This month I would like to clarify some simple concepts to make your Web site active and begin to attract a growing number of new students. In previous columns, I emphasized the importance of developing a Web presence to increase your bottom line. I have explained the main steps of targeting different audiences with different sections of your Web site. I also helped you to develop useful and search-engine-friendly content to attract more business as well as good ratings in the search engines. Last month’s column provided some food for thought as to who you should choose to create your site: a friend, student or professional Web designer.
Whatever decisions you’ve made about your Web site, there are a series of other concepts you must understand and “technical” tasks you must complete before your Web site can go live. Don’t let that word, technical, scare you; but I believe that you’ll be able to make better and informed decisions if you understand a few of these concepts.
After having chosen your key phrase, you’ll want to determine if it is available as a domain name; however, before focusing on the domain name, let’s talk about the anatomy of a Web site address. For example, let’s analyze “http://www.YourSchoolYourCity.com.” The entire string of letters and symbols is called a URL or Uniform Resource Locator; and it consists of various parts.
You don’t have to be concerned with “http” (or hyper text transfer protocol) because it just signifies that whatever follows it is a Web page we can view in a browser (Internet Explorer, for example) and can be indexed by a search engine. The “www” portion is called a sub domain; more on how to use sub domains later. “YourSchoolYourCity” is the domain name, and that, including .com or .net, is our focus here. One item to note: make sure your domain name (including the .com or whatever ending) does not exceed 63 characters.
In a perfect world http://www.YourSchoolYourCity.com will be available, and you will be able to register this domain and “own” it for however long you have it registered. First, go to one of the many online services that offer a search function to determine if the domain name is available, I like to use www.GoDaddy.com. I like it because I can go to the Web site, enter a domain name to be searched and register it if it is available.
GoDaddy.com is easy, and if, in the future, you must transfer other domains or forward this one to another name, then it is very user-friendly. GoDaddy is considered a registrar. If you have hired someone to do this for you, then make sure you are listed as the administrative contact, use an email address you know you will have for a long time, and save (please save) your login information. It can be a real headache to retrieve lost login information.
In addition to a registrar (where you will register your domain name), you will need a hosting service. This is your Web site’s rental space, where the contents are stored, so they can be viewed on the World Wide Web. Hosting services are not created equal; some can be quite pricey and not offer much beyond hosting your site, while other will provide you with a bag of goodies to your advantage, such as hundreds of email boxes for your business. You will find additional resources on these subjects at www.websiteskarate.com.
After you create your powerful, search-engine-friendly content, determine the appropriate key phrase, register your domain (based on that key phrase) and set up your hosting service, you are then ready to go live.
One last reminder: Whether you create your Web site, ask a friend to do it or hire a professional, make sure the design is simple and adds to your message. In my first column, I had mentioned how you could have the perfect message and never be found.
For example, many Web sites were created with Flash, a special Web software, (although that is changing), which allows for plenty of animation. These Web sites are “flashy,” with movement and action, but the problem is that search engines cannot read any of the text. You need a special program to view these sites and they take longer to load on your Web browser. Make sure you’re not wowed by just the look of a site, always keep in mind its functionality, first.
Read next
- NAPMA Martial Arts Success Stories: Learn the Low-Cost, Yet Effective, Internet Marketing Secrets of NAPMA Inner Circle Member Jason Yi
- Positioning Your Martial Arts School
- Create a Referral Culture: Business culture affects staff as well as customers
- Creating Automatic Referrals: Having a Great Program and Student Relationship is Simply NOT Enough
