Why should I have a website? 

• Today more than ever, people are using the Internet to find out the things they need to know, and to do the things they need to do.
• No matter the size of your business, your website is the most powerful AND most cost-effective direct marketing tool that you can have.
• A website will allow you greater exposure, not just locally but nationally and even internationally!
• A website offers more convenient contact with your customers and clients, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What sort of website should I have? 

• Websites range from basic one-page HTML information pages, to complex multi-level sites incorporating things like e-commerce shopping, booking systems, member signup functionality and newsletters.
• Websites have many different purposes too - some are purely for informing customers while others are for selling, promoting, gaining new business or catering to existing business, among other things.
• Whatever the purpose, it's important that you decide exactly what you want to achieve with your website, and what functionality you want it to have, before you start talking to web designers - you don't want to be paying for things you don't need, and alternatively you don't want to be constantly adding new things in and getting charged a lot more than you originally anticipated.
• The best kind of website to have long-term is the kind you can update yourself.  Today's Content Management System (CMS) style websites separate look & feel from content and allow you to have total control over your content.  They may cost a little more to set up initially but updating your own content over the long-term will be infinitely cheaper.

What is a domain name? 

• Domain names are used to identify particular web pages.  For example, our domain name is bizmums.com.au.
• Every domain name has a top level suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to.  There are only limited TLDs:
• gov - Government agencies
• edu - Educational institutions
• org - Organizations (nonprofit)
• com - commercial business
• net - Network organizations
• au - Australia
• nz - New Zealand

How do I get a website and a domain name? 

• Doing a Google search on "domain name registration" and "website hosting" and "website design" will produce a list of companies that provide these services.
• Visit Whirlpool, the Australian Broadband News website, and search the FAQs or the Discussion Forum.
• Click here to see what the company hosting the Bizmums site is offering.
• Visit our Business Directory and search the Business Services category.

We are also offering a free article in our Downloads section - What should I consider when choosing my domain name?  (You must be registered/logged-in to download).

How much is all this going to cost? 

There are 3 main costs to getting a website.  Costs can vary widely so make sure you shop around: 

• Domain name registration in Australia is for a 2 year period and can vary anywhere from $35 to $140+ per name.
• Web hosting costs also vary, depending on the size of site you want (ie. lots of graphics will take up more space) and the associated resources (ie. hourly vs daily vs weekly backups, number of email addresses, fancy control panels, etc.).  I've seen hosting costs from as little as $10/month for small-ish sites.
• Web design costs depend entirely on you and the designer you choose.  A basic CMS site can start from about $400.

You may also need to budget for things such as logo design and other graphic costs, and if you need any specific programming that the web designer doesn't cover.

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