Understanding Websites
If you want to build your own website now - go to A PMG website in 3 steps
If you're new to websites, then read on
You've decided that having a website will help you connect with potential patients and increase your private practice. So what do you need to do?
This article explains the essentials - and how we can help you get up and running quickly and successfully.
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1) Firstly - you need a Domain Name (or web address)
a) How to get a domain name
2) Hosting
3] Website design and building
a) We build your website for you
b) You build your own website
c) A bespoke website
4] Website optimisation
5] E-mail
6] Search engine submission and links
1) Firstly - you need a Domain Name (or web address)
This is the "address" of your website. In the UK the best ones end with .co.uk. In America, they end with .com. It used to be trendy for UK people and companies to use .com, but as the public have got used to the internet, most now assume that .com names are American - which in medicine means that the doctors and services on them are probably inaccessible. Therefore if your practice is based in the UK, .co.uk is the best sort of domain followed by others such as .uk.com.
The choice of domain name is one of the most important decisions you will make ... if not the most important. The domain name needs to be relevant to the subject of the website - and if it is the word or words that people enter into search engines, then your site is more likely to be ranked higher.
For example, if you are a Neurologist and are going to set up a website explaining what you do, what conditions you treat etc then the best name for you would be www.neurologist.co.uk. People looking for a Neurologist would find you easily and remember your website easily - enabling them to find it whenever they need to and make it easy for them to recommend your site to others.
Why don't you see if the domain name you want is available? Check here
In addition, your domain name can be used as your e-mail address. So in the example above, anyone using the domain name www.neurologist.co.uk could have the e-mail info@neurologist.co.uk or yourname@neurologist.co.uk.
Other great names are those of the condition or procedure that you want to promote - such as www.highbloodpressure.co.uk.
Many people like to use their own name as their domain name. This works well if you are famous and people are searching for you on the internet. However, it isn't as effective to use your own name to promote a private practice specialising in one area of medicine.
Some of the most successful doctors on the web have several sites - one in their own name to explain about themselves, and others about the services they offer - with domain names that are relevant to their practice - as above.
Why don't you see if the domain name you want is available? Check here
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a) How to get a domain name
Many of the best domains have already been registered. However, all is not lost and there are two main options open to you.
- Find a domain name that has not been registered, and register it to yourself. You become the legal "owner" of the domain name and will remain so, provided you keep up with the yearly or 2 yearly renewal fees. If you do not keep up with the renewal fees, the name reverts back to being unregistered and is available for anyone else to register it and use it.
Check here to see if the name you want is available, If you can't find it on this site, you could try other sites such as 123reg or fasthosts
Many people feel that they have "bought" the domain name and are surprised they have to keep registering it. However, the domain names are actually owned by the country of issue and when you register it, you are only buying the rights to use it for a specified time e.g. one year. The body that organises .co.uk domain names is Nominet. It works in a very similar to the way the DVLA does which allows you to register personalised number-plates that you keep whilst you either have it on your car and pay road tax, or pay an annual retention fee if it isn't allocated to a car.
Private Medicine Guide can register Domain Names for you (in your name) and can make sure they are renewed annually or every 2 years, for as long as you want to keep control of them. Provided you pay your renewal fees when invoiced, you won't lose your domain names. Check out our Pricing page for full details. - As most of the best domain names have already been registered, you might be able to buy one from its current owner, or if it is one of ours, you will be able lease it and use it for as long as you keep the lease active. If you have set your heart on a certain domain name, we can track it down for you and advise you as to who owns it and if they might let you use it or buy it. Please contact us
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2] Hosting
Once you have a domain name, you need to have somewhere to host it and the website you put on it. If you think of the domain name as your address, the hosting is the plot of land that your domain/web address sits on.
Hosting is actually a physical place on a server (like a pc) that is connected to the Internet. Many internet companies that offer hosting, like Private Medicine Guide, buy or lease their own servers to manage domains effectively.
Costs of hosting vary between different companies. Some charge monthly, some yearly. Some charge by the size of the hosting (measured in Mb) - others by the traffic that goes through the website.
At Private Medicine Guide, our website packages include hosting. See our Pricing page for full details
If you already have your own domain name to use and would like us to host your name for you will have to pay hosting charges for your website to be on our servers. Unless you take one of our website packages where the price includes hosting.
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3] Website design and building
You've got your domain name (‘address') and sorted out your hosting (‘plot of land'), now you need to have a website for people to visit ("the house you build on the land").
There are a number of ways to build a website.
- You can get a web design program and learn to do it yourself.
Great if you have plenty of time to spare, not so good if you are a busy consultant or medical practitioner. - You can get someone else who knows how to build websites to do it for you - there are any number of web designers and web design companies around.
But how do you know who to choose and know what the right design is and if they understand your business? - You come to us at Private Medicine Guide
We at PMG are a mixture of medical practitioners and ‘civilians' so we understand your issues and needs firsthand. The medical experience combined with many years experience of working with web design companies, means we are able to offer several unique options for you.
a) We build your website for you
We have a range of templates available which we then adjust to suit your requirements. You simply choose your template and decide what options you want to offer e.g. a newsletter and we take it from there.
We discuss with you the colour schemes and the main content sections and then the only thing you will need to do after that is to let us have the content for the site and any pictures and we add that in.
We continue to support you with the website - see Services for costs.
Please contact us to discuss your requirements.
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b) You build your own website
If you want to do it yourself, PMG has got a pre-prepared packaged solution for you using our own CMS driven website.
This option sets up a blank template on your domain name for you.
You have the flexibility to
- choose the colour scheme
- load your text
- load your pictures etc.
The beauty of this is it can be done from any computer as long as it has an internet connection.
You have complete control of your website
We are offering a 14 day free trial
To get you kick started, we offer a one day course on how to use the CMS allowing you to get your website up as soon as possible. For full details click here
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c) A bespoke website
If you want a bespoke website, this will be more costly - and the more functionality you want, the more expensive it will be.
At PMG we offer competitive rates because of all the other work we do.
We will take your detailed requirements, give you a full quote before the work is undertaken and will project manage the website build ensuring that you have support all the way through the process.
If you would like to talk to someone about this, please contact us
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4] Website optimisation
Once your website is built, it needs to be optimised to make sure it is found as easily as possible by the search engines. In some of our packages, this is included. Please check details of the package you are interested in to find out if you will need this service.
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5] E-mail
Once you have your website, you may want to use that domain names for your e-mail address.You can have the e-mail address of your choice forwarded to an e-mail account you already have, or you can set up a completely new e-mail account on that address.
We can do either of these. Some of our packages include e-mail forwarding or accounts for one or more addresses. Others do not. Please check the details of what package you are interested in if you want to use the domain name for your e-mail address.
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6] Search engine submission and links
Once your website is up and running, you need visitors to find it!
There are 2 main ways to get found.
The first is via search engines.
The second is by links from other sites.
We can submit your website to search engines for you if you don't have this included in the package you are interested in. We also do this as part of our website optimisation.
As for links, all of our website package websites automatically have links from our main site www.PrivateMedicineGuide.co.uk helping your website to be found.
For those not having one of our packages, you can purchase links and banners to your website from us at PMG
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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