When small business owners tell me that they 'need a web site, but' - fill in the blank - the reason is most often, 'I don't have the time'.
What this often really means is 'I don't have the budget to get a web site' [because they are really expensive, aren't they?]
This thought is usually because they got a quote for a web site about 8 or 9 years ago, when those that could often gouged, so the small business owner thinks, 'I don't have all that money so I will have to build my own web site and learn so much stuff, and in essence become a web designer, on top of what I do already - so I OBVIOUSLY DO NOT HAVE THE TIME!'
I hear that a lot.
So you obviously found this site because you are interested in a web presence and you are in business. Let me guide you. You can get a web site for free. You can get a web site for very little expense per year. You can spend around $1000 on a fine looking web site. You can spends thousands on your web site. If you spend more you most likely will have to do less work to get your web site up and running.
Now that the obvious has been stated let's look at the pros and cons and talk about getting a web site without spending any money.
Free Business Web Sites - not a good idea
If you wish to convey professionalism having a free web site is not the way to go about it. Using a free blogging service like this has its uses: this site is a blog, but this is not my small business web site. Blogs are fabulous formats to be more casual and informal, to discuss topics on a regular basis. If you want to go into the blogging business then blogs like this are a good idea, but for the sake of argument I am not talking about blogging as a business here, but regular Mom and Pop business owners trying to get online.
At the very least you need your own domain name: www.yourdomainname.com. A .com is the most prized and well known, but there are also .net/.org/.biz.info and others to consider. To get a domain name you don't have to spend a lot of money any more at register.com. Check out these great resources: godaddy.com, name.com.
Then once you have a domain name, hopefully one that is easy to remember and spell, you need somewhere for your web site to live. You need a web host. There are a million web hosting companies out there and a lot of them, unfortunately are not good.
Many people go into internet business by becoming hosting resellers. They are buying server space from another company and then selling it on to make money. There is nothing wrong with this except that most often the customer service is not there as they do not have employees, and their service is down more frequently, or emails are not delivered in a timely fashion.
Because of the proliferation of unreliable hosting companies your best bet is to go with some of the biggies. Again godaddy.com or hostgator.com are good options at a great price. You can also call them up and talk to a real support person if needed.
So to get on the internet you need a domain name [your web address], a hosting account [a physical location where your web site's files reside] and a web site [a group of files created by someone with web design knowledge].
That's it. Now get those three and your'e all set! Joking aside, those three components are the basics; the latter being the one that causes the small business owner the most grief and what this blog is all about.
