Starting a Website
Since moving back to Alabama I have noticed that there are lots of businesses that do not have websites. In today’s world of the internet that is almost appalling. With the low cost of having a website and creating one is very easy. In today’s world of working and living online not having a website is preventing visibility to internet using customers.
Example:
My favorite local restaurant, Campbells Field, located miles from anything that resembles modern civilization. I even tried looking them up in the phone book and could not find them. This quaint little restaurant has excellent food and for cheap and situated next a great view of a local working airport. They have T-shirts and sponsor local little league baseball teams. They have a marketing plan that is based solely on word of mouth. Over the past few years I have put reviews and resources out to help promote them out of the kindness of my heart for the community.
The fact they don’t have a website or being listed in the phone book is hurting their growth.
In my opinion every business needs a website at least helping promote themselves locally. No matter the business having a website is simple. With the abundance of hosting providers that provide free domains and hosting for only $3.99 a month. Once you sign up they even give you automated tools to build a website. With about 30 minutes of work you can have a webpage that will bring you business that will pay for the cost within a few customers.
The host I use 1and1.com has several plans that are economical and are great for a first website. You don’t need a fancy designer or expensive web team. Most of these services make it “so easy even a caveman can do it.” Click the banners or use the domain search form to see if your company name is available. Even if you don’t want to create a webpage it is wise to purchase your companies domain name. You don’t want someone using your name.
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Here is a recommendation to all small business owners no matter what you do. Buy your domain name setup a few page website no matter what it looks like. Put information about your services and how to contact you. A link back to my website will help raise the style, class, and look for your website.
One thing to remember though about having a website is a direct reflection on your business. So take that extra step create the website. If you feel that it is necessary barter with an employee, family member, friend to help you. The idea is to save on cost until it proves to you that you will get a return on your investment. The more time and money you spend on the design, development, and promotion of the website will get you a larger return on investment.
Promoting your new website can be time consuming but with all the social media outlets it has become easier. If you don’t promote it then don’t expect a large return on your investment. Having a page with links to it means it will promote itself naturally and require little input from you.
So Purchase your web address set it up on a basic hosting plan that has automated web building tools and you will be on your way into the future. Check out 1and1.com as they have the entry level plans I recommend.
If you have questions about setting up your first webpage don’t hesitate to contact me.
Hotlinking Causing Bandwidth overages?
Last week I posted about .htaccess and put a brief snippet about blocking hotlinks. Hotlinks are direct links to a web site’s files (images, video, etc.). Find out more about hotlinking, here. Hotlinking can cause bandwidth overages if you are the victim of hotlinking.
To stop hotlinking
In your .Htaccess file enter the:
RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.domain.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteRule .*.(gif|GIF|jpg|JPG|png|PNG|doc|DOC|pdf|PDF|txt|TXT|pl|PL|ico|ICO|css|CSS|js|JS)$ – [F]
By modifying the "RewriteCond" you can allow hotlinking from certain domains. You want to make sure you allow linking from your domain. The method above allows links from only the domain listed. "www.domain.com" should be changed to the url you would link for the files to appear. I block access to all files in my site that I do not want linked in other domains.
Reasons to be hotlinked
There is a certain school of thought that believes that some SEO "link Juice" will be passed from using links to these files. I have not found this to be true. Also, blocking images in this way is supposed to block files from appearing in search indexes and databases. Just the inverse of this it can help you get exposure via Image search or files if they are indexed. If you are an artist or graphic designer you may want your images to appear in search. That decision has to be made by you. I have seen some pretty nifty javascript and php code that will allow the files to be indexed in google/yahoo/live/ask image results and when clicked on it directs you to the page where usage requirements are shared and the images held for purchase.
Hosting Hotlinked Images
If you plan to host hotlinked images you need to be prepared for the extra bandwidth usage. Don’t forget to check with your host to make sure you have a proper plan for your planned usage. I have found 1and1.com to have adequate hosting plans that are inexpensive and very reliable. But if you post a video I recommend using a streaming video service such as YouTube or Google Video. A couple downloads and you have already depleted your bandwidth usage. In addition to using a lot of bandwidth it can also use a lot of system resources if the video will be streaming.
Bonus Information and video
Matt Cutts, a Star Google employee, talks about proper usage of image ALT attributes. If you are going to allow hotlinking it is best that you meet standards for inclusion. Whether you allow hotlinking or not it is a great idea to use the alt attribute as it makes it more accessible for screen readers and is simply an overall usability standard.
I do not want to share my bandwidth without consent. If someone contacted me with a request to share images it wouldn’t be a problem. What do you think hotlinking? To let others hotlink or to block hotlinking?