It is essential for merchants, small and medium enterprises and associations based in the Philippines, to have visibility on the Internet. The two most popular ways to increase the visibility of companies on the Internet is to have a website and/or to have social pages (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube). Billions of searches are carried out by potential buyers, the need for a website is to capture part of their searches in order to direct them towards a service or a product in order to sell better and more.

It is essential for businesses to have a website

A website, a website, is a set of web pages (Internet pages) that allows the display of information through a web browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer). Its Internet pages can be linked to other web pages, we then speak of a link, or a hypertext link, or hyperlinks. To access Internet pages through hypertext links, you must enter an Internet address (URL or web address) in your Internet browser. A website is coded and developed by web developers. These web developers use computer languages, such as HTML, PHP, CSS and many other languages. For Internet pages to be publicly visible, they must be on a web server. The web server is a computer without a screen, which is connected to the global Internet network.

For the Internet pages to be visible locally, they must also be on servers that will not be connected to the global Internet network, these web servers will be connected to the local network of a company, we then speak of an Intranet site, because they are only visible locally. There are other parallel Internet networks unknown to the general public, the deepweb, darknet and the darkweb accessible by special web browsers such as the TOR Browser browser via the DuckDuckGo search engine. But Webmaster Philippines is not going to tell you how to connect to the Darknet. The multitude of public Internet sites represent the World Wide Web (www).

History of the Internet

The World Wide Web was founded in the year 1989 by the English CERN engineer Tim Berners-Lee. The main reason why the Internet was created was to promote the sharing of information between all institutions and companies related to scientific research, and this, across all countries of the world. The story is relatively short, but much more complex in reality. We are not going to go into technical details in order to make understanding this article much easier.

What is the point of having a website for a business?

The advantages and disadvantages of a website

A website or website allows Internet users to display texts and media (videos, images, gifs), we are talking about web content. The content of a website for SMEs / VSEs is very important for 2 things:

• It is imperative for Internet users (potential customers) who visit the pages of your website to find the information they are looking for, in just a few seconds. A visitor who does not find what he wants, and almost instantly, is a visitor who will leave your website. This effect can indeed jeopardize a business;
• Writing your content (text and images) also helps position your website in search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.). Indeed, the more the content of your website is rich and useful for Internet users, the more the crawlers (algorithm) of the search engines will ensure that your website is found in the first pages of the search results) . But still, the more a website offers web content that corresponds exactly to the search of prospect/customer targets, the more it increases the chances of these potential customers to buy the product or contact the service offered by this website;
• Website for Taxi
  Example: For a licensed taxi website located in Metro Manila:
  If the content of the website uses keywords like: Taxi Makati, Taxi Mandaluyong, Licensed Taxi in Metro Manila, there is a good chance that the consumer looking for a taxi in Metro Manila, can find the website on the first page of Google.
  

Website vendors

There are different ways on the Internet where it is possible to buy a website:

Web agencies

• In general, prices very varied and often very high. This is explained, because they have employees (developers, graphic designers, salespeople, etc.), so they work as a team and have a lot more work than a freelance webmaster for example. Some web agencies use techniques and strategies to fool their clients. Some web agencies use a legal, but not really ethical, way of offering a contract with tacit renewal.

CMS (Content Management System)

• CMS are scripts that are not very expensive, even free, but which are sold to thousands and thousands of Internet users. The prices are not expensive, because the creators of CMS bet on the sale in quantity to generate millions of euros. It is practically impossible for a website owner made with a CMS, to have a unique website. The websites are aesthetically and technically very similar to thousands of other website owners.

Free websites online

• Free online sites actually allow you to have a website for free or almost. But this choice does not allow tailor-made, it is practically impossible to fully configure a website. That is to say that it will be difficult to obtain good results in terms of SEO (web referencing).

Freelance web designers, independents

• And there are freelance webmasters, micro-entrepreneurs who design websites on their own. The prices are more logical, this facilitates communication between the creator of a website and their client. It is possible to make custom-made websites, and it is also possible to have a unique website that does not exist elsewhere. Cependant, il y a des pièges à éviter, il existe des faux webmasters, however, there are pitfalls to avoid, there are fake web designers, charlatans and scammers. Some have no qualms reselling free websites pretending to be web developers.

Why make a website in addition to having a Facebook page?

Website or Facebook page?

On the Internet, millions of searches are carried out simultaneously, it is essential for a company to be present on several IT media in order to increase its chances of capturing some of this traffic:

• Not everyone is on Facebook. By accumulating subscriptions on pages, expanding our list of friends, scrolling through our news feed at full speed, many Facebook users are receiving more and more notifications. Who reads all Facebook notifications? Not many people!
• A Facebook page cannot do what a website can do. The possibilities in terms of marketing are very customizable concerning a showcase website or a dynamic website. Having a website is essential today for SMEs / VSEs.
• Having a website in 2024 is a sign of success. For visitors looking to buy on the net, it is much more reassuring to see that a company is working with a web agency or a webmaster. This proves that a company wishes to develop and that it will do everything to survive.
• On a Facebook page, the content of what you post does not belong to you, you do not own the media and texts you post on Facebook.
• With a website, you keep full control of the image that your company releases, the content that you distribute, your communication strategy. Whereas with a social page, if by Facebook decided to change the rules as they have done before, you would be totally subject to their strategy and not yours. In addition, if Facebook decides to ban your page for one reason or another (you have used the name of a company whose trademark is protected by copyright, a competitor has boosted your account of fake fans, etc.), your business will stop instantly!
• With a website, you are even more visible than on social networks, the best thing is to be present on Google and social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn). Google is developing as many solutions as possible to display local and relevant results to Internet users who perform searches. Imagine if Google decided to remove Facebook from its search results. Keep in mind that Facebook and other social platforms are also Google users, just like all of us.

What makes one website better than another?

Concretely, what makes the quality of a website?

• The design, the more a site is aesthetic and practical, the more it appeals to Internet users who visit it.
• The UX (User Experience), a website must be practical, navigation must be fluid and visitors must find the information they are looking for, and this, almost instantly.
• The coding, a clean code, is a code appreciated by web browsers as well as search engines.
• The loading speed, Google is uncompromising, a fast website will always be better indexed than a slower site.
• Safety is a very important criterion. A secure site reassures Internet users (potential buyers).
• The protection of personal data is a criterion that promotes the quality of a website, the more a site protects the data of its Internet users, the more the website will be appreciated.
• The E-reputation of the website, we then speak of TrustFlow. This indicates that a website is popular because its URL (backlink) is present on other websites in the same industry.

Here is a very concrete example with the website of Webmaster Philippines.

By dint of regularly working on web referencing (SEO) as well as the quality of the code of our website, the value of the webmaster-philippines.com website continues to grow, and so does our visibility!