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Establishing an Internet Presence for Your Business
This book is about marketing on the Internet and for reasons of space I must assume you have a basic understanding of the Internet, perhaps you are already online, maybe you've already grown accustomed to the likes of sending and receiving email, communicating through newsgroups and discussion forums, and such.
So 'Establishing an Internet Presence' in its current context means paving the way to actually establishing a business online, using one or more of the many marketing options at your disposal.
How do you start what is actually an easy task of establishing a marketing presence on the Internet?
Well, you probably already have a computer, and hopefully also an ISP - Internet Service Provider - now comes the task of creating a business environment from which to grow your online empire.
First and foremost, don't worry, actually building a marketing site is easy, as is locating space for it on the world wide web, and even uploading your site, preferably sites, yourself.
One of the first, most essential questions is 'What, Who and How?'
What kind of web site creation facilities will you use? Exactly where will you locate your site? How will you upload it? Who will you get to help? Can you, indeed, do the whole job of designing and uploading sites without help, and without spending more than a few pounds? The truth is, there's nothing difficult at all in designing, creating and uploading a site, and many free or low-cost options present themselves.
A web site can be created in several ways. You could:
Have a web site designer create and upload your site and carry out all subsequent changes.
Have a web site designer create and upload your site and show you how to manage it from there.
Choose and adapt your site using already uploaded templates. These are sometimes offered free of charge by ISPs or free and paid-for hosting services, sometimes as part of a reseller programme for web sites or other products. They are simplicity itself, but somewhat limited in choice of layout and features. My favourites are Skynary, 20m.com, Homestead.
Design and upload your own site using special software, ranging from easy-peasy (I recommend design software Microsoft Publisher 2000 and FrontPage 2000, and FTP from Explorer and FrontPage 2000) or utilising various programmes having complicated, awe-inspiring names like Perl, HTML, JavaScript (not my cup of tea). Below you will find details of downloadable web site design software of which a great deal more exists on the Internet.
Have a site created and maintained for you, including all the design features and facilities required to market a range of ready-made products. This typically happens in joint venture and associate schemes, where a parent company relies on others to market its products using site and products provided at source. Undoubtedly, my favourite here is Future World USA.
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