In order to build a powerful web presence, there are a few steps Red Lid will help you make. Your experience on the internet is directly affected by these important factors and we routinely meet frustrated business people, who did not ensure their ducks were lined up, as they entered the internet arena.

If we could give you one piece of advice which was all important:
Document all passwords, email addresses, names of registrars, hosts and all parties involved in the acquisition of your web presence. One day you will need them and business arrangements are rarely everlasting.

Red Lid manages all these things for clients and happily give you a copy for your reference.

So, let's get started! Click each of the web ducks below and carefully read the information they reveal. Failure to do so could result in a larger than normal bill or could drive you quackers. (hehehe I couldn't resist the puns).

Consider exactly what your domain name will be. Computers do not need domain names, people do! The actual address of your site will be a bunch of numbers and letters, much too difficult to recall. So we use a domain name that makes sense to humans.

Using an acronym for a domain name may satisfy your disdain for typing but consider this . . . When you promote the site, what is easier for your audience to recall? An esoteric group of letters, a descriptive phrase or your business name?

The truth is that people are more likely to remember your name .com.au or a funky phrase .com than a group of unrelated letters. Incidentally, this is also a better choice for search engine ranking.

Now, in order to secure your domain name you need to go to a registrar's site and pay a fee which enables you to use it for a given period (usually 2 years). You will need to put in a real email address which they will use to send you reminders. If all of this sounds too confusing . . . remember that Red Lid manages the domain names for many clients are are happy to take this burden from you.

Once you have a name for your site, it needs a home. The internet is basically a group of computers linked together. When you visit a site, you are accessing a computer somewhere on the planet with the files (web pages) you want.

Now you could simply host (house) your web site on your own computer, but this is totally impractical due to speed, bandwidth, lack of management software and security reasons.

The smarter solution is to host your site on a server in a data-centre with 24 hour access to power, security and bandwidth.

Red Lid has such a hosting solution which enables you to easily transfer files, is up 24/7, is web host ready with all the software you need for database management, statistical record keeping etc.

Red Lid offers free tech support for email setup and is on call to help with any web related issues. All this for less than a cup of coffee per week!

Brochure Website - This is a well designed online info site which acts as a 24 hour sales person for your business. Red Lid will determine the best way to present your message and deliver a powerful solution.

Online Shop - Sell something worldwide on the internet. Red Lid has awesome solutions of varying complexity and price. We know the traps and will advise you to get the best value from a web shop.

Self-managed web site - If you would like to make changes to content in your site, then you need a CMS (content management system). Red Lid Advertising and Design can create a site which enables you to make such changes and retain the ability to be found by search engines.

In most cases, we find clients prefer a cooperatively managed site, where we look after the tricky stuff and you tweak the content of specific areas.

Give us a call at Red Lid and we will guide you through the tangle of web choices, there is something in the Red Web for your needs and your budget.

Everyone knows the value of email to a business, unfortunately the same benefits of email have become its biggest problem. SPAM! We became so obsessed with the receipt of unsolicited email, we got the government to legislate against it! The outcome of that is we as legitimate businesses are shackled, while the real spammers operate with impunity offshore.

But I digress . . . The thing you really need to take advantage of is email's power through emailEasy.

This is a brilliant online email solution which enables you to create html rich emails, individually addressed and sent to a given list of your choosing. More importantly, you also get statistics on who opened the email and who did not, plus details on who clicked links in the email and more! The emailEasy program helps you avoid being seen as spam and has a great hints and tips feature.

Learn more about emailEasy at the web site.

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is probably the most misunderstood element of the internet . . . and that's the way Google likes it! You see, they want the results of their search engine to be "organic", i.e. determined by the users of the net in their searching.

The last thing they want to allow is you or anyone else to manipulate the results. Let me tell you now that, with high certainty, most of what you have been told about SEO is either out of date or simply erroneous myth.

Myth 1 - You need to continually change the content to stay top of Google.
Myth 2 - You need keyword and descriptive meta tags to be found by Google.
Myth 3 - Linking to a website that links back reciprocally builds page rank.
Myth 4 - Multiple domain names will give you more representation on Google.
Myth 5 - Google site maps are needed for a good page rank.

For more information on why the myths above will not help you, call Red Lid and talk to Steve Chellingworth about the real value of SEO and how we have made a real difference for our clients.