In this article, you will learn all the aspects of a website that matters the most to a business owner.

I am writing this article,particularly for business owners with limited technical knowledge who wanted to understand the essential factors involved in getting a website build to make aninformed decision for their business website.

If you owned a business and wanted to have a web presence, you will find multiple options with various features and price range to opt from.There are numerous ways to bring your business online, includinga business page on Facebook, Google My Business,business directories, and build a website for your business. In this article, I have mentioned theessential factors for a website.

Heaving a website is very easyand effective these days. Below is the diagram which shows all the essential steps involved in the decision-making of a website.

Each of the above stepsis explained in detail as below

Step1: Buy a domain name.

A Domain or a website name, i.e.,www.abc.com (any name), is generally a name of your business or a brand.

The steps involved in buying a domain name are as below.

• Go to the website from where you can buy a domain name
• Search the name you wanted to buy
• Add to cart if the name is available (You will need to create the account on these websites)
• Complete the purchase

There are many companies through which you can register a domain name. Below are the names of a few companies from where you can buy.

• GoDaddy
• HostGator
• WIX
• Gaurish Technologies Private Limited

Below is the screenshot of how the search domain name page looks like for GTPL.

Important Notes:

1 – Be careful before making a final purchase (while buying a domain name, these companies always try toupsell you many other services like email, domain protection, etc. you don’t need to purchase these services)

2 – Always buy your domain name using your account. Please do not ask your website development agency to buy it for you; else, you will not have ownership rights on that domain. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

3 –Do not share your user and password with the development agency. You can always delegate your account access with limited privileges of your website account to the developer.

Step2: Buy a hosting, or you can setup your server in your office or home. (Buying hosting is recommended)

Hosting providers play a very crucial role in the effectiveness of your website.

Selecting the right hosting provider is very important to your business. You need to consider a mix of Quality and Cost before finalizing a vendor to host your website.

Any website you purchase needs to be hosted on a server, and the server can be purchased using any hosting provider company, or you can build a server in your home/office. I would recommend using hosting provider’s services because they have dedicated facilities available to maintain the servers and keep them up and running all the time.

Before selecting a hosting, plan you must be aware of the technologies to be used for your website.

• WordPress (Or Any other CMS) or
• Custom Code using Scripts like PHP etc.

Based on the tech, you can finalize which hosting to go with; there are specialized hosting available for different tech speck types.

Before finalizing a hosting provider, it is essential to look into the following parameters.

• Pricing model (Few companies charge a fixed amount for server, and they also charge for bandwidth you use). I would not recommend using such services. Always go by fixed price.
• Up Time of their servers.
• Customer support and response time.
• Backup plans and facilities.

You must select the right hosting as per your business/website needs.

A detailed article on this topic can be found here. Click here to read.

Step3: Setup Cloudflare account (Optional but Recommended)

Setting up Cloudflare is not necessary, but it is crucial. It helps you in many ways. Like

• It protects your website from attacks by hiding your IP address.
• It makes your website performs faster by minifying CSS, Images, and JavaScript.
• It is a CDN (Content Delivery Network) service; hence, it consumes less of your server’s bandwidth.
• Basic features (which most of the websites would need) are free.

I have posted a detailed article on this topic. Click here to read.

Step4: Backups Configuration (Must be available other Server or Cloud)

Data backups are critical to any business, and at times it can save you from going out of business.

Database and website code isvital for any website or software. Keeping multiple copies of backup readily available at multiple places is extremely important for any business. Every business should have a reliable data backup plan in place as you never know when and what can go wrong. You never know when you might need the backups urgently.

Here is how you should plan your backups.

• Always keep the last seven back-ups of code and database.
• Keep backups at two places minimum. (Always keep a local copy of the backup, which is always handy)
• Make a schedule to review the backup file once a month.
• Do not keep backup on the same server where your code is running.

I had written a detailed article on backup strategies with live examples of how and when it saved my business. Click here to read.

Step5: Setup email services.

Using reliable email services is key to a business. Every hosting provider will provide you the email service included in the hosting package, which you can use. Still, if you are looking for highly reliable email services and are willing to spend a few more extra bucks, nothing is better than G Suite.

• Emails never go to Spam.
• Every other email service accepts emails that were sent from G Suite.
• The spam filter is excellent.
• No downtime I have ever seen since I am using it.

Step6: CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Customer information is essential for any business. If we accumulate customer information right from the day one of the business then within a couple of months or years, you will have a very strong customer database that can be utilized for all your future marketing campaigns and generate more valid leads.

There are many CRMs available in the market with different price range and functionality, but the best CRM out there in the market is Bitrix24 (With over 6 Million Clientsin 150 countries). All basic features are free, and when you are ready to use its paid featured, then the pricing model is not based on per user. You just need to pay for each company.

I would strongly recommend using a CRM to accumulate all data in CRM instead of in emails.

