The Web Shack
Spares South Africa
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Every domain requires a top and second level domain name. The “.co.za” part of a domain represents the top-level domain name. The “.co” stands for general use by South African and non-South African persons and entities. The “.za” part of the domain is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa.
Which domain purpose do I choose?
The domain purpose relies a lot on what purpose you would like your company to have and where your domain is going to be displayed. For example if you need your website to be featured internationally, commonly a “.com” top level domain name will be used from South Africa. A “.co.za” is better if your purpose is to infiltrate the local market. There are also non-profit domain purposes and alternatives to .co.za. We generally supply .org and .net but have had requests to host a .church and many other types.
A domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet. For example, the domain name www.shack.co.za is what you landed on to get to the page you are viewing currently.
Things to consider when choosing a domain name?
First of all when you are considering a domain the first step is to check its availability. There are databases and websites to check if a domain is registered or not. The next important thing to consider is that your domain is relevant to the company. It usually revolves around the company name. For example our company is called “The Web Shack” so the domain name “shack” fits. We have also abbreviated the domain name to an extent as it is important also to keep your name short. Having a long domain name makes it hard for someone to search for you on a search engine if they are unsure of all your company information. You also have to be aware that numbers and hyphens, etc are not recommended in a domain name and can affect your websites ranking on search engines.
A responsive or mobile-friendly website is specifically designed to resize to fit on all devices; the website changes to fit the screen of the device, providing a better experience for the websites end-user. For example view shack.co.za on your tablet or mobile phone and watch how the website adapts to fit the different displays.
As you can imagine having a responsive website has become important due to the fact that many people are browsing on search engines from their mobile devices. An unoptimized website will frustrate a potential user from browsing your website possibly losing a potential lead. There are also search engine optimization benefits involved and Google will rank a well optimized website ahead of one that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices.
A payment gateway is setup to facilitate credit card purchases on your website. It usually involves a plugin which needs to be setup and linked to your own unique merchant account. People will not interact with your website and pay for products online if they don’t see a valid payment gateway that they trust. We at The Web Shack integrate your payment gateway and link it to your relevant merchant account so any and all purchases will go directly to your business bank account.
We at The Web Shack recommend the PayFast payment gateway to our clients as it integrates well with our ecommerce software, however their are numerous types available in South Africa. Listed below are some of the more popular choices:
Products populate your online store and will be the items featured on your shop page. These are specific to your business and are a crucial part of the ordering and checkout process. We find clients often confuse an online store with a product catalogue. We have allowed for our clients to now choose between both by selecting whether they want a payment gateway.
An online store includes a payment gateway which clients will use to directly order and purchase your products online without having to contact you to do this. If the shop lacks a payment gateway it automatically becomes a product catalogue that simply showcases your products and has no pricing and ordering involved. Users will have to enquire directly with you and cannot buy your products directly off the website.
A logo is a graphic representation (mark, emblem or symbol) commonly used by commercial enterprises.
The ultimate outcome we look to achieve with our logo design package is to provide companies with the best graphic representation that embodies their core values as per their company requirements and recommendations. Initially we create four separate logos in the first round of design mockups. From here the client has the opportunity to select one of the four mock-ups. Thereafter we allow up to two additional changes to the chosen logo mock-up in order to “iron out” any preferences or change requests. The final design is rendered as a PDF file and includes a .png and .jpeg version. The client may also request the open files (design files) if necessary to keep for their records.
A stock photo is a photo that we buy online, it is a professionally taken photograph that we get for you if you need pictures to fill up your website and make it look more appealing or fit a specific aesthetic. The benefits of stock photos are that you don’t need to try and take all your own photographs or spend endless hours trying to find nice free images that are not copyrighted on internet search engines. Get professionally taken / edited photos for your industry to truly impress your end-users.
Stock photos most importantly assure you that all the images on your website are not copyrighted. If you simply pull any image off a search engine the chances are that you could encounter copyright infringements and possibly be sued for using someone else’s images which they paid money for in the first place.
A banner slider is a line-up of images that get cycled through continuously; these are generally included on the home page of your website. They help promote products/services visually in the hope that a viewer will be captivated by what they see and thereafter get clued up with the content on the rest of your website. We at The Web Shack believe that a banner slider is a vital part of your website in order to intrigue the majority of people that may view your website.
A hero image is used when you select 1 banner slider. The banner no longer slides and the content is specific to one effective background image used to communicate your website outcomes. Text and animations can still be included with buttons linking to featured pages further.
You may be wondering why the maximum amount of banner sliders only goes up to a maximum of 5 on our online form. We have done research into the way individuals interact with websites and more specifically your website landing page. Most users that view your website will hit the landing page and within less than 1-2 minutes they will have read and viewed the page and navigated away from it. We feel having an abundance of sliders is therefore irrelevant as the user navigating the website will only see the first five banners at the most.
The directory & listings option is only for clients looking to create an online directory where users login and add listings to their website. The type of industries we are talking about are property, travel & leisure, automotive sales as well as general business directories to name a few. Bear in mind this integration does not include The Web Shack adding any listings to the website, we simply build the framework for this to be possible.
You may have seen a couple of our websites on our portfolio include an events calendar or events listing pages. This is created using the events management feature. We basically setup and integrate an events management plugin on top of our standard website package which has functionality to add events as well as pull events created straight from Facebook to the events calendar on your website, etc.
Our online bookings option is for clients looking to add a booking system on to their website. This may include things such as tickets sales, table reservations as well as room bookings, etc. This is also achieved through the integration of plugins on top of our standard website package. Feel free to contact us directly should you be unsure if any of the above features will work for you.
This is a website which includes general functions EXCLUDING things like eCommerce/Client Portals/Directories/Property Listings/Custom Development/Forums and the likes. Bear in mind our mock ups/themes we send through to you showcase the full functionality that we can use to build your website. If you are still unsure whether this is the correct option for you feel free to contact us.
Our online store option brings the same functionality of the website design package above but also includes some crucial features that are necessary to sell products on your website. We integrate a payment gateway so users can safely checkout once they are ready to purchase products off your website. We also include a shopping cart featuring all your products on sale. The perk here is that you also have the same control as in the website design package to add your own products and content as freely as you please.
A website page is a content area (much like Microsoft Word) where you can add/edit content that you are trying to portray to your viewers. It is very much like a company brochure that is indexed on the internet through search engines such as Google, etc. A page is normally linked to the homepage of your website in the menu bar located on the top of your website.
The menu bar is a variety of buttons categorised for various purposes (eg: Home, About, Our Services, Contact Us). These are all buttons that link to individual pages once you have clicked on them. They can be changed as needed within the confines of our WordPress software.
Things you put on a page vary based on your company campaign but generally would include text describing your pages objective, accompanied by pictures, graphics, and basically anything that would be appealing to your target market when it comes to promoting your company. A page can also include information about your company history, background, the team, basically everything a user would view to know more about your business.
