Getting Your Business Online
As you can imagine the internet is full of options and possibilities. Finding exactly how you fit into this can sometimes be a bit complex and confusing even for the most seasoned and savvy person on the internet. Learning exactly how to go from a simple dream, to a tried and true reality is even harder but taking small steps will get you in the right direction. One of the first things that you need to realize is to have an e-commerce store you are going to have to have a domain name, internet access, and a place to actually host your website.
When you are selecting the best place to host your new e-commerce website there are several important things that you always need to keep in mind. Choosing the cheapest web hosting provider is often not an acceptable option. It is important to realize that with web hosting you are getting exactly what you pay for. This means if you are only paying for a very cheap hosting account, you are simply going to have a very cheap service. However, depending on your exact needs, a small cheap hosting account may suit your needs perfectly.
If you are looking to create a huge online store where you actually sell products from the website you are going to need a much more advanced website than if you are simply looking to have the website function as a catalogue. You need to decide for certain what your expectations are for your website before purchasing the hosting. A good hosting account for a website could easily cost you $30 or more a month, while for a basic catalogue you may be fine using a simple cheap hosting account.
One of the biggest things you need to determine is what language you want your website built in. This means deciding between flash, PHP, HTML, Java, ASP and several other languages. This is a very important step and will often determine exactly what type of hosting package you need. It is extremely important to note that using a website that is 100% flash or even mostly flash will harm your search engine rankings. This is due to the inability of the search engines to crawl a flash website.
For your own personal website, you could do just fine with virtually any programming language that you want, and almost any hosting that you like as well. If you are looking to create a website that will put you in direct competition with a site such as eBay, you need to look into getting an entire dedicated server to use to host your website. If you are simply planning a small website and do not need much room, typically a virtual dedicated server will be much better.
If you do not understand exactly what you need to begin with, it is generally best to wait and discuss your exact plans with a knowledgeable website designer in order to ensure that you purchase the appropriate hosting account. This will also allow you to thoroughly discuss exactly what you want the website to do now, and potential expansion later, which will ensure that your website fits your exact needs once you are finished developing it.
One of the last important things that you always need to keep in mind is your own connection to the internet. If you are choosing to work on your website from your own home that is perfectly fine. This gives you the freedom to work when you choose, however in order to do this effectively you need to ensure that you have a computer that will provide ample power getting to the internet as well enough hard drive space to allow you to adequately work on the files.
Another consideration that you need to take into account is your own personal internet connection. This means your personal ISP, while it is possible to work with dialup you are going to be spending a very large amount of your time aimlessly waiting on pages to load. Additionally, if you need to download or upload any files you are going to be spending a lot of time waiting as well. This can be a very unpractical situation if you are attempting to run a business.
The idea of installing a T1 internet connection into your home may be extremely tempting, and the speeds are certainly very nice, but for the average business owner who is operating out of their home a much more affordable option is a DSL or cable connection. These typically provide speeds of anywhere from 1.5MB to as much as 8MB. If you are lucky and have a FIOS connection in your area this would be even better since the speeds are much faster. Ultimately, you will need to decide how much you are comfortable paying, and determine that amount based upon how much time it will save you and how much more work you can get done to select the best internet connection for your needs.