Different Options for Web Pages

So you are about to make the plunge and set up your very own web site. Now the very first concern you might have is how do you do it. Well, you can either "do it yourself" or hire someone to do it.

The "do it yourselfer", assuming no prior knowledge, faces a fairly large learning curve. While there are a number of packages such as "Netscape Page Composer" which can make your job easier, most really don't go beyond basic page construction. Don't get me wrong - I use this package myself when converting this Newsletter to HTML coding for inclusion on our Web Page. But, since all Browsers are NOT created equal, coding which looks great on one Browser might be a disaster on another. The two most popular Browsers are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. If your coding looks good on both of those, the odds are it will look good on almost any Browser.

So, it is apparent that you must have at least the capability to check your work on both of these. I know, I know, there are templates available with some services such as "Free Yellow" that build the page for you. But honestly, do you want to have a page that gets beyond the basics if you want to attract people back to your site? For an example of a web site created completely by a template, go to the web page of my grandson (he is 12) at: http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/jplatacz/ - not bad for a personal site. And while there, drop him a note - he would be thrilled!

Do you have scanning capabilities available to you? If not forget about using your own images or logo on your web page.

Are you going to rely on your ISP for their "Personal" Web Pages that many provide? What if they go "belly up" or the service deteriorates? While you can re-create your pages someplace else, how do you let your current customers know about your new URL? How about those thousands of business cards that are already in the hands of your customers and potential clients - not to mention copies of your letters in their files which now have the wrong URL? Many people look at personal web pages as "tacky" for use in a business environment. And, as I previously stated, some search engines will not accept submissions from personal web pages.

So what are the alternatives? The first is to secure your own domain name through the Internic. The cost to the Internic is $70 which covers your registration for two years. But that is just the beginning - you can't use your own domain name on an ISP such as AOL, Prodigy, etc., so you must either go with an ISP that allows the use of your own domain, or contract with a company that provides web space. Typically, this will cost $25 to $50 per month, although for full services the rate can go a lot higher. The biggest advantage here is that you can place your web pages anyplace that you wish and still maintain your existing URL. Since the pages are not ISP dependant, you can use any service you wish. Your E-mail address stays the same and you can "redirect" your E-mail to the mailbox of your current ISP. Any E-mail sent to me at bob@adv-marketing.com is automatically "redirected" to my current mailbox at Prodigy. If I changed from Prodigy to another ISP, it would be a simple matter to "redirect" the mail to the new address.

The second alternative is to get a sub-domain name such as I use. I use the domain of Advanced Marketing which is http://www.adv-marketing.com with the sub-domain of "business" - http://www.adv-marketing.com/business which really doesn't have any content in it at all. What that URL does is to "redirect" you to my real URL. Now if my real URL was on a personal web page, visitors to my Web Site would not have to be aware of this.

I maintain personal web pages on Prodigy Classic, (http://pages.prodigy.com/business/) Prodigy Internet (http://pages.prodigy.net/yourbizweb/) and In Jersey - a local ISP (http://nj5.injersey.com/~mailman/). My content is spread over all of these. The cost of this is $36 per year. This is a highly affordable option. I have a professional sounding URL which is not ISP dependant, and I can submit my URL to all of the search engines.

Bob - bob@adv-marketing.com