Getting Started on the Web, Part One: I’m Ready!

Note: These ideas won’t tumble out in a logical step-by-step order yet so much as the frequency I run into the questions. So if you need help and I don’t have your steps up yet, feel free to contact me.

So you’ve painstakingly picked out your domain and web hosting, you have a logo ready to go, you’ve got your business cards printed and ready to hand out, but you haven’t finished figuring out what you want your site to say or do yet. Or, you’re working on it but not quite done. Everyone at this stage in development asks for an Under Construction line on their site, or something along those lines:

“Under Construction”
“Coming Soon”
“Opening In One Month”

All of these scream “I’m not ready yet!”

Is that what you want your web page to say? Channel your inner SpongeBob, folks. How about “I’m Ready!” instead? Even if the site really is under construction, what web page isn’t? I know these phrases are popular on the web, but as I see it, that would be like me introducing myself to someone and automatically adding, “I need to lose ten to fifteen pounds, and I’m working on it, so be sure to check me out again later.” While it might be true, if sane people don’t say that in real life, why should your web page?

Whats worse: sometimes content — which is typically what’s under construction — ends up taking longer than planned. When someone comes back to your site and it STILL says under construction, its like saying, “Oh yeah, I’m STILL working on that weight loss. You’ll like me better next time, I swear!” Not exactly the confident, professional image you wanted to put across for your business online, is it?

Instead, just put up something simple, like your logo, contact information, and tag line, nothing less, nothing more, and certainly not an excuse for being incomplete, until you have more to add. Like the Business Card style website in this article… a small and simple web page that gets your name and contact information out there is all you need for now. Then get cracking on that content.

Here’s an example. EksAyn is principal broker of X Factor Real Estate, Inc, and he wanted a placeholder web page of sorts to give his business a fast and professional looking online presence. He already had his business card design ready to go, and had purchased his domain and hosting, so he sent me a digital copy like this (only not shrunken down to blog image size of course!)

X Factor Real Estate Card

In one evening, I was able to loosely convert that design into a single-page website that matches his existing branding (or his corporate look and feel – the design of his logo, color scheme, etc). You can have a look here:

This is a screenshot of his first landing page. He

Now he’s free to set up a blog, gather some photos, or work on whatever content he wants — without having to show that to the world yet. His beautifully branded page will hold his place on the web nicely in the meantime.

If you need to get started with a small web page like this, drop me a note in my contact form for a quote. Have your files ready to email me. Like I said, a well experienced web designer (such as myself ) can typically get a site like this done quickly and quite inexpensively if you already have your logo and business card design ready to go. Just give me a heads up and check for availability. This is a quick project since the difficult design work is done, so as long as I’ve got a free spot in my schedule, you’ll have your welcome mat on the web in no time!

This was a freelance project through BusinessTracks.

Splash page with photo-rescued thumbnails

Inside page toned to give attention to the content