1. SI North-East Group 18 April 2012 Presentation by Sarah O’Donoghue
Websites for indexers
SI North-East Group
18 April 2012
Presentation by Sarah O’Donoghue

2. Contents Why have a website? How to set up a website
The elements of a website
Building your site
Managing your pages
Connecting your address to your site
Broad layout guidelines
Next steps

3. DISCLAIMER I am NOT a professional website builder.
I’m an enthusiastic amateur who came up
through science-fiction fan communities in
the 1990s, building websites to reflect my
interests and those of friends. In this
presentation I aim to pass on what I have
learned and help you avoid my mistakes!

4. Why have a website?
As a freelance professional, an internet presence is vital for gaining new business
A website gives clients a comprehensive, one-stop location to find out about you and your services
It provides you with a hub for all your online activities

5. How to set up a website: introduction
A website consists of three main elements:
A domain name (your address)
Website hosting space (your virtual house)
Your website pages (the rooms in your house)

6. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
Your domain name is your online address.
How much you pay for an online address
depends on the ‘catchiness’ of the name you
want. Think of it as a car licence plate: a
bog-standard ABC1 DEF won’t cost anything
extra; the vanity plate FAB 1NDEXER would
cost a lot.

7. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
Most website hosting companies will give
you an address for free, but it will be
something like
If you want
you’ll have to pay a domain name
registration service to bag it.

8. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
Be aware that you will never ‘own’ your
address; you rent it from the registration
service. The catchier the name the more it
will cost: a .co.uk address will cost around
£8 a year but a .com will be around £12.
You can also purchase extras like
forwarding.

9. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
Many registration services will also offer to
host your website (sell you your land as
well as your address) but you’ll pay for it.
It’s better to use a free hosting service.
More about those later.

10. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
There are many
registration
companies out there
but I use
They’re reputable and
reasonably priced.

11. How to set up a website: domain names (your address)
Most registration companies work in similar
ways:
Sign up for an account
Build your website
Publish it to the web

12. How to set up a website: website hosting space
There are many free hosting services. They
make their money from ‘optional extras’
Advertising
Selling domain names
Other services

13. How to set up a website: website hosting space
There is an excellent comparison of free
website hosts at Wikipedia (see links at end)

14. How to set up a website: website hosting space
My preferred host is Weebly (
because:
It has an intuitive interface
Every element is drag & drop
It allows blogging, embedding and slideshows

15. How to set up a website: website hosting space
Most hosting space sites work in similar
ways:
Sign up for an account (get your house)
Build your website (put the rooms in)
Publish it to the web (tell the Post Office your address)

16. The elements of a website: the house analogy
Websites are like houses. You need a front
door. A website’s front door is called the
Home Page.
From your home page visitors can click on
buttons to your other pages (rooms) from a
menu bar.

17. The elements of a website
Every website is different and should be tailored to
your specific needs. Aside from the home page
your indexing services website could have pages
for:
A profile
CV/experience
Rates
Contact details
Relevant links

18. The elements of a website: Home Page
This is the first page your visitor will see so it needs to be clear and easy to navigate
It needs to include links to your other pages, some information about the purpose of the site and a clear title
Apart from that, the sky’s the limit!

19. The elements of a website: A Home Page
Banner
Profile picture
Widgits (optional flashy stuff!)
Menu bar
The page design and layout came pre-loaded. It’s called a template and each host has dozens you can choose from and adapt.

20. Building your site Weebly allows you to drag & drop every element
you want into your page, just like a Powerpoint
presentation.

21. Building your site: Weebly menu options

22. Building your site: adding a contact form
A contact form looks more professional than a simple address at the bottom of your homepage. You can instruct your web host to forward messages straight to your .

23. Building your website: managing your pages
Here you can add and edit pages, and also create subpages. All web hosts will have similar setups.

24. How to set up a website:connecting your address to your house
Now we come to three important terms:
DNS records (Domain Name Server records)
‘A’ records (Alias records)
IP address
Think of DNS records as the Post Office, ‘A’
records as your house name and the IP address as
your official address.

25. How to set up a website:connecting your address to your house
So…
Your ‘A’ record. Everyone
knows your house by its
name.
Your IP address. The Post
Office needs to know your
‘real’ address to deliver
Your mail.
Here’s your website
Here’s your address

26. How to set up a website: in the DNS ‘Post Office’
IP Address: Your ‘proper’ address.
‘A’ records: Your house name

27. How to set up a website:connecting your address to your house
You have to tell the Post Office (the Domain Name
Server page of your domain registration site)
what your address is (the IP address at your
hosting site) using the ‘A’ (Alias) records. This is so
the DNS can send you your mail (your site’s
visitors)
This sounds scary but every web host and
registration site will give you detailed help and
instructions.

28. Broad layout guidelines
All your pages should be uniform in design, utilising the same colour scheme, design and layout (like this presentation)
Don’t clutter your pages (KISS applies!)
Make sure your contact details are easy to spot

29. Next steps
Once you are happy with your website consider adding links to your Facebook, Twitter, and the SI site
Add a ‘contact’ form
Add ‘widgits’, a blog or embed videos, audio or slideshow images

30. Useful links www.lcn.com http://www.weebly.com/