Ferguson Photography and Design

A GUIDE TO PLANNING A WEBSITE

Having a website is a virtual requirement for a modern business. Would you run your business without a phone line or business cards? In today's world, having a website is just as important. Unfortunately, website design often seems complicated and intimidating. In reality, you only need three things to get your website live and on the internet: content, address and host.

Content is the best place to start in planning your website. What do you want your website visitors to see and and do? An important concept to understand before we delve far into this topic: Websites can and should be treated like a restaurant's "Specials Board". They should be changed regularly. Creating a website is not like ordering 20,000 printed catalogs. You aren't "stuck" with the same catalog for the next 18 months. You can (and should) change a website anytime you have something new to say or show or offer.

Content (what your visitors see and do) determines what type of site you need. Many businesses simply need to present text and still images (photographs, charts, logo, illustrations) and provide contact info (email link, phone number, address). Ferguson Photography and Design offers an "Economy Template" site for these customers. Other businesses want to include animated effects (things that move and dance), slide shows (automatically changing static picture shows) or zoom images (the ability to zoom into or out of detailed images). For these customers we offer the Custom XHTML sites. If you intend to sell directly from your website via credit card transactions, we offer complete E-Commerce sites.

Collecting your existing content is a great first step in planning your website. Find all of the existing photographic files or prints that you may want to use. Consider using the text from existing catalogs, sell sheets or advertising as a "starting point" for your website copy. Find an electronic copy of your company logo (or at least a large print of it).

An Address for your website can be obtained before, during or after the design process. Each website needs a unique address, called a URL, that allows customers to find you. Typically a company wants "www.yourname.com". Unfortunately, the internet is now so popular that many names are already taken. You may need to be flexible and creative in finding an appropriate URL. Ferguson Photography and Design can help in determining available names and in registering your URL with the proper agencies.

Hosting is the service of actually "broadcasting" your finished website so that the whole world can see it. Ferguson Photography and Design is happy to work with your existing hosting company or we can host your new site. We offer both a basic hosting package or a full featured hosting plan with company email accounts and visitor reports.

805-577-6914
Simi Valley, CA
(Where Northwest Los Angeles City
meets Southern Ventura County )

Studio location is in Simi Valley, just northwest of Los Angeles. We are a short drive from the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Westlake Village, Camarillo, Agoura Hills, Newbury Park, Calabasas, Canoga Park, Northridge, Chatsworth, Granada Hills, Reseda, Valencia and Woodland Hills. Available for location work throughout Southern California.