No. You can have a site managed for you and orders and queries can be phoned or faxed on to you.
Costs here will depend on whether you are paying someone full time or simply having messages and orders sent on to you. This need not be costly. You simply pay for what needs to be done. It could be a set up price to gain a website and have your page put together and uploaded onto the web, and once that it is done simply have orders and queries sent on to you when they come. Then every now and then have changes made to your site as you require. You will also need to advertise your site or have someone advertise it for you. Start locally by placing your web address, and contact e-mail address on all your advertising, invoices, literature etc.

What is the cheapest option for having a presence on the Internet?

The cheapest option is to advertise on free classifieds. You can type in the add yourself if you are on line or have someone type an add up for you if you are not. There are however restrictions, on what you can advertise, who can advertise, and you will be restricted as to the amount 9f advertising you can do. It is important to read the small print in regard to these classifieds sites.

These sites are however very useful, in that you will be placing your add where people will look, so that it is a good place to advertise your Internet site if you have one. I would strongly recommend using this option whether you have a web site or not, especially local classifieds that concentrate on your local area (e.g. South Burnett On Line) or classifieds that concentrate on particular interests, that might be in line with what you are selling.

Most classified add sites provide the posibility to take out adhanced adds which you pay for in which case they will promote your add by giving your add more prominance than other adds or providing some exposure for your add on search engines or eldwhere.

O.K. Suposing I decide to have a Web Site. What are the options?

1. Free Sites

Free Internet sites are the cheapest option. Most of these are American. They are however in most cases well set up, for easy use, (In many cases you will not need any special programs for uploading files from your computer or designing pages. These programs are usually provided by the company providing the web site. They are up and running and ready to use. and you can have someone manage the site for you without having to be online yourself There will be costs here of course and that will depend on the type of site you want, who you get to do the job for you, how much time you want them to spend on your account etc. Be careful you could wind up paying more than you need to.

You can of course manage the site yourself if you have the time.

Free websites are useful and can be a good place to start if you just want to try to see how things go, without much cost. They also provide a large amount of web space. Anything from 10 megabytes to 50 megabytes which is sufficient for a really good web Site with plenty of pictures if you want them.

One thing to consider here however, is that you will probably have to put up with other. people's adds on your site or having to receive a lot of advertising emails sent to you. That is why it is free. The advertisers. pay for the web space you are using, so that as you promote your site and people go to view your site the people will see the advertising of the people who are paying for your site as well as your advertising.

With free sites the address for your site will be long and will include the name of the company who's site you are using. e.g. Http://www.lotsoffreesites-members/~your-name.com (ficticous).

2. Web Space provided by your Internet Service Provider.

If you connect to the Internet your Internet Service Provider will provide as part of the service (Covered in the fee you pay your I.S.P.) a small amount of web space for you to use. This is usually about 5 megabytes, which is enough for a basic website. If you want to put a number of pictures on your site or a lot of information that would take up a lot of pages you will need a bigger site. Most businesses however could manage on this 5 meg. Space , at least to get started. To make use of this space you will need a computer program called an FTP (File Transfer Protocol program) for transfering files from Your computer onto the web site. These programs aren't expensive, but you will need to learn how to use it. You will also need a program on your computer for designing your web pages, or need to have someone else design and upload your pages.

Most modern computers come with a basic web design program, and the better word processing programs have ways of turning files into web page files. Programs that come with computers tend to not be all that marvelous and there is a lot to be said for looking around for programs that will cause less problems. Learning about basic HTML code helps to correct problems that arrise from the use of readily available web site building programs. However if you can put up with a few things not being quite as you would want and taking longer to load than other people's sites you can get by with the average word processor or web building program that comes with your computer. s.

If you want to increase your web space you can usually purchase extra megabytes of space as you need it. This could cost anything from $10 per megabyte per year (with a friendly I.S.P. who's feeling generous up to possibly $100 per meg per year with better resourced situations.

Again, with this option you will have a long web address that includes your I.S.P.'s web address.

e.g.: http://www.your-ISP.com.au/~your-business-name(ficticous).

3. Purchasing Web Space from a web Hosting company.

Many of the free web site companies will provide you with a web site without advertising if you pay for the space. You get the same facilities of use that they provide for their free sites and the same amount of space. This will cost several hundred dollars a year. Different companies charge different amounts depending on what service they provide. With most of these companies varying degrees of help are provided, and if you are prepared to wait a little while for an answer most of your problems can be answered.

All web hosting companies have terms ans conditions which in most cases are mainly safeguarding them legally. American Web Hosting companies are the most detailed in this regard and they have an enormous amount of pages of “Terms and Conditions”.

If you are prepared to pay for a good web hosting service I would highly recommend the company called "adgrafix" They provide a wide rage of amounts of web space and services and have a help line that is on call 24 hrs a day by e-mail.

This is an American Web Hosting Company. That provides excellent service and excellent facilities.

Also be aware that American companies and others around the world are priced in American Dollars so unless you are an American the amount you wind up paying is much more than the figure on the screen. Exchange rate and money transfer fees need to be taken into account.

Good Hosting packages are avialable from $48.00 per year with a company such as WebAage ( for whom I am an agent ) to thousands of dollars per year with some of the bigger companies. Some companies provide better service than others. Often the bigger companies treat you as a number rather than a person and are often not very helpful. This can also happen with very cheap hosting companies who have automated responses or will send you to a page of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions.) In most cases these pages do not explain what you need to know and you can spen hours wading through material on the net to find that the answer to your question is not there anyway. So make sure that the company you propose to deal with provides you with at least e-mail contact with a person who can answer your questions. If they provide phone contact as well all the better.

Other Considerations.
1.Domain Name Registration.

If you operate through a free site or use the space your I.S.P provides, from time to time you may find it necessary due to bad service or because you like better what some other company is offering, to change your Internet Service provider or web hosting company. If you do, you will no longer be able to use the web address that they have given you to use.

If you don't notify all your customers of your change of address, or they lose your new address, you could well lose sales. By registering a Domain name ( A web address that suits your business) You can maintain the same web Site address no matter what hosting company you are using. You can change from one web hosting company to another and still have the same address on the web. This also prevents others from using the name you have chosen. Most web hosting companies will provide a domain name registration service. You do not have to register through the company you are renting web space from but it does make things easier. You may be able to register am American Domain ( .com ) name cheaper by hunting around (There is greater competition in America), but if you register an Australian domain (.com.au) name it Identifies your site as Australian.

Advertising your Web Site.

This is necessary so that potential customers will visit your site. The first consideration is to register with the major search engines. These are directories that people look up when they are looking for a specific type of goods or service. You need to be there to be found. This service is “free” for some of the major Search engines, but you do need to keep reistering with them to maintain a good position in their listings. If you register free you may have to wait quite some time for your site to be listed and you may have to receive advertising e-mails because someone has to pay for you to have the service free. Paid registrations will go to the top of the list. It helps to register regularly or have someone register your site for you. There are also many classified sections where you can advertise. Many are free, others you pay for. Some situations such as banner advertising are such that you can place advertising on someone else's web site if you allow several other people to advertise on your site. There are also Business directories on the web where you can list your business. Some are free. Most will do more for you if you pay. Classied advertising and Business directories that will list you in search engines are the best ones to advertise with.

Credit Card acceptance on line. See your bank.

If you have any questions or I can help you in any way please contact me:

Frank Grahame Drew
Phone Local Australia: 0741 686127 International: 61 7 41 686127

2684 Gayndah Road Windera Qld AUSTRALIA

Postal Address:2684 Gayndah Road
M S 571
MURGON
Qld 4605

AUSTRALIA

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