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BuyDomains Newsletter

September 2006
BuyDomains: New Partnership with Web.com Offers Customers More Choices for Online Marketing Services
BuyDomains is pleased to announce our new partnership with Web.com.

Web.com, Inc. is the leading destination for the simplest, yet most powerful solutions for websites and web services. Web.com offers do-it-yourself and professional website design, website hosting, ecommerce, web marketing and email.

Since 1995, Web.com has been helping individuals and small businesses leverage the power of the Internet to build a web presence. More than 4 million websites have been built using Web.com's proprietary tools, services and patented technology.

Windows packages include:
Technical Specifications
Web Storage 2.5 GB
Bandwidth (Transfer) 100 GB
E-mail Addresses 150
Dedicated IP Address Included
24x7 Support Included
Website Backups Included
E-mail Features
E-mail Storage 1.5 GB
E-mail Aliases 1500
E-mail Autoresponders 150
E-mail Forwarding Included
Web E-mail (Browser Based E-mail) Included
POP3 E-mail Client Capability Included
Virus & Spam Protection CatchGuard Included
Click Here to Learn More About Hosting Through Web.com
Building Brand Online: Tips for the Small Business Owner
Building Brand
Business Owner Entire MBA courses, books and conferences address the theme of brand building, so we won't describe all the models here. Suffice it to say that a few themes emerge from all the literature, speeches and opinions about building brand successfully:
  • The study of branding is linked with the study of human psychology. Brand recognition is both a rational and an emotional experience.
  • Brand recognition can range from recalling a TV ad, identifying a logo or recognizing a musical jingle. Did you know that most TV viewers said that "zoom, zoom, zoom" was a fun jingle that went with an automobile ad, but few could identify Mazda as the car it advertised?
  • Brand awareness isn't enough to build a successful enterprise. Pets.com had incredible brand awareness with its sock puppet and its 2001 Super Bowl ad, but it shut down that same year because it couldn't make any money.
  • Building up a brand name matters more in some areas than in others. People buy some things by brand name: household appliances, fast food, soft drinks, beer and alcohol, cars and athletic shoes, for example. Other items could never be branded: milk is an example. Still other items are almost synonymous with their brand name: Scotch tape and Kleenex tissues are strong examples.
  • Perceived quality is important. Quality isn't enough.
  • Your brand should conjure up positive associations in the minds of consumers.
  • The desires outcome of brand building and brand recognition is ultimately brand loyalty. This has become more challenging than ever as the online marketplace appears to encourage consumer schizophrenia.