The best features which any company can utilize in Bitrix24 are

• Contact Us Forms (Create a form and integrate code inthe website, and lead will be added in your CRM)
• All in one business solution (it has modules for Sales, Marketing, Project Management, HR, External Communication, Automation). You just need one software, and that too is available for free.
• You can run email campaigns using Bitrix24.
• Track all your social media campaigns and understand the trends using Dashboard.

I would recommend buying domains from GoDaddy and email services from G Suite as I always prefer using their services for my business (Gaurish Technologies Private Limited), and their services are reliable. More details can be found in this article.Click here to read.

Hosting providers play a very crucial role in the effectiveness of your website or software.

Selecting the right hosting provider is very important to your business. You need to consider a mix of Quality and Cost before finalizing a vendor to host your software or website.

Any website you purchase or software needs to be hosted on a server, and the server can be purchased using any hosting provider company, or you can build a server in your home/office (It is known as in house server). Due to various reasons, using hosting providers’ services is always recommended because they have dedicated facilities available to maintain the servers and keep them up and running all/most of the time.

Before selecting a hosting plan, you need to know and finalize the technologies your website development agency will use while building the website. Is it a CMS like WordPress or a website that will be built using custom code in other scripting languages like PHP, etc.?

For WordPress website,some specialized hosting providers deal only with WordPress websites. It is recommended to use such hosting for WordPress websites because of the following reasons.

• They take care of all updates of WordPress versions.
• They are more secure and detect any plugins which are malfunction.
• They make it easy for you to move websites from development to production environment. (With just a few clicks)
• They give you the option to revert to the previous version in just one click.

There could be a few exceptions, as well. There are a few WordPress websites with a lot of custom code. For such websites, you might not be able to utilize all features of WP Hosting Platforms. It is advisable to discuss with your web development agency and go with their advice in such cases. If you need any help, you can contact us @ [email protected] or [email protected]

Here are the names of a few outstanding WordPress specialized hosting I prefer using.

• WP Engine (Best and recommended)
• Bluehost
• Holsinger

If your website is built using custom code, it is important to look into the following parameters before choosing from the available hosting.

• Pricing model (Some companies charge a fixed amount for server, and then they charge for bandwidth you use. I would not recommend using such services. Always go by fixed price.
• Up Time of their servers.
• Customer support quality and response time.
• Backup plans and facilities.

I always recommend using hosting services instead of hosting a server at home or office is because of the following reasons.

• Theykeep the machines powered up all the time.
• They take care of the backups of the data.
• They have plans to handle hardware problems.
• They have lease lines of internet connection and providean uninterrupted internet connection.
• They have experts to take care of the servers.

Using a hosting provider’s services is always cost-effective for small and medium businesses than in house hosting.

If you would like to know more details on this topic or have a few specific questions, please leave a reply here, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. You can also email me at [email protected]

Customer information and customer relation is key to any business. When a new business is started, I have observed that they mostly focus on their business’s core processes, and somehow customer information always sidetracks.

For any business, it is essential to keep records of all their customer information in such a way so that down the line, you can utilize that data to pull information out of it to be able to make essential business decisions.

Businesses generally don’t consider when they are small and have very few customers because they can easily manage the data, and all info is at the top of their heads. When the business starts growing, you start realizing the importance of customer info, mostly old customer info, to quickly and effectively send an email.

There are many CRM available in the market, and I found Bitrix24 is very competitive; it not-only provides many features forfree, but the paid version is also inexpensive.

In a noticeably short period, Bitrix24 has partnered with 10,000 partners and acquired 6 million clients from 150 countries, and the number keeps on growing. The global partner network of Bitrix24 is extraordinarily strong.

A few of the recent clients are as below.

• Samsung Europe
• Istanbul Subway
• Nigeria Armed Forces
• University of Luxenberg
• National data Management Guyana

The advantages of using bitrix24 are.

• It is available in 18 languages; each user can select their language.
• It is an All in one business solution.
• You will have to pay for the company, not for users.
• Cloud and on-premise versions are available.
• The Global Partner Network is robust.
• Bitrix24 provider an excellent API that can be used for any integrations.
• You can create a custom workflow.
• Mobile App.

Bitrix24 is not only a CRM, but it has modules for each department of a business. It is a single solution that an organization can use. Below is the list of modules available in Bitrix24.

• CRM & Sales (Leads | Deals | Contact | Company | Commercial Catalog | Document Templates | Email Campaigns | Calls |Chats | Ad Campaigns | Automation | Reports)
• Project Management (Task Management | Time Tracking | Reporting Charts )
• HR Management (Employees Management | Leaves Management)
• Internal and external communications (Calls | Chats | Social Media Account Management)
• Contact Center
• Website Builder and
• Marketing Tools (Email Campaigns | Ads)

For any questions, please leave your comment here, and I will reply ASAP or drop me an email @ [email protected]; and for a free account,click here to register

Data is critical for any business, and when we talk about a website or software, it is their backbone. Database and codebase are essential to run any IT business and keeping multiple copies of readily available backup at various places is extremely important.

