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The cost of starting
your new e-Business is dropping every day with the lower costs of web
hosting, domain names and web development tools! Web hosting and web site
design often go hand-in-hand. Many small business entrepreneurs need assistance in
acquiring web hosting services as well as designing
and maintaining their web sites. Domain registration may also be
provided by web hosts and developers as part of a complete deployment
package. An integrated solution may be the
easiest way to go for many newcomers.
If you don't have a merchant
account to process credit cards, many web hosts may also package a
merchant account as a service with a trusted partner. Merchant
Goldmine also provides an independent selection of merchant
account providers as well as background information about the
costs and precautions to be considered when applying for a merchant
account from a bank or sales organization.
Several wholesalers listed
here also provide technical assistance and tools to establish your own web
site to sell their products. Unless you're already adept at HTML
coding, you should plan to pay for the technical assistance of ecommerce
internet business solution providers. To save time and money, you should
investigate low cost web hosting offers
and prepare by
designing the layout of your storefront on paper prior to engaging the
services of professional programmers.
A good way to start is to surf the net to identify
web sites that look appropriate as models for your site. You will
probably need to have a graphic designer prepare a logo for your web site,
as well. Remember that there's a lot of competition on the web for
most product lines. Once you get a visitor to stop by, the first
impression will be critical.
Animated graphics are hot on the web today, but keep your
target audience in mind. Animation and sound effects may appeal to
specific market groups, but may otherwise be an unnecessary hindrance to
others, since they inevitably slow down the browser loading process to
some extent.
Listed below are several e-commerce solution
providers. Several entry-level e-store solutions are
offered at less than $10 a month for the basic package.
Some hosts offer a package that includes a merchant account for credit
card processing along with the web hosting service. Merchant
accounts usually cost a minimum of $25-$35 a month in addition to
discounts on your sales of 2% - 3% or more, depending on the risk level of
your business. If you need more flexibility than that provided by the
basic or
template solutions, try to get quotes that itemize the costs of the work that
you request. Completion time commitments are important for your own
planning as well.
The larger the storage space
and bandwidth, the higher the price. Expect to pay $5-$10 per month
for up to 100 MB of storage space. Unless you have a very large web
site with dozens of pages and many graphic files, you'll probably do well
in this range. A larger e-commerce web site with many purchasable
items displayed as graphic files may require 200-300 MB of storage
space.
Various vendors package
storage space, bandwidth and POP email addresses based on the quantities
of each. Some add extra features such as statistics programs, HTML
tools, access to a database on the server, several domains hosted in the
same deal, several sub-domains, and so on.
For a full house of hosting
and e-commerce services, you may wish to look at
Perfect
Presence.
Their low-end package costs $8.95 a month and includes 25 MG storage, 2 GB
transfer, 1 POP email account, unlimited email forwarding, Microsoft
FrontPage extensions and domain name registration. No need to shop
around for web development and a merchant account, since these services
are also provided at competitive prices by
Perfect
Presence.
Jumpline.com
offers an OC-192 connection with Qwest,
reliable servers from Dell, and the
most robust hosting platform by Sphera.
With their exceptional customer service and support, over 30,000 customers
have found homes for their websites. Get your own site hosted by
Jumpline.com.
Starting at $13.96 a month,
Web
Site Source offers affordable hosting for FrontPage, Linux and more.
All hosting plans equipped with Microsoft® FrontPage® 2002
server extensions. Sign up for one year and get 2
1/2 months FREE! Click here to sell your products online!
Backbone
Internet's support team is fast, friendly and efficient. Services
include a complete and easy to use Control Panel as well as FrontPage
2000 extensions, FTP access, CGI directory, Web & POP Email, and
site statistics with every web hosting plan. Click here for Complete Web Site Hosting Solutions at Backbone Internet.
For $7.95 a month, iPowerWeb offers 150 MB
hosting, 50 POP emails, SSL, FTP, statistics, CGI, PHP, MySQL, FrontPage
extensions, and more. Bonus options include Miva commerce
capability, password protected directory, Real audio and video, streaming
audio, MIDI file support and numerous content titles including daily news,
financial news, horoscopes, movies, weather, comics, jokes,
etc. iPowerWeb
Web Hosting - $7.95 - Free Setup - Rebates.
