Getting The Big Picture Series: Part 4 - "Enter The Web"

Does the thought of managing your own website seem too complicated? What's holding you back?

A web page is simply a document with a .htm or .html extension
ex. article.htm or article.html

It is important to have your own website when conducting business over the Internet. When you sign up for affiliate programs they give you a duplicate of the company website but the duplicate is not formated to be found by the search engines. You cannot include keywords and meta tags which are used by the search engines to index web pages.

When you have your own website you have the opportunity to make a name for yourself not just promote the affiliate program. You can also market lots of products/services in one shot. Though it is not totally necessary to have a paid web host, it is a good idea if funds are available, being that there are some restrictions to having a free web hosting account. Such as the web host will add their advertisement to your site usually a banner at the very top of the page and when your site is indexed with the search engines alot of times you will find their name in your listing.

When you sign up for a paid account you will get a Domain name which is your site name with .com, .biz, .org etc. at the end. which equals a website address.

ex. www.yoursitename.com as apposed to www.freewebhost.yoursitename.com

Meaning that when you have a free account the web hosts name usually comes before your name, which is free advertisement for them. But, not always so shop around if your going to use a free account because there are some who allow your name before theirs such as Bravenet.

Why Get Your Own Domain Name?

To get an email address that you control.
To get a business address on the Internet.
To improve your Internet personal and business image.

When getting started you should make an outline for your site. Know what you want to sell, what you want it to look like, what content your going to use, and what graphics if any you plan to use. Have a picture in your mind of what you want your site to look like. Then execute.

Getting The Big Picture?