Is your business trying to operate without an online presence? Without even a website?

Now that more Americans use the internet as the first place to look for information, rather than the phone book, your business has to have a website. You know it. Your marketing people know it. And maybe when you discuss it, you look glumly at one another and sigh, because you don't know how you're going to get that website up without making mistakes you'll regret. 

How will you find someone qualified to build you a website in the first place?  Can you just go to Google and type in "Fargo website"? (If you do, we'll be there, but the City of Fargo is the first choice for that search.) How can you tell who to call, what kinds of services you need, what they should cost, and what steps you ought to take? Where, in short, do you start?

It's enough to make you ask your sister's kid to do it for you -- didn't he once take a computer class in school?

It's not that bad. Here are the basic steps involved:

• First, register a domain name. Your domain name is the main address for your web site. Ours is Onsharp.com, because our business is Onsharp. Since we own that name, no one else can take our web address from us. If your business name -- YourBusiness.com -- is available, then choose it. If not, you'll need to look at other options. Your choice of domain name can have an effect on how easy you are to find online, so get some help with this step. Then register your domain name as quickly as you can, since it's first come, first served. You can register for a year or for longer, whether you're ready to get your website built right away or not.
• Next, design your website. Even if you're good with graphics, you'll be wise to have a professional web design firm take care of this for you. There's a lot of technical knowledge involved in a good web design, and a good web design is always more effective than a poor one. If you want to be able to meet directly with the designer, then you'll want to choose a Fargo web designer. This can make communication easier and keep you comfortable. You'll need to provide information about your goals and your company, but a good web design firm can help with images and content -- you don't have to be able to do it all yourself, and you won't be expected to have a lot of technical skills, either. 
• Now you need a web hosting firm. This is the company that actually gets your website up onto the internet where people can see it. Again, you can choose a Fargo web firm to do this for you. There are national companies that offer low-priced or even free hosting, but you know there's no such thing as a free lunch. You pay for your "free" website by running ads for your hosting company, or in downtime and trouble. You may also have slow loading times, which causes today's impatient web visitors to click away to someone else's site. Since professional hosting is inexpensive -- Onsharp's hosting begins at $15 a month -- there's no reason to put up with anything less.
• Once your website is launched (that means it's up and ready for your customers to visit), you'll want to maintain it. Keep track of visitors, encourage more visitors, keep your information fresh and updated, and you'll have a successful website. Onsharp can build you a website with a content management system so you can update it yourself, or help you with web strategy and web marketing if you have limited time.