The Online Advantage in Brand Building
The internet provides many opportunities for building your brand that just aren't available offline:
  • Reduced Cost of Publishing Information. Think about the costs of mailing thick catalogs, the cost of paper, and the expense of delivering flyers. The internet lets you tout your products and publish photographs at a tiny fraction of the cost. You can show your latest fashions in thumbnail and enlarged sizes. You can show the product in different colors and you can have variations in style. Granted that the cost of server space isn't free, but you can reach 100,000 customers as cheaply as you can 1,000.
  • Interactivity. You can show interest in your customers by asking for feedback, answering product questions and inviting them to return to your site. While the human greeter is absent online, neither do you have to worry, that grumpy employees can turn customers away. Your website can offer incentives, related products and advice without a reminder, and at the end of the day, it doesn't show fatigue.
  • A Consumer Research Tool. Consumers can and do use the internet for comparison shopping. If you ignore this capability, your business can sink fast. They have access to your competition, but you do too. Ignore them at your peril.
  • No Time and Space Limitations. Your customers can visit your site at midnight in their pajamas. And they never get a busy signal. They can buy more than they can carry and they don't have to have space for the baby in the shopping cart.
  • Reduced Geographical Limitations. If you set up currency converters and overseas shipping, you can reach a broad audience all over the globe. In this day and age, many people are choosing to retire in foreign countries where the cost of living is lower, knowing that they can order their favorite coffee beans and books online.
  • The Competitive Advantage. You might feel that you're arrived too late and your competition has established its web presence well ahead of you. But you have access to all of their information, just by looking. You can even check out their marketing strategies. Your advantage is that you can identify a niche and position your products as distinctive from the competition's just by looking at what they already do. Don't forget, however, that once you're online, they can do the same.
  • Responsiveness to Consumer Needs. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage. More than ever, you have access to market data, consumer responses you've gathered yourself and opportunities to fine tune and customize your products and services according to what your potential and actual customers tell you. A slow response time, though, can kill your brand. You don't want to be given a Dud award in chat rooms and blogs across the world.
  • Strategic Partnerships. Have you noticed that Starbucks has more and more of its outlets inside bookstores and grocery stores? Online strategic partnerships are easier and less expensive to engineer. You can build your brand on the web site of a strategic partner who isn't in competition with you.
  • Scalability. Experts are discussing the limits of growth with more caution these days. They've noticed that rapid growth didn't wipe out some of the online success stories.
  • Viral Marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing has always been a highly desirable outcome of brand building. Online businesses don't have to leave this to chance. You can ask your customer directly for his friends' e-mail addresses and send them all discount coupons so they can visit your site. If they have a positive experience, they'll want to tell their friends too.
  • Online Communities. Shopping is a social experience. Your potential customers may well associate shopping on your site with a social visit too. Barnes and Noble did this well. Every book you buy is reviewed by professionals and any reader is welcome to come back and write his own review. The online service e-Diets customizes diets and exercise for subscribers, and invites them to join forums for groups ranging from busy moms to over-fifties to teenagers.
  • Something for Nothing. You can build brand quickly if you offer something that no one else does. Microsoft built a community of 12 million users in just eighteen months when it launched Hotmail.com, its system of free user e-mail accounts.
You can buy ads online, you can publish your URL on business cards, you can drive traffic to your site with TV ads and you can optimize your site perfectly. What counts, though, is the positive consumer experience when they reach your site. All aspects of your site must be appealing, from arrival to checkout. If the internet has made one thing quick and easy, it's leaving the store.
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Hiring a Web Designer for Your Small Business Site
Web DesignerYou have several choices when looking for a web site design company for your online business. Don't spend too much time worrying about whether you're contracting with an individual or a large company. In most contracts, large companies specify that they reserve the right to subcontract the work anyway. You may studiously avoid hiring an individual working from home in Thailand, and it turns out that's exactly who got the subcontract anyway. The advantage of using an established company, of course, is that responsibility for the quality of the work rests with them.

Where to Look for Custom Web Site Design
Most small businesses looking for a web site designer to employ in-house have little trouble finding candidates, particularly if they're located in a large metropolitan area. Job seekers post their resumes online with employment services like monster.com. Still other use freelance employment services, particularly if they prefer to work from home. Many small businesses find web site designers on Craig's List.

Whether you're looking at resumes online or interviewing a candidate in your office, be sure to ask the prospect for a portfolio of web sites that he or she created. Be specific if you're planning an e-commerce site, asking to see samples that include catalog shopping or databases or whatever features you're interested in for your own site.

Freelance sites have an added advantage. They often require candidates to post portfolios of their work. Alternately, you can take out a membership in a freelance site, post your specifications, and review the bids you receive. Your membership will include the right to review portfolios of promising candidates.

