Singapore Small Business Directory » Articles - Basic Net Presence Setup

Articles & Tips

Setting up a net presence in Singapore

Ok, you heard all the buzz about Websites and ecommerce and all those Internet talk and you would like to join the bandwagon. What do you need? And very importantly, what's the cost? The cost has dropped so much during the recent years that it would cost less than a few hundred dollars per year. If you are prudent, you can set it up for less than a hundred Singapore dollars.
We have complied a list of steps in which you need to start a net presence (that's a cool name for setting up a website).

1. First of all, you need to get a domain name.
- As you may not get the domain name you wanted(someone else has already registered that domain perhaps?), choose something close to your company's name or use shortform. If you can, try to add some product names into the domain name. For example, let's say you are selling shoes and your company name is Funky Pte Ltd, why not choose "funkyshoes.com.sg" for your domain name? However keep it short and do not overdo with the product name. Just use one should be fine.
- Another thing, most webhost do register domain names for you, but I would not recommend that. I would instead suggest you to go to GoDaddy (no, I am not affiliated with them) to get your dot com domains (domains ending with .com) or use IP Mirror (I am not affiliated with them either) for the "dot com dot sg" domains. Why you ask ? Simple, you don't want to let your webhost hijack your domain name if you change webhost in the future, you MUST have full control over it. And the only way you can do that is if you are the legitimate owner of that domain.
- As for choosing what type of domains ("dot com" or "dot com dot sg" or even "dot sg"), it is up to you. I would suggest getting both if possible. Do note that you need to be registered business in Singapore before you can get the "dot com dot sg" domain. If you like, you can choose the other tlds like dot biz(.dot) or dot info(.info), but I won't recommend it as most surfers are used to "dot com" and "dot com dot sg" type of domains.

2. Get a reliable webhost.
- Goto Singapore Web Hosting Talk and read the reviews there or ask questions about this and that webhost. Although not all reviews there are truthful, they give you a rough gauge on the reliability of the webhosts. They have a list of local webhost and overseas webhost there for you to choose from as well.
- Now ask yourself one question, who are your customers and where are they from? If the majority of your customers/visitors are from Singapore or Malaysia or in the South East Asia region, then you should get a local(Singapore based) server. If they are from the States or Europe, I would recommend you to choose a server there instead of it being in Singapore. Don't be confused with a local webhost a local server. A local webhost can have their servers (and thus your site) in an overseas server, so make sure with your webhost first before ordering.
- Take note of the plan's bandwidth and webspace. If you are planning to use some scripts which require databases, make sure your webhost supports them. Also check the number of email accounts allowed and make sure you have enough for your staff.

3. Get your site up.
- Either you can create the content yourself or ask a web designer to do one for you. If you are doing it yourself, and for the beginner, I would recommend using frontpage to setup your webpages. It is easy and if you can use word, you can use frontpage.
- It is important for your site to showcase and promote your business and it's products and/or services. So useful content and information needed to achieve that. I would encourage you to have a website with at least a few pages for products/services, about us page, contact us page and other various information at the very least.
-Making your site visually appealing is important, but don't overdo it with too many bells and whistles. Keep your site informative and updated is just as important.

4. Having a unique domain email address makes your business look professional.
- However with that being said, if you have already an email address which your customers are using to contact you, continue to use that. You can use your new email address together with your old address and slowly inform your customers about the change.

5. Advertise your site. There are a lot of ways to get visitors and thus potential customers to your site.
- Print media. Newapapers, magazines, pamplets and so on. Although it can be considered old school, they do work if done well.
- Multimedia. TV and radio advertisements.
- Online advertisements. The "new" method of advertising. One online advertising medium that comes to mind is Google Adwords.
- Also considered as online advertising, you can choose to submit your site to niche directory like ours. We are a Singapore small business directory. Our directory is especially meant for local businesses. If have a website already, please submit your site to our listings. The advantage of such a niche directory is it is targeted, unlike general directories. And you get targeted visitors to your site from this.

6. Search Engine Optimization
- This is beyond the scope of this article but practising good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can reap great benefits for your business by getting "free" traffic to your site. Just follow some of the tips and you can be doing very well in your rankings. But of course, it is dependent on what you are ranking for, if your keywords are very competitive, then you may need to spend a lot of effort and money to get it up.
We have writen a small article on Basic SEO for the beginner. Please have a read.

SEO is the best way to drive traffic to your site. It is cost effective as well. I would also recommend even the beginner webmaster to use some form of basic SEO on their website. You can follow the above tips to help you get started on your webpage.

With all that being said, I need to tell you that SEO is seriously more an art than science. Even SEO experts don't have all the answers. Even engineers in the Search Engines don't have all the answers. So I think it is better to go slow and just start basic and if there is a problem with your rankings, find out why and correct it. It takes time to get good results from SEO. And please be patient.

- Choose the correct webhost
- Types of Advertising Options in Singapore
- Why getting listed on business (niche) directories will benefit your business
- Your business site is not getting to first Page of Search Engines? No worries.