A. Website design is composed of three main items: Content, Navigation and Graphics.

A. Content is the information you provide (text, pictures) that appears on your site. Each page on your website will have unique information.

A. Navigation refers to how a user "moves" through your site. This is how a guest to your site will go to the different pages you have on the site.

A. Graphic is both the graphical representation of your site and the pictures and other art found on your site. It can be further divided to graphic design - the design of your site as it is represented graphically, colors, font size and color, how the page looks, etc. In addition, you will have pictures. Pictures can be presented in a "gallery" fashion, scattered through out the site or streaming (usually reserved for movies).

A, In order to be seen, your website needs to be placed somewhere on a computer (known as server) that is accessible to everyone on the internet. This placement is called web hosting.

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Fast Loading - A good website will be well designed so that the pages will load fast. Research has shown that most people will leave a site if the pages take more than 10 seconds to load.

Easy to Navigate - A guest to your website should be able to find all the information they are looking for quickly and easily.

Good content - The text on the site should be simple and easy to understand. The information should be as complete as possible without being too 'wordy'.

Pleasing to the eye - The graphic on the page, although very important should not take over the site. The background should be light and the text dark.

A. Search engines are frequently used to locate websites online. Search engines are sites devoted to the collection and display of websites based on keywords used by internet users. Some search engines are free and some require you to pay in order for them to place your website as part of the search results. The most known search engine today is: Google. However, there are many more search engines and directories that may be relevant for your type of business.

A. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization or Optimizer. There are many companies and individuals that offer SEO services. They take your website and insure that it will rank high in search engine results. A word of caution: the best way to be placed high in any search engine is to insure that your site content is releveant for the search key words.

A. Key Words are the most important words that are related to your site. For example: If your site has to do with a product you sell to the food industry, possible keywords will be: Food, cooking, food service, etc.

A. That is the name of your website. A domain must be unique and registered. Come up with at least 5 different domain names that relate to your business or business name.

You should get email from your web hosting company or the ability to create email accounts. The email should be: email@yourdomain_name.com

A. Your hosting company should provide you with a web mail option. Web mail gives you the ability to send and receive email on any computer using your web browser instead of an email program such as outlook. This is especially important to business people who have to travel or go to client sites. As long as they have access to a computer that is connected to the internet they will be able to get their messages.

A. Website design can be free (done by you) to thousands of dollars. We recommend that you start with a simple website and develop it as time goes on. Many webhosting companies offer simple on-line website design tools that do not require any knowledge of html, java or xml.

A. There are many options when it comes to selling online. You can open a store on Ebay, Yahoo or any other site that allows stores. You can "lease" a store from various services (those are usually priced based on number of products or volume of transactions. You can also buy a whole package and have it installed on the server where you have your site hosted - we DO NOT recommend this option to anyone who is just starting on the web.