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The Small Business Support Network
Helping you get more from your business!

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How to do business on the web.

 New to the Internet? Don't know a domain name from a URL?

Our preliminary outline of what's involved in doing business on the Internet is aimed at someone with little or no knowledge of the Internet.

The first step involves a very basic understanding of how the Internet is used...

  1. YOU can use it to find out information and communicate to other people using browser software and email
    AND
  2. OTHER PEOPLE use it to find out information about YOU
We're not going to go into any details about what you need to connect to the Internet, after all, you're viewing these pages, so you must have got that bit right!

The more you use the Internet, the more valuable a business tool it becomes as you continue using it - preferably allocating an appropriate amount of time on a daily basis.

See our feature for more details on how you could use the Internet for networking. Your success (or failure) in this area is directly related to how much effort you can put into your Internet networking...

However, for OTHER PEOPLE use it to find out information about YOU, then you will most likely need to set up your own WWW pages for them to look at.

These web pages are your "electronic ads"... working for you 24 hrs a day every day of the year... providing useful details about the products and services you have.

This is an area where your success or failure is subject to a great many variables, and the following pages attempt to explain FOUR of the basic issues you need to consider when developing WWW pages:

  • where your information "lives"
  • the content and design of your pages
  • the promotion, maintenance and updating of your information
  • and who is going to do all this...
Firstly, you need to become familiar with the issues related to where your information is stored on the Internet - such things as hardware related issues, Domain Names, Virtual WWW servers and Traffic. There are a range of options here, which change from one Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the next.

Then, you need to have a good close look at your content, and the design, programming and maintenance issues of presenting your information on the Internet, and who is actually going to do it.

Remember, when thinking about attempting to do it yourself, that good web designers are well versed in what makes web sites work for business! When choosing a web designer, find those who are able to provide a complete range of solutions to suit your initial and ongoing needs, and who can do this all for a reasonable price.

If you do go down the D-I-Y path, remember there are plenty of web designers who make a good living out of fixing D-I-Y web sites...