Looking For A Web Developer & Server To Host Site

[marquess]

Dear all I am thinking of starting a small business and want a reliable Web developer to design a site for me, any idea of the costs, also can anyone give me any info about any severs that could host my site, again with cost? Thanks in advance, I am in Bangkok by the way!

[Xircal]

Try some of these: http://www.thaiwebsi...m/webdesign.asp You can make judgements about a designer based on the way they've designed their own site.

But do decide what you want before you approach any of them. So do you want a Flash based site, or just an HTML? Do avoid building a site with integrated sound though. There's nothing more irritating than to be subjected to annoying background music while you're trying to read the information on a given site. Same goes for Flash. It's OK in small doses, but can be very distracting when you're trying to read something.

[marquess]

Try some of these: http://www.thaiwebsi...m/webdesign.asp You can make judgements about a designer based on the way they've designed their own site.

But do decide what you want before you approach any of them. So do you want a Flash based site, or just an HTML? Do avoid building a site with integrated sound though. There's nothing more irritating than to be subjected to annoying background music while you're trying to read the information on a given site. Same goes for Flash. It's OK in small doses, but can be very distracting when you're trying to read something.

Thanks, I agree about sites that play music as soon as you log on to them, most annoying. A subtle harp might be forgivable but anything more than that. I will check out those sites.

[Pria]

We've just posted a Website creation 101 article that covers the question of hosting and domain name purchasing raised in your post.

The problem with posting any responses on this forum is that there are 100 instant armchair "experts" who'll pop up and give you so many pieces of advice that within a day or so you're head will be full of so many "don't do this", and "you must do that" that you'll end up having a brain fart trying to work out what is valid and what is not.

The first thing is to choose a name for your website and see if it is available for purchase. If you are totally clueless in this area it's best you find a development company to hold your hand along the way - but don't expect having someone you can contact every 20-minutes with a basic question to do that for free.

Irrespective of that, ensure you purchase your domain name (the name of your website) using your credit card / debit card to ensure you own the name and it can't be stolen by an unscrupulous designer.

Secondly when it comes to hosting it depends whether your primary target audience is located inside of Thailand or outside.

Thirdly, You want a Linux operating system host as the vast majority of websites are built to run on a Unix operating system. Our advice is to stay away from Windows hosting providers. When selecting a host you want to examine their up-time history and what applications they offer and their services for installing applications.

Purchase your hosting, as well as your domain name, for at least two years. Ignore the often sprouted advise that you shouldn't purchase your domain name from your hosting provider. There is no solid foundation for this advice. Carefully examine offers by hosting providers who offer free domain names. Some do, but the deal is not always as good as it appears. Read our article to find out why.

Decide whether you are going to update the website yourself, or whether you want the developers to update it for you. Update I hear you say? Yes. If you just get someone to develop a website for you and throw it up on the internet and expect it to generate business for you then you're better off spending your money hiring some pretties to stand out the front of MBK handing out leaflets.

If you have limited technical knowledge then a website using Wordpress as the content management system (CMS) is probably ideal for you. If the mere mention of updating your website causes a cold chill to run down your back fear not. Hop over to Wordpress.com and set up a blog and have a play. It's free and you'll see it's not as terrifying as you might think.

No doubt there will be more than a handful of people who will post you links to template directories. Templates are wonderful, but if you don't know how to edit them then it's largely wasting your time, apart from letting you see the different layouts that are available.

You haven't said what type of website you want, or what sort of business you're contemplating.

If you're looking for a "Hey world here I am website" that you're just going to throw up and forget about it "because every business has to have a website" then better you keep looking for those pretties to hand out leaflets.

Now that you've thrown this into a public forum you'll get inundated with loads of offers for websites starting at anything from about Bt4,000 upwards. You get what you pay for. If you're going to be selling directly from your website then you need an eCommerce solution and a properly constructed, well SEO'd eComerce website will cost you about Bt40,000 up.

Do you want a bi-lingual website? Are you aiming only at English speaking customers? If so then you need to factor in the cost of professional translation services in the case of Thai and English. For this combination you will basically be building two websites at the same time for while Google translate works reasonably well with some cross language translations its Thai to English isn't one that comes anywhere near being at a useful level yet.

Professional search engine optimization and written/edited original content needs to be included in any design project, or else you're back to looking for those pretties.

Asking about hosting before contemplating design is the perfect way to approach your new project and shows you're approaching this in the correct manner. Just be careful you don't loose your focus from all the smoke and mirrors you're about to encounter and be wary of the snake oil salesmen (and women).

[Crushdepth]

You get what you pay for

Absolutely true. One of the problems with web development is there is almost always someone willing to do a worse job for less. Avoid the bottom of the barrel offers and look mid range.

I would also suggest ignoring all those unsolicited offers you have received by now, look around and approach a reputable company yourself. This is a bit like grabbing a waiting taxi in a tourist area vs

[Crushdepth]

...vs grabbing one passing by on the street, if you see what I mean.

[dddave]

Great information, Pria.

[MikeWill]

Take a look at: Web Master ... PM or email me the details of your business.

[phuket Mike]

Wow great post Pria, although having read it all I'd go with the Pretties sounds much more fun than a web site.

On a serious note don't forget Facebook, create a fan page for your business and link it to your web site. Don't listen to all the negatives about Facebook, 500M users, believe me it's worthwhile. I have 2 sites that get 25% of their traffic from Facebook fan pages.