Getting my own business website, any tips.

Within the next 6 months I shall be setting up in business as a sole trader.
Most of the leads will be generated by word of mouth, but i must have a website.
Do not want to go into the details of the business but prospective clients need to be able to view my work.
Any comments, ideas, or general observations on setting up websites are welcome.
I have no experience in this area.


Davex.

Forgot the name but I believe Gwyn use it.
It's a webhoster specially for photos and with some money you can add shop function and your own web-adress and the webpage is made by the hoster.

Since it's only for 6 months and don't think you should dive into making a website yourself.

Would not know where to start Stefan
To clarify;
The business will be launched ( on the internet) in about six months.
I have a startup budget of around £1,500 for the website and other publicity, it must look good.
Hopefully it will run for 8-10 years.
It does involve Photography, but is not selling images to the public or stock etc.


Davex.

Not me.

I use my own registered site, usually with jalbum skins/albums and don't even try to sell anything.

I develop and build system based websites, which encompass all likely needed functionality (more than is here at pentaxuser eg), and which are trivially easy for users to maintain and develop over time (where the real cost demons lie in wait). All F/LOSS software, some of it my own, and all very secure and efficient.

Much of my F/LOSS work involves supporting and/or advising users of my free software. So feel free to drop me a PM if you would like to discuss specifics or validate ideas. Business confidentiality not an issue.

You have a pm

Just a few points to think about:
- It is easier for the human eye to read dark print on a light background, than the reverse.
- Some typefaces are easier to read than others - we ran a survey a few years back and Tahoma came out on top.
- Keep away from red/green and blue/yellow combinations if you can - avoids most color-blindness problems.
- Think of the left handed user. Menus across the top of the screen or down the centre, will suit all. But you can make the virtual buttons wide enough to cover the centre if you really want a left-justified setup.
- Test the website for speed of loading - most viewers will wait no longer that 8 seconds for a page to load, unless they know it has something they want.
- Test the website on at least four browsers (Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari). It should look the way that you want it to on all of them.
Geoff

Keep it simple. I get the impression that a lot of sites end up with unnecessary bells and whistles because the web engineer convinced the owner that they should pay extra to have them. Flash especially is an abomination in most cases, and I hope a pitchfork-wielding mob track down the wally who wrote Photobucket's uploading page so that it displays as an unusable jumbled mess on my Eee PC!

That's a thought - check it on netbooks as well as different browsers to make sure the formatting adapts elegantly.

you have a pm
cheers
will

Good points from Geoff and Matt, particularly on Flash: I only use it when there is no real alternative, eg. page flipping viewer for PDF's, and then only when there is a non-flash alternative option available on the same page.

Rotating content displays at the top of the front page of a site in Flash make me laugh. This element was so important that it was afforded pride of place on the site, and then implemented in a technology that results a significant proportion of the visitors not seeing it at all! It's not that hard to do in HTML/CSS/Javascript without Flash.

Testing on all browsers and platforms is a huge and expensive task. Far better in this day and age to use a base system which has already dealt with all those issues, plus others such as accessibility for those using assistive readers. Then all the energy can be focused on on the site. KISS applies to development as well as the end product!

I'm not advertising for them and have no connection with them, although I'm currently considering joing as a member myself but it might well be worth considering joining "Welshot"

http://www.welshotimaging.co.uk/

I think it cost £120/yr but having spoke to Lee who runs it last week it would probably be very useful for your circumstances - I think you get 1hr with a webdesign company & 1hr with a solicitor included in the membership - there's other assistance too but I'm not going into it more as it will sound like I'm a salesman for them and I'm not. It's worth giving Lee a phonecall and having a chat as it may well be very helpful to get you started.

Simon

Thanks for all the comments folks,
And the PM offers of help and advice.
Think it safe to say I am sorted now.


Davex.

Sorry my mistake.

wix.com or photium.com

I would not suggest wix.com if you expect people to find you. Search engines have a difficult time searching for those sites. I am sure someone can elaborate more. Have you considered using Wordpress? There are many Wordpress pages out there. They are easy to set up, and you can host one for very cheap. Wix is definitely easier to set up, but it is not a good choice for SEO.