Creating Your Web Presence / Internet Small Business

Now that you have a business name, you are ready to learn how to create a web presence on the internet for your small business. This simply means registering a domain name and getting it hosted. *TIP* When choosing your domain name try to incorporate the focus of your web site into the URL. This will later assist you in Search Engine Optimization. For example if you are selling widgets, a good URL is widgets.com or anything that includes the word widgets. Please remember this is just a tip and you can still achieve high rankings on the search engines without using the keyword in your URL. Now, back to choosing a hosting service. There are countless website hosting companies available. Our experience with internet business can provide you with a significant amount of help in making this decision. We have used several webhosting services in our online careers and found that two provide you with true value. The best hosting decision can only be made once you know the site’s purpose. Non-merchant sites such as information sites or affiliate sites can use Yahoo Webhosting. The prices are reasonable (around $12.95 per month), your domain is registered for free, and you do not have to obligate yourself to a long-term contract. Yahoo is one of the most trusted brands on the internet and has excellent server uptime. Uptime is important to you because if the server is down, your site presence is not viewable by visitors. As with everything in life, there are also disadvantages. Yahoo is very basic and you cannot incorporate other scripts such as Zen-Cart or Wordpress. Furthermore, should you ever decide to change hosts, you cannot use the web site built with a Yahoo template or Yahoo SiteBuilder. You also have to purchase a separate hosting package for every website. This may not seem like a big deal right now since you are just starting out but over time you may decide to build multiple sites and hosting them with Yahoo can become expensive. Nevertheless, Yahoo is a good option for beginners. *TIP* Yahoo WebHosting is only suitable for affiliate sites and pay-per-click sites. The best option is a hosting service with cPanel access. This allows you to upload site templates and implement features such as Zen-Cart, Wordpress, and countless other scripts. Hosting with cPanel access also makes it possible to move your site to a different host in the future. Again, this may not seem like a big deal right now but let us explain a little better. You will spend a great deal of time creating and perfecting the look and feel of your site. In the future, you may, for whatever reason, decide to change your hosting service. You would want to move all the work you have already done on your site to a new server rather than starting over. To get the biggest bang for your buck, you want a web hosting service that allows you unlimited bandwidth, unlimited transfers, multiple databases and emails, as well as the ability to host multiple domains with a single hosting package. For those reasons, we recommend Bluehost. These are just recommendations on how to create a web presence, and you are free to search out any hosting provider you desire for your small business. Should you decide to use either Yahoo or Bluehost, you can simply click the link under “Choose Hosting” on WebPalPro. Once you have registered your domain name and gotten it hosted, you have to choose a way to accept money even if you are not selling anything on your site.