HostRocket.com allows you to manage every
aspect of your domain through your own control panel. 15gb of bandwidth
and 350mb of storage for only $9.95 provides plenty of room for you and a
friend. Economy package includes unlimited POP email accounts and
unlimited email forwarding and autoresponding.
HostWay.com offers an
complete solution for hosting and promoting
your web site. Hosting services start at $13.95 a month which
includes 200 MB storage, 2 GB traffic and 10 email accounts.
LunarPages.com
gives you 800 MB of hosting space along with 40 GB bandwidth for only
$7.95 a month.
As you review the various
offerings linked below, look for the features that are important to you. If you expect to grow within a year or so, paying a few dollars
a month more for extra space and bandwidth may be worthwhile in order to
avoid having to look for another deal or move to a different host when you
need to expand. The larger packages usually give you better service
and are less likely to have interruptions of service which may disconnect
your customers from your e-store.
Domain
Registration
Before you select your web
host you'll need to secure your domain name or names. You
should know that several major search engines use the domain name in key
word searches. If you're in the photography business, for example,
you may want a domain name like mikesotophotos.com, for example,
assuming your name is Mike Soto (a fictitious name).
Page names are also used by
search engines so the names of your pages
should include one of the important key words for your business. For
example, a page that shows portraits may be named portraits01.
The URL for that page will be ...mikesotophotos.com/portraits.html.
That way, if someone types in the key words photos portraits,
both your domain and web page may be selected. By
itself, however, a good domain name is not going to bring a lot of traffic
to your web site. Pick a name that says something about your
business and that may be attractive or interesting to your target market
group. If you're promoting a brand name, you should incorporate the
brand name in the domain name.
If you select a .COM domain, it might be prudent to also get
the .NET domain for the same name. For example, you may wish to
establish a club or association for your business and host related pages
on the .NET domain.
There is now a
lot of good competition for domain registration services which has
resulted in lowering the prices. The original registration service by
Network Solutions was priced at $35 a year. There are several
competitors today that offer the same service at rates that are as low as half
the Network Solutions rate. You can also save more money by
purchasing the registration for two or more years in advance, which we
strongly recommend.
For example, one popular domain registration source is Domain
Direct. For $69.99, they offer two years registration for your
domain name and include 5 e-mail forwarding accounts, one free POP e-mail
account, an under construction page, domain forwarding and a control panel
to manage your account.
Register.com is a major domain
registration resource with several very competitive packages. For
example, for $70 you get domain registration for .COM, .NET or .ORG
domains for two years. This includes 24 hour / 7 day customer
support, online domain management, a complimentary 3-page web site and web
address forwarding. Register your Domain Name.
Thousands of valuable domain names expire each
week, and the competition for their registration is intense. NameWinner,
a new service from ICANN accredited registrar Dotster, provides customers
an easy, reliable, risk-free way of registering expiring domain names the
INSTANT they expire! Get the Domain Name you Really want!
One of the lower cost domain
registration services is 000Domains.com.
Here you can register your own domain names with .com, .net, .org,
.info, .biz or the new .US extensions for only $13.50 per year.
Even the old standard, Network
Solutions, now owned by VeriSign, offers you the opportunity to register a .biz or .info domain
name with Web forwarding and get the second year free (package costs
$45). VeriSign also offers web hosting, email and credit card
processing solutions. Multi-lingual solutions also available.
If you wish to leverage a
catchy domain name against the competition, you may wish to look at Best
Designer Domain Names. A powerful domain name may not be a
pricey as you think.
Web Development and Design
One of the better shopping cart services you can
integrate with you ecommerce web site is the SecureNetShop shopping cart.
Security, ease of use, reliability and quick setup are important features
offered by this service. When you realize that all of your
transaction information will be handled and stored by this service, you
need to have peace of mind in the company behind the product.
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