First Steps
Goals Assessment
Why have a website?
What information do you want to
present?
Online sales?
A good place to start is to search
the web for related sites. Try to get a sense of your likes and dislikes in
terms of design, content and features. A website needs to be a balance of both
quality design and information. Net Effects will assist you in refining you
goals into a professional website suited to the needs of your business or
organization. Please take this opportunity to
Contact Net Effects for a FREE
no-obligation consultation or if you prefer, fill out the online
Assessment Form and upon reviewing the information
we will contact you to arrange for a consultation.
Site Hosting
Once the initial scope of your
website is established the next step is to find a company to host it. The
number of companies offering website hosting services is growing almost as fast
as the number of websites on the internet. The key factors in choosing a host
are, reliability, features and customer support. The cost will vary depending
on your site's size and features however generally site hosting starts at
$20/month. Most companies offer several plans to suite a variety of needs.
Net Effects can assist you in
choosing and setting up an account with a site hosting company if necessary.
Most providers have easy online sign-up using a credit card.
Some Important questions to ask
when choosing a company to host your site are:
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Speed of connection to the
internet? Minimum T3 is a must.
Availability of customer support;
24/7 ?
System reliability and backup.
Amount of storage provided. For a
typical small website 10MB will suffice.
How may e-mail addresses are included
How much traffic is included with the
monthly rate before additional charged apply.
Is e-commerce with secure servers
available? Additional charge?
What other services are offered:
RealAudio and RealVideo, support for Microsoft Frontpage Extensions, your own
cgi-scripts, Shopping Cart Software.
What are the setup charges?
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Domain Name Registration
Most site hosting companies will
register a Domain Name for you at the time of account setup. The current fee to
register a domain name is $70 covering the first two years then a $35/year
renewal fee. Visit Network
Solutions site to check the availability of your domain name. If the name
you want is available you might consider registering it now before it is taken.
Net Effect can also assist you in registering your domain name.
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