Move Over Amazon.com: There's a new Web site in town . . .
just about every second. And this time it's yours. Whether you
want to sell products or just tell people what you do, a clean,
easy-to-navigate business Web site is a necessity, and on a tight
budget, it's a do-it-yourself operation. So what if you
can't afford offices full of techies that dream in HTML? You
don't have to write Java scripts or know what cgi-bin stands
for to launch a Web site. And you don't have to hire anyone (a
12-year-old nephew who built a site dedicated to Pikachu probably
isn't the best candidate anyway). With the proliferation of
no-HTML-required Web editors out there, you could be the best
person for the job.
You wouldn't create a PowerPoint presentation without a hard
drive to store it on, so you shouldn't create a Web site
without a place to put it online. As handy as the built-in previews
are in programs like Adobe PageMill or CoffeeCup HTML Editor, you won't know what
really works unless it's online and you're viewing it
through a browser. You need the services of a Web hosting
company.
There are ways around paying $20 or more per month for Web
space, but they all have drawbacks. Your ISP might have tossed a
few MB of space in with your dial-up deal, but you'll be stuck
with the address they give you. Http://home.earthlink.net/~yourname
just isn't as catchy as Yourname.com. If you're determined
to use free hosting, your best bet is a place like WebJump. You get
25MB of free Web space in exchange for signing away the top portion
of your Web site to WebJump's banner ads. Choose from
yourname.webjump.com or use your own registered address.
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To avoid long, hard-to-remember domain names and ads cluttering
up your site, you'll have to pay a hosting provider. With
thousands of choices out there, sites such as Compare Web
Hosts, HostIndex.com and HostSearch can be invaluable. You can search
their databases by price, disk space and available services.
Don't forget to check into set-up and transfer fees.
Most providers will register your ".com" name for you,
but you can do it yourself through sites like Net-Names, Network
Solutions and Register.com among others. Typically a $70 fee gets
you a two-year registration. And the sooner you register, the
better. Good Web names are harder and harder to come by as
speculators buy them up.
OK, you have a domain name and a place to put it- now you need a
program. The leaders in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML
editors are Microsoft FrontPage 2000 ($149), Adobe PageMill 3.0
($100), NetObjects Fusion (see "Good
Buys") and CoffeeCup HTML Editor ($49). None require that
you know HTML, but some familiarity with HTML tags can be helpful
for fine-tuning. Here are some dos and don'ts for building a
Web site, from small-business Web developer and consultant Doug
Henry:
DO keep it simple: An
elegant interface is what surfers look for in a site.
DO check out the
competition: Your cyberworld competitors' sites can
give you lots of ideas about what (and what not) to do.
DO find out what customers
want: Your customers can give the best insight into how
your Web site should be and what it should contain. Listen to
them.
DO give it a little
time: Your site probably won't be voted most popular
overnight. Word-of-mouth takes on a whole new meaning on the
Web.
DON'T use frames:
Frames can turn people off quickly; they're often misused and
implemented poorly.
DON'T use large images and
files: A good rule of thumb for an entire page with
images is 50 to 70KB.
DON'T assume that if you build
it, they will come: Just because your site is up and
running doesn't mean anyone can find it. Submitting your site
to search engines and adding your URL to company stationery,
mailers, your sign and more lets customers know you exist.
The basic rule of building a Web site is this: Take the time to
learn your HTML editor and keep it simple. You probably won't
run Amazon.com out of business, but, then again, you don't have
to.
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