What Web Designers Expect From You
Experienced web site designers may send you a form to fill out or interview you on the phone. Before they give you a cost estimate, they'll want to know:
  • what type of site you want: e-commerce or general information site
  • whether you want a new site created from scratch, an upgrade or a redesign
  • whether you're launching a new business or adding an online component to an established business
  • your best estimate of your level of knowledge about web site design
  • what content you'll provide: text, photographs and graphics, audio, video, layout requirements, a site map, etc., or whether you expect the designer to provide some or all of the content
  • whether you have a registered domain name or need a new one
  • the level of site maintenance you'll require
  • the focus of your site (your goals and purpose)
  • what advanced features you'll require (such as streaming audio or video, database management, security and/or a shopping cart)
  • your timelines for final delivery
  • your budget range (a small site for limited services or a few products may cost less than $1,000 but large projects may exceed $10,000).
Provide the most accurate information you can and don't promise content that you can't deliver. You're better off getting a realistic estimate than entering into a contract that ends up peppered with change orders. Changes are likely to send your costs skyrocketing and they'll certainly nullify the deadline for completion.

Web Design Contracts
A good contract protects both you and the designer. You can avoid delays by studying standard contracts in advance and list the changes you want promptly. You can even supply the contract, if the designer agrees to forego the use of the company form. Print out a sample contract that you can find online with a simple "web design contract" search.

The following items are standards in web site design contracts:
  • a list of the services the contractor provides (many include a fixed number of hours of telephone consultation at the beginning)
  • who (you or the contractor) supplies text, graphics, video, etc.
  • a list of the graphics enhancements they supply, such as a masthead with your company logo, navigation buttons, etc.
  • whether they install your web site with your web hosting service, or whether they will serve as your web host
  • the list of browsers with which your site will be compatible
  • whether they submit the pages to search engines, optimize your content and provide marketing assistance
  • whether they will provide a link to your company e-mail address on each page
  • who supplies the site map
  • the technical features you need such as a shopping cart or visitor response form
  • the dates of delivery of any files that you agree to supply
  • hourly rates for maintenance and client changes
  • a completion date, based on the deadlines for content delivery being met on schedule
  • a fee schedule, including a down payment, although small jobs under $1,000 may have to be paid in full at the outset
  • the right to subcontract part or all of the work
  • disclaimers, transfer of copyright and other standard legalities (most designers retain the copyright for content they supplied until the project is paid in full)
  • their refund policies if you abort the project prior to completion.
Once you have a copy of the contract in hand, you'll be in a hurry to sign it and get started, but you'd be wise to slow down and have a lawyer review the terms. A lawyer can do this for $200 or $300 — well worth the price if you're spending thousands on your web site.

What Can Go Wrong?
If you did your research and hired a good contractor, you can still end up with a disappointing product. The bottom line, of course, is that you have only three choices if you don't like the results: swallow your disappointment and use the site anyway, demand all or part of your money back (good luck!) or sue the contractor.

You can save yourself money and headaches if you anticipate what can go wrong and avoid the common traps:
  • Never, ever miss a deadline. If you've agreed to supply content by a specific date and you don't send your text, graphics and other files on time, the company is free to renegotiate all deadlines. If your content is extensive or you're right in the middle of a catalog change, wait until you're ready before you begin the project.
  • Send polished content. Hire an editor to proofread your text. Check your photographs, audio and video to make sure you won't have to make changes later. If you do, you'll add to the cost and delay completion.
  • Mark your calendar. All benchmarks and deadlines are specified in the contract. You have no excuse for missing a date, so give yourself (and your employees) plenty of time to review the work. If you have a 5-day period to approve a section of the work and the employee you designated happens to be absent during that time, you must be ready to do it yourself or designate someone else to do it.
  • Study the contract. Know what to expect if the work doesn't meet your specifications. Often, such problems are the result of miscommunication, so keep all e-mails and records of phone calls. You can bet that the "nice guy" who's taking your money has a record of everything you specified and he (or she) can show you exactly what you said and how it matches what they delivered.
  • Communicate clearly. If you must submit a change order, be very clear about what you want. Avoid leaving any detail open to interpretation.
Much of what goes wrong in web site development is related to missed deadlines and poor communication. You can't blame the contractor for doing what you said, so anticipate the need for changes. If you're nervous about a large project, ask for more frequent checks in the contract. This may delay the final launch, but you're more likely to get exactly what you need.

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