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I'm putting this page together to refer you to options as you build your business. Here are some categories:
CONTENTS
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
A Domain name is the name of your web site - www.whateveryouwantyourbusinessnametobe.com (or .net or .org. or .tv or .whatever). You purchase it from the big ambiguous Internet system. Actually, its more like renting it. You purchase it for a period of time - a year or more at a time. Different companies sell these at different prices. You have to renew your domain name by paying for it again after your term has expired. How's that for a money making racket? Well, unfortunately, there's no other way to do it. Everyone that has a web site is renting it.
Incidentally, lots of people made millions in the early 90's by selling their domain names - they bought a domain name of a big company before that company did. Then they sold it to that big company for millions.
For example - say a guy named Bob may have bought www.honda.com and spent $15.00 for it. It was then owned by Bob - no one else could have it. Well, anyone thinking of buying a Honda today will try www.honda.com. So, it would benefit Honda to have that domain. So, they contact Bob about buying it. Honda sees that domain as vital to success in the new century. So they gladly pay Bob $500k for it. That scenario happened all the time.
Today, there are some new laws that protect copyrighted and trademark names from you buying them. However, creative and lucky people actually are making money on this today - eBay even has a separate category just for people selling domain names. Click here for eBay's Domain Name category.
Now, here's a decision you have to make. Most of the web hosting services listed will allow you to buy a domain through them - a couple of them offer it for free. However, they may offer it free the first year, then charge you $20-$30 each additional year. Please check each company for their exact procedure. If its free every year, you might as well go with their plan. However, if you have to pay for it eventually, you may just want to buy it from a separate company.
Here's what I do - I have
purchased all of my domains through this company -
Dotster
Domain Registration.
There are a couple of advantages as I see it - $14.95 or less is a great price,
better than most I've seen. Plus, by having all of my domains in the same
place, its very easy for me to change hosing companies (below) and keep track of
their subscriptions.
To check and see if the domain you want is available, and/or if you want to buy it, just click on the banner below for Dotster Domain Registration.
WEB HOSTING/SERVERS (back to contents)
In order to have your business be successful today, you need business "presence". That's some kind of weird post-modern lingo for having your own website.
Why do you need a business website? - Your customers EXPECT you to have one. Simply put, you are probably not a smart business if you don't have web "presence". If people see your ad today, they don't want to call you, they want to go to your website. If you don't have a website, they'll look for someone else who does. So, you've got to be online, whether you sell TV's or gum drops.
Below are several sites that you may choose to host your web site. As I see it, there's not much difference between them for the average person like you and I. Price may be the only thing that makes the difference for you. So, check them out, see what you like. I've tried to give you a brief opinion about each one, which is purely my impression of each one, not my experience. I am currently using a small company run by a friend of mine for my stuff. I do link him below with the others.
Please note - some of these links are controlled by the company they link to and they may change. This means any pricing or services I talk about may have changed once you go to their site. Please let me know if something I have is incorrect.
iPowerWeb
iPowerWeb - Introducing the most powerful hosting solution
This company is one of the most popular out there, and you get a lot for your $7.95 per month. They have a 30 day money back guarantee. As part of their bonus plan, they are offering a free domain for new subscribers - usually $20. They may charge you that additional $20 per year afterward though, so beware. Otherwise, a great company with over 90,000 subscribers.
Current
offer:
Introducing $7.95 Hosting, Free Setup and $100 Marketing Rebate.
infinology
Now Offering $6.95 Web Hosting with Free Domain Name and $500 Marketing campaign
They have an incredible deal going on right now - plus, they are rated highly by c/net and other important services. They are offering a ridiculous amount of space for your money - more than you'll likely need. However, for the current price - they are the cheapest I've seen too. Go figure.
Currently offering:
Infinology SmartConsumers Hosting / $6.95/Mo. / 9000 Megs of Space, 50 Gigs of Traffic, 50000 POP3 Accounts + Free Domain - CLICK NOW!
