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 Issue #25 - July 7th, 2003 Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses
Brought to you by idesignbusiness.com http://www.idesignbusiness.com Issue # 25 Monday, July 7th, 2003 In this Issue: ARTICLES: ONLINE POLL: FREE RESOURCE: Welcome to another issue of the idesignbusiness Internet Marketing Newsletter. For this issue I've decided to get back to basics and cover the fundamentals of getting your business online. For many people, the process of creating a website and getting it online can seem confusing and costly. I hope to disprove that idea with this week’s article. For those of you that already have a website up and running I encourage you to view our newsletter archive where you can find more advanced web marketing techniques.. As always, I want to hear from you! Please direct all newsletter correspondence to newsletters@idesignbusiness.com You can view all past issues of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses at the newsletter archive. Click below to visit the archive: Newsletter Archive Neal St. Clair idesignbusiness Advertisement Do you need a reliable Webmaster? When is the last time you updated your website? Fresh content brings traffic to your website and keeps people coming back. idesignbusiness now offers Website Maintenance packages so you can have a professional webmaster for your website. Let us handle HTML, text, and image updates to your website so you can concentrate on your business. We are professional, reliable and best of all affordable! We can help you:
Email - info@idesignbusiness.com Phone - 213.926.2990 Online Poll Do you currently have a website? ARTICLE Website Basics - Getting Your Business Online by Neal St. Clair Websites are no longer a “nice to have” for most businesses, they are a necessary part of business. More often than not, consumers will conduct research on the Internet before they buy and more and more people are actually buying products and services on the web than ever before. Creating and launching a website is a fairly easy and affordable process, but what I have found over the years is that many people don't know where to start and what to pay. This article outlines four easy step that any business can follow to quickly and easily get their business online.
The first step to getting your business online is registering a domain name for your website. A domain name is what people will type into a web browser to find your site. (i.e. yourcompany.com). Ideally, you want your domain name to be short, easy to remember, and a close match to your business name. I say ideally because it can be hard to register a short name these days because so many are taken. Be creative when looking for a name and try different variations. I also recommend finding a .com name because that is the most common and what people are used to searching by. Don't pay more than $14.95 a year for your domain name. There are many companies that charge much more than that for no other reason than people are paying it. I have included a few links below where you can search for domain name availability and purchase a name for $14.95 or less. Dotster.com Blue Genesis Once you have your domain name registered, it's time to find hosting space for your website. Hosting space is where your website files will be stored and shared on the Internet. Think of hosting as renting a computer that is connected to the World Wide Web to store your website. There are many options for web hosting and your needs will vary based on your website. For most small businesses a basic hosting plan should meet your needs. I think one of the most important things to look for in a hosting company is customer service. You will find that most plans are similar in terms of features and price. Be sure you choose a hosting company that will quickly respond to your questions and can grow with your company. For a basic hosting plan you should expect to pay around $10 - $12 dollars a month. Be sure they include sufficient disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, and technical support. In addition, a good hosting plan will include Website Traffic Statistics and Search Engine Submission. I have included links to a few hosting plans below: idesignbusiness Hosting (Newsletter Subscribers enter the promo code “helium” and you‘re setup fee will be waived) Hostway I could write a whole book on this step but for purposes of this article I am going to assume you will start with a modest website. Remember, when you launch a website for the first time you don't need to add a lot of bells and whistles. Start slow and expand your website as necessary. One of the best things about the web is the ability to make changes quickly to your site. To begin, I recommend creating a website that explains what you do, has links to your products and services, and provides contact information. I have seen very effective and profitable websites that only contain a few pages. There are many HTML editors available that will enable you to build a website yourself with limited HTML knowledge. I also encourage you to research Web Design & Development companies to help you get your site launched. With the burst of the Internet bubble in late 90's you can find some really great prices and services. Now that you have a name, found hosting space, and have launched your website, it is time to tell the world you're online. The budget for marketing your business online ranges from 0$ - the skies the limit. The first step, and one the most important is getting your site listed in Search Engines. With a little investment of your own time you can do this yourself and for free. For those of you that don't have the time of desire to visit all the Search Engines and Directories on the web you can also hire a Search Engine Optimization company to do the work for you. You will have no problem finding companies out there to help you with this, but be weary of offers like “Submission to 500,000 Search Engines”. There may be 500,000 Search Engines out there, but only 1% of those Engines will produce any significant traffic to your site. I hope this article shattered some of the misconceptions about getting your business online. In reality, it can be quite easy and affordable. If you have any questions please contact us and we would be happy to help. Send questions to info@idesignbusiness.com. Advertisement Professional Websites for as little as $1.15 per day! idesignbusiness has created monthly website packages designed for small business owners and small business budgets. For as little as $1.15 per day, you can have your own professional website including all the great features below:
Learn more about Monthly Website Packages FREE RESOURCE: Each issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses will include helpful free online resources to promote your website. We have put together a free email marketing guide that includes real techniques you can use to effectively use email marketing for your business. Learn how to build opt-in mailing lists, send eye-catching HTML emails and send compelling messages to your customers and prospects. Download Your Free Guide ABOUT idesignbusiness idesignbusiness provides complete Internet Marketing services for small businesses. Increase Website traffic, build your customer base, and drive revenue using our cost-effective and result driven tools and services Please visit http://www.idesignbusiness.com for more information. SUBSCRIPTION NOTICE This newsletter is only sent to opt-in subscribers. If at anytime you would like to be removed from this list, please send an e-mail to newsletters@idesignbusiness.com with REMOVE in the subject line or click on the remove link below. Spread the word - Please forward to friends and colleagues. Copyright 2002 - 2003 idesignbusiness http://www.idesignbusiness.com |
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