. Both are open-source online shopping applications which can be installed on your web site. The online shopping/product catalogue options are built in, plus being open source the software is free.

All you need to do is either purchase a template, or have one customised for you and you have your own custom store. Both applications also support multiple languages and a Thai language pack is available, as well as multiple currency options and integration with different payment processors. I have customised both Oscommerce and Zencart sites using the Thai language pack and localised currency options which is all straightforward.

[BerndK]

some advice on choosing a domain name

• short and sharp
  
• meaningful as in 'expresses a clear message'
  
• easy to spell
  
• easy to remember
  
• unique, descriptive, and "you" or "your business"
  
• solid, classic and you or your business
  
• attractive to humans not just spiders
  
• use .com, .net or .org the best regarded by surfers
  

Sometimes it's better to use dashes in your domain name

Which is easier to read?...

bestpricesonthenet.com or... best-prices-on-the-net.com

Just an example.

Once you made up your mind and did your research and you decide on let's say .com....buy the .net and maybe .org as well.

Domain names are cheap and if you have a successful business....others will try to copy it.

As far as hosting services go you can use any of the known hosting services. Like go daddy

I don't know of any in Thailand.

The Internet is not based in one country.

Since your online business is not geared towards attracting surfers or searchers on the net but to enhance your already established business with existing clients....disregard my previous "rant".

Here is one thing you may consider when choosing a person or business to work with.

You can work with anyone anywhere on the planet if you are able to communicate clearly via email. India and other countries have very good website professionals. There are some very good outsourcing sites on the net these days.

Some people are more comfortable to work with someone personally as in 1 on 1. In this case you may want to find someone close to where you live.

No matter which route you choose....a website always needs to be maintained, improved and modified. ie...changing products or product info. If you don't do it yourself you will need someone reliable to make those changes for you.

A website is never finished.

A business always evolves.

Good luck

[FarangCravings]

some advice on choosing a domain name

• short and sharp
  
• meaningful as in 'expresses a clear message'
  
• easy to spell
  
• easy to remember
  
• unique, descriptive, and "you" or "your business"
  
• solid, classic and you or your business
  
• attractive to humans not just spiders
  
• use .com, .net or .org the best regarded by surfers
  

Sometimes it's better to use dashes in your domain name

Which is easier to read?...

bestpricesonthenet.com or... best-prices-on-the-net.com

I disagree on using dashes and I would never have a domain with a dash in it this is also easy to read

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

[bino]

Sometimes it's better to use dashes in your domain name

Which is easier to read?...

bestpricesonthenet.com or... best-prices-on-the-net.com

I disagree on using dashes and I would never have a domain with a dash in it this is also easy to read

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

Using dashes in a url isn't so bad... search engines will prefer them.

bestpricesonthenet.com

A search engine will have to figure out if this says:

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

or

BeStpRicesOnTheNet.com

or

BestPriceSonThenEt.com

Or tons of other permutations....

[FarangCravings]

Sometimes it's better to use dashes in your domain name

Which is easier to read?...

bestpricesonthenet.com or... best-prices-on-the-net.com

I disagree on using dashes and I would never have a domain with a dash in it this is also easy to read

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

Using dashes in a url isn't so bad... search engines will prefer them.

bestpricesonthenet.com

A search engine will have to figure out if this says:

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

or

BeStpRicesOnTheNet.com

or

BestPriceSonThenEt.com

Or tons of other permutations....

come on you arn't serious are you

[AFKAFSinLOS]

At the risk of sounding facetious... why not just type into Google: "website seo optimisation thailand" and see who comes up on the first page... they will certainly be strong on proof of concept...

[bino]

come on you arn't serious are you

Absolutely serious.

Have a look at the URL of this very page for an example. I've noticed that Thaivisa (or probably more accurately, the IPB software) has recently implemented "mod rewrite" functionality, which magically transforms cryptic PHP addresses, like this:

thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?act=Post&CODE=02&f=13&t=198028&qpid=2075237

into search engine friendly HTML addresses, like this:

thaivisa.com/forum/Website-Design-Seo-t198028.html

Pay close attention to how the keywords from the thread title have been extracted and separated by - dashes - to create the best possible URL for the benefit of search engine spiders.

Kao jai, krap?

Edit- changed the automatically inserted link tags to code tags for clarity.

Edited July 8, 2008 by bino

[Amsterdam]

My wife has a small business that is doing well locally. We have discussed it and believe that it is time to create a website.

I am now trying to find someone to hire to do this for me. I have done an initial search of companies offering these services but I would like to hear if anyone on this site has any recomendations of companies they have used in the past and how much they paid for these services.

I would also like some advice as to what questions I should be asking when talk to these companies or pit falls that I should try and avoid.

Requirements:

1. Doesn't need to be overly fancy but should look professional (not home-made)

2. Would include approximately 100-200 pictures of products

3. Would include a online purchasing tool

4. Primary target is English speakers, but depending on the cost Thai and other Languages may be added as well.

5. Search Engine Optimization (although from what I have read this may have to wait 3 months before it can be done)

Maybe my friend can help you out. http://www.lijbers.com/ he is currently in bangkok but in a week or two he might move up north not sure.

Best of luck

Amsterdam

[CWMcMurray]

I want to thank everyone for their advice and help. I have found some one to help me with the design of the website, a TV member and we are following most of the advice given on this thread, so thank you all again.

[seobangkok]

Dashes are best used in the URL to separate keywords, although it doesn't matter for the domain name with regards to SEO - The reason being that other sites linking to you will most likely add spaces between the words and you'll obviously add spaces between the words in the body text.

An example: type "seobangkok" or "seo bangkok" into google : the top site is listed for either combinations.

Personally I prefer domains without dashes, they seem a little easier to remember and are a little less spammy in my opinion

I always give the same advice to any newbies starting out on-line: learn SEO and outsource the rest. Outsourcing design and development is very cheap, whereas hiring someone that knows SEO inside out works out very expensive. Check out seomoz.org - A great site dedicated to teaching newbies SEO.

[BerndK]

If your business is mostly online, the offline issues of dealing with dashes are not so important since you don't need to tell people how to spell the name and they won't forget the dashes....copy and paste.

[BerndK]

Sometimes it's better to use dashes in your domain name

Which is easier to read?...

bestpricesonthenet.com or... best-prices-on-the-net.com

I disagree on using dashes and I would never have a domain with a dash in it this is also easy to read

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

Using dashes in a url isn't so bad... search engines will prefer them.

bestpricesonthenet.com

A search engine will have to figure out if this says:

BestPricesOnTheNet.com

or

BeStpRicesOnTheNet.com

or

BestPriceSonThenEt.com

Or tons of other permutations....

Not sure where you get your information from.