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The Small Business Support Network
Helping you get more from your business!

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How to do business on the web.

Paid Web Hosting Services

The most common option involves placing your material on a virtual web server where you are usually allowed to do those "extra" things that can really turn your pages into a better advertisement for your business!

Usually, this involves getting your own domain name, and putting your business information on a rented virtual web server.

  1. Impression:
    www.yourdomainname.com shows your business at it's best! Good for branding/promotion etc. If your ISP goes bust... your web site/domain just needs to be moved to another ISP.
  2. Achieve:
    Depending on the ISP you use, you should have access to a range of options which would allow you to customise your web site and its contents to suit your needs.
  3. Expertise:
    Site customisation involves a degree of expertise, possibly including programming, so it is something that is beyond the reach of many beginners. Usually, a web designer or programmer is brought in to assist with the work.
Overall
Because people find your web pages at the address www.yourname.com this creates a much better impression of your business! The degree of flexibility usually allowed means that your site is more likely to achieve your business objectives.

Costs
This option is not necessarily cheap, so be prepared for some mind boggling variations in proces as you shop around!

Costs to setup a web server range from $50 to $500, depending on the ISP. It may also cost from $300 to $3000 per annum for ongoing rental of the web server, depending on the ISP you choose to use.

You may consider (for a fleeting moment) about using your own computer in your own premises and placing your material on it. This can get very expensive! To do it effectively requires a full-time commitment and possibly anything in the vicinity of $400 to $1000 a month!

Remember to check how much traffic is included in your rental, and clarify exactly what features are available for you to use.

You might like to consider using the web hosting facilities right here at SBSN... If so, please see the web hosting pages for full details and our low rates...

One Final Option

Your final (realistic) option is to arrange to place your material on someone else's virtual web server!

Here, they'll "host" your pages for you, at a greatly reduced rate (compared to setting up your own server) and look after your material. Your address might be:
www.somedomain.com/yourname

Quite often, there are extra marketing or promotional features built into such places.

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Now you need to have a good close look at your content, and the design, programming and maintenance issues of publishing your information on the Internet, and who is actually going to do it.