Following Phil’s post on Friday, which was about how to choose a web design company, we thought we’d go back one step further.

Our Back to Basics guide will talk you through everything you need to know about setting up your own website. We will be posting a series of articles discussing domain names, hosting, web design and SEO. All the posts will be jargon free – we promise.

So onto Part 1… Do I Need A Website?

With an estimated 51million of us in the UK now online, getting a website for your business makes perfect sense.

If you decide to make the commitment to having a website which is easy to use and easy to find, you could be opening up a huge potential market.

Online retail is now growing six times faster than high street retail and UK companies are exploiting this trend by selling products through e-commerce websites.

Even if you don’t want to sell online, research shows that 83% ofUKshoppers use search engines to research a purchase before they buy. This is also true for consumers looking for services, making a website a cost-effective way of advertising your company.

However, a web site which isn’t seen by your customers is like a shop with no front door. It is essential that your website can be found by using search engines such as Google, which is where SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) comes in.

SEO is about making your website easily found when people use search engines to look for keywords related to your business.  We will be discussing SEO in more detail later in the series.

If you would like more information about getting your own website please email helpdesk@esterling.co.uk. Tune in for the next Back to Basics when we will be discussing domain names.