Every business must have a reliable data backup plan in place as you never know when and what can go wrong, and you require a copy of the backup to save you from a disaster.

Here is how you should plan your backups.

1. Always keep the last seven backups of code and database.
2. Keep copies of the backups minimum at two places. (Always keep a local copy of the backup, which is always handy)
3. Make a schedule to review the backup file once in a month and follow it.
4. Do not keep backup on the same server where your code is hosted.

Backup strategies should be designed by considering that your machine/server can crash any time, and you should be up and running without losing any vital info. You should always assume that anything can happen anytime, including the following.

1. Your server has been hacked, and the hacker is asking for the colossal ransom amount, which you cannot pay. (This has happened to me twice)
2. Your hosting provider has denied access to your server due to any issue (This has also happened to me because a hacker uploaded few files which caused copyright issue and the hosting company denied access to my server)
3. Your hosting company suddenly went out of business, and you can no more access the server (There could be many reasons like a ban from the government or any other issue)

It is always a best practice to keep your data backed-up and keep at least seven days backup always ready to be used and keep them at multiple locations (minimum 2).

While taking backups, you should ensure the following.

1. Code and database both are backed-up.
2. If you have built an app, then keep all the required keys of the project.
3. Backups are available to you, even if your server is crashed. (Backups should always be stores on another server)
4. Backups are available outside the hosting account as well. (You can ask you development company to write a script to copy the code and database to cloud data services like Dropbox, etc.)
5. Copy the backup on a Hard Disc Drive (Replace the Hard Disc Drive once in every three years)
6. Keep a monthly check on the backups.

If you have the entire data backup, then in no time with minimum or no loss, you can get back online.

Methods you should adopt for backups.

1. Enable backup service provided by your server hosting provider (Make sure the backup is available to you even if the server is not available)
2. In case you have your server at home, you should either take manual backups in one external hard drive or keep a wireless hard drive and schedule auto backups.
3. Backup on Cloud – Create one script which can copy code and database to cloud storage like Google, Dropbox, etc. and sync that to your PC for local copy. I always back up my server data to Dropbox using a backup script.

Feel free to drop me an email @ [email protected] if you need an auto-backup script for Dropbox.

• You want to prevent your website from getting hacked frequently or
• You want to keep your website more secure or
• Your website is built in WordPress.

These days every business has a website, and hackers are keep on looking for a week link to hijack the website and ask for ransom money or use your server for other purposes, which can cause you a lot of trouble.

The same has happened to me with my websites, which caused me a bit of inconvenience (the Hosting Provider had blocked my access to the server).

But instead of paying ransom money, I turned down the server and started another one. I was able to do this because I had a complete backup of code and data (Not only on the server but on my Google Drive, Dropbox, and PC Hard Drive as well). Why I said, that is because while making backup strategies, you should plan in such a way that you have backups at multiple locations. (Click here if you want to know about my backup strategies)

While searching about ways to improve the security of my server, I learned about Cloudflare, which is an extremely useful platform and amazingly easy to work with. I have moved DNS of all my and Gaurish Technologies (GTPL) client’s websites, and it’s been more than a month; none of my websites got hacked.

Below are the stats of one of my websites for the last month.

Cloudflare is a service that adds an additional layer between your website and your server where you have hosted your website. No one will be able to get to know the IP of your website unless you keep it open in Cloudflare; yes, you can do that too!

If your IP has been proxied, then it looks like this.
Cloudflare offers basic features for free, and if you need to use their advance features, you will have to shell out a small amount for each website per month, but free features are sufficient, I feel.

Following free features of Cloudflare could be extremely useful for your websites.

1. Protect your server IP from exposure on the internet. Your proxy IP address looks like below to any attacker.
   

2. Provide free SSL.
3. Load your webpage quickly.
   • Minify JS and CSS
   • Creates Cache
4. Save server bandwidth as it keeps cache on the CDN network and responds to the requests without using your server till it is needed or cache for a few pages or the entire website is cleared

I would strongly recommend Cloudflare, especially for websites built in WordPress. I have started using Cloudflare two months back, and since then, none of my websites has been hacked.

Cloudflare automatically copies your existing DNS, but sometimes it fails to copy all of them; hence before switching name servers, please make sure you copy all DNS values in Cloudflare, including all records for your email

Common and useful use case:

For an Individual: Suppose you are an individual and use web services of an agency, you can add that agency as your member instead of sharing your password of Cloudflare or domain provider.

For a Company: You can manage multiple Cloudflare accounts under just one login. All you must do is, ask your client to add you as a member in their Cloudflare account or just update the name server once to your Cloudflare account, enabling you to maintain all domains from only one place.

I wanted to keep this article short hence would not get into more details, but if you have any questions, please post them in the comment section or drop me an email at [email protected] and I will be happy to answer them.