| There is every reason today to build a website for | | | | thenameoftheirserver.html/yourname.biz. Now if that's |
| your transcription business and no reason not to. Take | | | | not long and confusing, I don't know what is! What |
| your business Global! With the many resources | | | | would your clients think? |
| available online for choosing templates, simple web | | | | - You get "Free" hosting. But now let's take a look at |
| design instruction, and easy to learn search engine | | | | just how "free" that hosting really is: |
| submissions, you simply must have a website. | | | | - You get banner ads across the top of every page |
| And why limit yourself to just your geographical | | | | of your site. The ads have nothing at all to do with |
| location when prospective clients all over the globe are | | | | your business. Do you think your potential clients came |
| as easy to access as signing on to the Web? If you | | | | to your site because they were interested in dog food |
| haven't already done it, get moving, build a website and | | | | or the latest hip-hop songs to hit the charts? |
| get more clients! | | | | - And how about pop-up ads? So annoying, aren't |
| Here are some tips to help you build a website that's | | | | they? I don't think you want to subject your clients to |
| professional and effective: | | | | those. |
| - Don't, and I repeat DO NOT design a cutesty | | | | - And what happens if that "free" website company |
| website with little animated teddy bears or singing | | | | decides it can't give away its services anymore but |
| flowers. These scream "Amateur!" from the rooftops! | | | | they don't let you know. That's right. They may shut |
| Build a website that says, "I'm a professional and I am | | | | you down for nonpayment and now you've lost your |
| serious about my business!" | | | | website, which probably wasn't getting much traffic |
| - Include a little bio page about yourself and why | | | | anyway, because... |
| prospective clients should choose you for their | | | | - Most free sites aren't found by the search engines |
| transcription projects. Give a brief history about your | | | | anyway. And why not? Remember that long, |
| work experience or even a page with client | | | | convoluted domain name? Most search engines pretty |
| testimonials. | | | | much ignore those, no matter how much you try to |
| - Be detailed about your services and rates, if you | | | | optimize the keywords. |
| want to advertise them on your site. You may feel | | | | So really, how free is all of that anyway? Not very, |
| more comfortable having potential clients contact you | | | | because it cost you time to build it. Time is money. So |
| by email or phone for a quote. That's up to you. | | | | you're actually paying for a "free" site but getting |
| - Provide your full contact information as you did on | | | | nothing in return for the work. |
| your business cards and in your brochure. You want | | | | The absolute best way to guarantee that the work |
| people to know that the site is owned by a REAL | | | | you put into your website will pay off - pay for it. |
| person. | | | | There are some great website hosts out there that |
| - Do not, and again I repeat DO NOT try and create a | | | | don't cost a fortune and still have great site templates |
| professional business website on one of those "free | | | | that are extremely easy to use.And if you know |
| website" places on the 'Net. You will not benefit from | | | | enough HTML to build a site offline in FrontPage, |
| them and it could be a total waste of your time, let | | | | Dreamweaver or another HTML editor, most of the |
| alone it could adversely affect your credibility before | | | | paid hosting sites have FTP availability so you can |
| you've even had a chance to establish it. | | | | upload your own HTML files. So create your domain |
| So what's wrong with those free websites? Oh, | | | | name. That's what your URL will be - Simple, short, |
| there's plenty wrong if you're trying to maintain a level | | | | easy to remember and the search engines like them a |
| of professionalism. Let's go through the list of | | | | lot better than - well, that other long thing. And get your |
| negatives: | | | | domain name registered, which you should be able to |
| - Free subdomain names: You won't get a real domain | | | | do through almost any hosting service. Build a website |
| name that looks like this You will get something that | | | | using their templates or do it yourself with an HTML |
| looks like this: thefreedomainhost.com | | | | editor. Upload and voila - you're on the Web! |