Apollo Hosting
Want Fast, Reliable Web Hosting? Click Here!
Apollo may be a good deal for beginners especially. There's good info about starting your own store, taking credit cards, etc. Naturally, they integrate it all into their hosting plan, assuming you would then go with them This is a company that is targeting newbies as well as veteran users. Their service is a bit more expensive, but it may be worth it for you to have their perspective.
Morgan-Systems
This is the company that I use for my smaller sites. Why do I use this company over the others for these sites? Because the "Morgan" of "Morgan-Systems" is a personal friend of mine. So, I get some personal attention to my sites. He's given me some freebie space for a couple of non-profit companies too. So, he's a good guy. If you want a smaller company feel to what you are working on, give Morgan a try. Tell him that "Furrowcious" referred you. He'll like that. His prices are comparable to all the big guys.
There's this thing called "Marketing". Somehow, people need to find out your business exists. That's the great part about eBay - you just use them and have immediate access to millions of people. However, perhaps only 1000 of those people really may be interested in your product. So, marketing will help make sure that those 1000 and other interested people hear about you. I'm just now getting into this, but I'll link you to the service I am using. I'll update you in the newsletter to how this is going.
TOPICA
Send professional newsletters via
Topica Email Publisher: try it for 30 days FREE!
THIS SITE HAS A FREE 30 DAY TRIAL. You can sign up, check it out, even send some ads. PLUS! They will link your ad directly to your eBay auction or to your PayPal account! That is VERY COOL! This is a company that basically does all of your marketing for you - sending out legal ads and other.
Now, I have noticed that while its monthly fees are reasonable, their special fees for building your customer base may give you a stroke. However, those are all optional. For myself, right now there's no way I can afford that kind of marketing help. However, once I am ready I will definitely use it. If it pays off, its worth the stroke. In the mean time though, I think your 30 day trial will open your eyes to the future potential of your business.
BOOKS AND OTHER HELPS (back to contents)
Sometimes it gets tiring reading a computer screen. There are many great books on eCommerce and related topics out there. I'll refer to one's I've read and one's I'd like to read.
Plus, I've added a couple extra categories which may help you in building your personal skills that will help you in any business.
AFFILIATE PROGRAMS (back to contents)
A key to the profitability of any website is your affiliates. To be perfectly frank, there are only two motivations for me to make this site you're looking at now:
1. EVERYBODY asks me to help them get started on eBay. So many people do that it consumes my conversation whenever I am with people socially. I love the discussion; however, I want to talk about some other things once in a while. So, now I can just refer them to this website.
2. Many of the links on this site pay me a commission when you sign up. Its generally not a lot of money for me, but if it makes a few bucks extra, then why not?
Now, #2 may give you pause when considering my motivation for linking you to these companies on this site. So, I make this promise:
1. I only link you to services or products that I personally use and like OR
2. I only link you to services or products that I believe may legitimately help you. I'm interested in hearing from you about your experiences with these companies. If it turns out they stink, then I'm getting rid of them. Since I refer everyone I know to this page, I have no interest in sending them to some dog of a web host. I want to link sites that are helpful only.
How is it working for me? Well, currently I make enough to pay for all of my web hosting costs. I'm almost making enough to cover the loss of the eBay ad for this page. Anyway, a successful website should make at least enough money to cover its own expenses. Once you have a web site, you can add affiliates so that people who visit your web site can earn money for you too.
THIS SECTION IS COMING SOON!
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS (back to contents)
I'm creating this section to be a hodge-podge of stuff. Web software and other helps that anyone may need. Most of what is here will be added when it becomes clear from your questions that you need this stuff!
THIS SECTION IS COMING SOON!
FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS) (back to contents)
This page will be a catalog of the most common questions I get from you. That way, you'll be able to find your answers quicker than waiting a couple of days for me to get around to answering your emails about sales tax and HTML.
THIS SECTION IS COMING SOON!
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