I was listening to a CD given to me by a client recently and it was about marketing and promoting your business and how to get a good web presence. But something the speaker said really made me sit up and take notice. She was explaining that the reason why many great looking websites don’t achieve well on search engines was because ‘web designers are artists’. Well, I’m here to tell you they are NOT!

Many people confuse Graphic Designers with Web Designers and I agree that many Graphic Designers also do websites, but not all Web Designers are graphic designers.

When I have people approach me to do their websites and they start telling me what logo they want and other images, I have to explain that I will need to outsource that work for them, unless they know a graphic designer themselves. I cannot provide that service to them personally. For that same reason, some people send me files created by graphic designers and expect that I will be able to access them or edit them - and frequently they are in a program that the graphic designer used.

I can certainly create websites and even use existing templates that have been sourced and purchased on your behalf, but I’m unable to edit graphics or create them from scratch. And there are many other web designers who operate the same. Consequently many work with teams so that they have graphic designers and others assisting them on some sites.

You’re looking to get a website but you have no idea what to do and what takes place. Here is a simple outline of what will happen when you go down this path.

There are three components to having a website:

1. URL or domain name - the address that tells people where to find your site.
2. Web space - the place where your website is hosted.
3. Web design - how your website looks.

Think of the above like this: Your website is like having a post office address - the URL is the post box number, the web space is the post office where your postbox is situated and your website is the material left in your mailbox for you to view. Only in this case, the whole world can view it too.

Now, some people elect to register their own domains and that can be done here via www.acsdomainservices.com - we don’t have to do that for you, but can if you would prefer.

Web hosting can be done by your ISP, whomever provides your internet connection for you, but many elect to purchase web hosting because of extras available to them.

Web design can be done by you if you have the ability and software to do it, or if a website builder program is available through your hosting. Or you may elect to pay someone to do it for you. Many like to get a blogsite instead and maintain that themselves, seeking occasional guidance from their web host and via blogging forums.

Or you can come to one place that provides all services for you, just as we do here at acswebservices.com.

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement re new services very soon!

Several members of my VA team are experiencing problems with the webhost they’ve been using and their websites and email have been down for over 4 days now. This is a real problem for anyone who runs their business online.

Whilst we might have occasional hiccups here, I have been with the service that our hosting is provided through for over 7 years and have been very happy with the service. That is why I feel confident in providing you a web hosting service also.

If you know someone who is experiencing web hosting challenges at the moment and cannot access their website or email, then please do encourage them to make contact with me at ACSWebservices. As long as they have access to their domain name and can make the relevant changes to pointing the DNS elsewhere I can have them back up in a few short hours - usually on the same day.

With the New Year around the corner, now is probably a good time to re-assess where you are at with your website. Does it need updating?

If you do it yourself, be mindful of how much web space you have left available to you - this can be found in the control panel as in the image shown here.  If you find you have less than 10megs left to you that can fill quickly with just a couple of email with attachments, or some images uploaded that haven’t been compressed.

Or, if you wish to set up a blog using Wordpress via the Fantastico control panel you’ll need at least 20megs to install, upload some templates and have space for blog posts.

If you need assistance, or simply need to increase your web space to the next size, please do contact me for action.  Hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a very successful and happy new year!

Just thought I’d send out a warning to you all - I’ve received three of these this morning to old email addresses and this one has very old postal information for me. These are bogus. They look official but it doesn’t mean you have an existing account with them.

Please ignore them if you get one or more.