Setting Up Website

Setting up a website consists of three simple steps. At first step you need to buy a domain name. Your domain name will be not only your internet address but also your brand on the internet. Then you’ll need to determine your e-mail address so as to contact your customers, receive feedbacks etc.. Final step is to choose your hosting privider. With this guide you’ll be able to choose the right hosting company and learn what you do not know.

i. Obtaining Domain Name

First of all, you should assess your company’s or business’s name very carefull. You need to make “minds” remember your name among thousands of other websites.

ii. Obtaining E-mail Address

One of the most active communications tools on the internet is e-mail. It is very important to have an e-mail address in order for online business so that you can communicate with your customers from all over the world with just a few clicks.

Today, every company includes an e-mail adress on their business card or all the related correspondence like a telephone or a fax number. In addition, having an e-mail address of a company gives a sense of trust to customers in terms of reachability.

If you are working with an internet service provider , When you purchase a hosting service an e-mail address or more will be provided for you.

a.) Email Softwares

Web Mail and Post Office Protocol are the most popular email forms. Web mail offers you the chance to read your mail through internet from all over the world. All you need is to have a web browser ( internet explorer, firefox, chrome,…) and internet access. POP mail lets you not only read yor email by downloading them to your computers. with some e-mail softwares ( Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Gmail, etc.,…) but also receive web-based mails (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail,..)

b.) Email Forwarding

You can forward your mails to another email address. Yet, you should ask your Internet Service Provider whether you have that function or not. At the moment, you probably are using a free email service. Before beginning to do online business (e-commerce), you should forward this email address to the new one that you have obtained by purhasing a hosting service.

c.) Email Lists

List servers ( e.g. Yahoo Groups ) are such applications that forward a mail sent to a specific e-mail address, to hundreds of email addresses. Many email softwares simply have this feature. The risk of this type of applications is the discontent that stem from sending mails without permission. Therefore, it is important to make sure you do work out whther the audiance whom you will send mails will not be uncomfortable. You need to have an opt-in list.

As mentioned above, www.yahoogroups.com exemplifies this type of service. By browsing the above link, you can search for and then join the groups in your niche.

If you are planning to do email marketing by gathering emails on your website, you can get information about unauthorised email sending on www.antispam.com. When someone tries to sell you email list, make sure that it is an opt-in email list.

iii. Choosing Hosting

If you are going to do business on the internet to make money online then you’ll be needing a hosting for your website. In this section you’ll be able to find informations about what hosting is and the criterias for choosing a hosting plan.

a.) What is Hosting?

As long as your company does not have its own server you need to obtain some place for your online store from other hosting companies. Web host is a company which hires place on their machines for you.

Choosing Web Host carefully; is important not to encounter problems such as slow site speed, missing pages or some applications that dont work. Means loss of customers in terms of its effect on your business.

b.) How to Choose Hosting?

Be carefull in criterias below for choosing hosting:

Is it ISP or Dedicated Web Host?

Many Internet Service Providers and Web Hosts offer hosting services. But Which one should be chosen?

Many ISPs offer other services too in addtion to hosting and they try to sell these services by packaging them together with hosting service. For example, internet connection, email service,

However, Web Hosts offer only hosting services without additional services. What advantages acrue to customers here is the fact that there wont be traffic problem that stems from different applications. Such applications wont cause problem in accessing your website.

What’s its Operating System?

Operating Systems should be Unix or .NET.If you want to place dynamic applications on your online store, then you need to do some research about whatwhich operating system would be more appropriate.

Does it have a shopping software?

Some hosting companies offer shopping softwares as well. They help you set up your site, provides support about virtual POS settings and they may demand additional payment for that. If you build your online store with your own software, make sure your hosting supports your software.

How much space will be allocated?

If we suppose that an average website has 100KB space , then 100 website can be hosted in a space of 10MB. And if there are more complex thecnologies on your website ( Shockwave Flash, Real Audio, Quicktime Video, etc.,..) then you will need more space.

What are the traffic limits?

You should know how much you pay for how much traffic. If your site becomes successful, you may need to make extra payment for heavy traffic.

What is the access speed?

Bandwidth is the amount of data that is transfered in a given period of time. You should know how fast it is in Mbit.

Security And Reliability

Make sure your Web Host has applications to protect the system from hackers. If you are going to ask your customers for paymet via credit card, then question if your hosting company supports systems such as SSL or 3D Secure.

Support Service

This service vary from company to company. Evaluate well how they will give support in terms of emergency conditions, staffs and if something goes wrong how they will give you assistance. Moreover, you should question the support they will provide you in any situation of system updates such as database.

Extras

Evaluate the extra services that the hosting company offers. For exampe; online marketing, support, design help, store software, subscribtion system, reporting ,etc.,…

Price

The below questions must be answered in terms of prices and alternatives must be compared: