By: Richard G. Russell - www.io.com/~richardr
V1.0- Draft
November 2002
Copyright © 2001, 2002, by Richard G. Russell, All Rights Reserved
I subscribe to the "Professional Refinishers Email Group" affectionately known to its members as "groop". A member recently posted the following question:
Folks,
I have long been interested in doing business on the internet but
frankly am more than a little ignorant of facts. When it comes
to setting up my own site I am at a loss as to who to turn to.
I know some of you here are experienced in this area, I would
sure appreciate a reliable direction for help in this undertaking.
So.......Help !!
Answering this question is really open ended - many books have been written on the subject, there are tons of web sites that point people in various directions - some good, some awful.
I've written this article as an attempt to point my fellow groop member in the right direction (or at least a direction)
I've recently found an excellent resource: the Webopedia. This site provides a great glossary for internet related terms. I link to several of them here. Text formatted like this points to definitions on the Webopedia or to some other location.
There are a million ways to "do business on the internet" from the most simple to major major mega sites. For example, some people sell some small number of products on Ebay with some simple static pages that support their effort. On the other end of the scale there are companies like Amazon.com that have 100's of millions of dollars invested to "do business on the internet".
For the purposes of this discussion, I'm focusing on the more simple end of the scale to help answer the question: "How does a small shop leverage the internet to help their business?".
Some discussions might start off with "how to create a web page". This is a huge though straight forward, topic in and of itself and I'll address it later - mostly with pointers to other resources.
After you develop, or write, a set of web pages they have to be put somewhere so your customers can access them. This is called "hosting". The most straight forward place to host your web pages is with your existing Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP is the company that providers your physical connection to the internet.
There are many types of connections. "Dial up" services, and "broad band" services are the most common. Dial Up services provide access via standard telephone lines using modems. Broad band services include cable based service from your local cable TV company; ADSL service from telephone companies and satellite services. There are other access methods such as ISDN lines, frame relay and T1 lines but these are only appropriate when broad band isn't available.
Your ISP typically provides other services beyond a simple connection. This almost always includes email. Other services include; ftp, news server access, a shell account, and spam filtering. Many ISP's also provide a small amount of disk space to hold some web pages. For example, my personal web pages (these pages) are hosted by my ISP io.com. These web pages are accessible via the Universal Resource Locator (URL) http://www.io.com/~richardr. I have a " telnet - the works" account.
There are two advantages to using your existing ISP to host your pages:
However, there are many downsides to using your existing ISP.
These limitations are apply to the lowest cost ISP accounts. All of these limits can be overcome by paying more money. For example, I pay a little bit more per month with io.com to maintain a disk quota of 50 mega bytes.
You may also have service through one of the major ISP's such as America Online or the Microsoft Network. I really don't recommend the use of these services for hosting anything but the most trivial personal web sites. Their policies are really restrictive and they will often add advertisements to your web site. AOL and MSN are great for folks that want low cost internet dial up access and for internet neophytes, but they are simply not suitable for hosting anything important.
Also, don't use 'free' web site hosting services like Geocites, America Online, FortuneCity or Tripod.com. They are fine for hosting small personal web sites but not for anything business related. They all place advertisements on your web pages (that is why they are free). This site here is an example of a users page from Geocities. Many other free web hosting companies also puts adds on their users 'free' sites. Do you really want someone else's adds at the top of your business pages? Probably not. Many also create new (and very annoying) pop up windows. Nobody will take you seriously if you put your business related web pages on any of the free sites.
Now that the internet bubble has burst, many of these companies offer real hosting services (.e.g. hosting for money). This might be viable - but be sure to read the fine print.
The lack of a domain name (see below) is a significant disadvantages of using a simple ISP account to host your web. However, there is an easy and often cheap solution domain name redirection sometimes called URL forwarding. Redirection is a process whereby a simple domain name like mybiz.com simply "points" to another web site. For example, lets say I own the domain name www.mybiz.com - I can ask my ISP (io.com) to simply have it point to www.io.com/~richardr - pretty cool. The downside of this is that www.mybiz.com is simply an alias for my ISP location. Nothing really happens using the www.mybiz.com address. You are also limited by the services provided by your ISP.
The internet and the technology behind it is truly very simple - this is one of the reasons it works so well. Lets take a domian name for example.... it is simply an entry in a database that lets a browser (or other internet application) to translate from the name to an IP address - that's it, that's all it is. Many other services are similarly simple.
However, the equipment, time, materials and effort to keep a hosting site or ISP running isn't cheap. Like a bank, ISP and hosting services tend to charge you for every little thing. Do you need another email address? $5 bucks per month please.
All in all, most of the charges are very reasonable. The internet is pretty cool, very powerful and can if used properly can really help your business.
However, prices for various services vary all over the map! For example, my primary ISP io.com charges $25 per month for 100 mega bytes of disk space. However, my hosting service (hostrocket.com) charges $9.95 per month for $350 megs and a bunch of other stuff.
Why the difference? mmmm... that's hard to say. Host Rocket isn't an ISP - the don't provide internet access for people - they are simply a hosting company. So they probably have a lower of fixed costs and can charge lower fees than io.com. They also don't provide the level of personal technical support provided by io.com. I can call io.com 24 hours a day and get a person. Host Rocket doesn't provide that kind of support. But, they are low cost, which I like very much.
They key thing is to shop around. There are zillions of service providers each with varied products and services packaged together. Find one that fits your needs and budget.
Domain names are the heart and sole of the internet. Needless to say, you'll probably want your own domain name if your business has any kind of success. The following three sections address three key aspects to domain names.
You use domain names any time you browse the web, send someone an email, transfer files via FTP, or pretty much any other internet task. Examples of domain names are: yahoo.com, www.yahoo.com, www.alan.net, and redcross.org.
Many people don't realize that every single computer connected to the internet has a unique address called an internet protocol address (or IP address for short) - no two machines have the same address[1]. If you are running Microsoft Windows, it is simple to determine your IP address, just run the "ipconfig" command from the command line.
A domain name is simply an alias to an IP address. For example, www.yahoo.com really means 216.115.102.81 which is the IP address of the computer that sends you Yahoo's web pages [2].
Underneath the technical covers, internet software (like a web browser) deals with IP addresses, not domain names. For example, when you type in www.yahoo.com, your browser immediately does a "name lookup" to get Yahoo's IP address. Once it has the address, it then asks the computer at that address for the requested web page. In other words, http:\\www.yahoo.com and http:\\216.115.102.80 are the same place. The first URL access Yahoo by its domain name and the second by IP address.
The system that handles name lookups is called the Domain Name System (DNS). the DNS system is really its own network and is probably the single most important component of the internet. The DNS system is also used to control Internet mail delivery.
Here is a good pointer to DNS information if you really want to get into the nitty gritty:
When you decide you want your own domain name, you must register it with a registrar. Domain names are registered on a first come first serve bases - a domain name goes to the first person that registers it. There is a process for resolving domain name disputes.
The domain system is organized to the first order by the top level domain names (TLD names). The general TLD's are .biz, .com, .edu, .gov, .info, .int., .mil, .name, .net, and .org. There will soon be more such as .name, and .aero. There are a zillion two letter TLD's that are organized geographical. For example, there is a .us domain name for sites in the united states. You can find a complete list of TLD's here.
TLD's are ultimatel controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN grants the right to manage a TLD to specific companies called "registrars". Some companies manage more than one TLD. For example, the InterNIC manages the .com, .net and .org TLD's. Each TLD registrar can license other companies to register names for their TLD's. These are called accredited registrars. For example, you can find a list of accredited registrars for the InterNIC here. The InterNIC was the very first entity to manage TLD's... THere is a good FAQ on TLD's here.
A second level domain name is the name in front of the TLD: this is what you are really interested in. For example: in mybiz.com, the name 'mybiz' is the second level domain name. This is the actual name that is registered with the registrar or accredited registrars.
Of course, 'www' is an abbreviation for the 'world wide web'. It is seen most commonly as the prefix on domain names for web sites such as www.yahoo.com. The 'www' part is called a 3'd level domain name or sometimes a 'machine name'.
In the early days of the internet, computers were not very powerful and many internet sites used dedicated (or a single purpose) computers for tasks such as email, file transfer (FTP), and holding documents using services including WAIS and GOPHER. For example, the email for an organization might be handled by the computer named 'mail.bigcorp.com' or 'mail.uofa.edu'.
When the world wide web appeared on the scene, network administrators took a similar approach - they setup a computers specifically for delivering web pages. These computers were commonly named 'www' such as 'www.bigcorp.com or 'www.uofa.edu'.
This is just a convention - there is no rule or requirement to prefix all world wide web servers with www. For example, www.msnbc.com and msnbc.com do the same thing. Many other web sites work the same way. You can see this in many advertisements these days where companies simply list their domain name without a 'www' prefix.
I recommend that your primary business web site support two domain names - one with the www prefix and one without. This is quite easy to do and is supported by hosting services and registrars - just contact them and they can help you set this up.
I know all the stuff in the previous section sounds complicated and it certainly can be. However, you really need to understand the fundamentals as someone that is going to participate in the internet and world wide web, versus merely using it.
Fortunately, the complexity of registering and managing a domain name is minimized by the many accredited registrars who make it very easy to register a second level domain name (or just simply a domain name). Personally, I use register.com. Alternately, your ISP or service provider may register a name for you - they all provide this service (and some charge for it) but you can just as easily do it your self. All the ISP or hosting service does is contact a registrar or accredited registrar on your behalf.
Its important to note that the domain names mybiz.com and mybiz.net are completely different names. Just because you have mybiz.com doesn't mean you are entitled to mybiz.net or mybiz dot-anything. I personally prefer to register a domain name under .com, .org and .net the three most used TLD's.
Chances are, the domain name you'd really like to have is already taken - perhaps by someone legitimate. But be forewarned - there are many people that register domain names in hopes that someday someone else may want to actually use it for something tangible. These are called domain name carpet baggers or sometimes squatters. I hate these people - they add absolutely no value to anything and simply want to gouge you out of some money.
So, the first thing you need to do is see if the domain name you want is taken. Any of the registrars can do this - its the first step.
Once you find a domain name that isn't taken, you simply register it. This is usually as simple as entering your contact information and credit card info.
You are now the proud owner of a domain name! Congratulations.....
IMPORTANT NEW NOTE: Registering domain names has become a big "shady" business. There are many, many, MANY, registrars. All but a few are rip-off artists. I have even become un-happy with register.com - who used to be very good - I get lots of cheesy email from them (SPAM) but their service is still quite good.
Be wary of offers that are too good to be true. If you pay $10 to register a domain name then you are getting ripped off.... why? Because you are going to get tons of SPAM, no support and they just might forget about you and register your domain name to someone else. There are many domain name horror stories.
BE CAREFUL, DON'T GET RIPPED OFF!
Registering your domain name is only half the battle. Once you have it, you need it to refer to your web site. There are two ways to do this: URL Forwarding or Virtual hosting.
Domain name redirection as discussed above.
Virtual Hosting (or just hosting) is the process where by a company gives you space for your web site and provides for your domain name to refer to your site. See the next section for a detailed discussion.
Virtual Hosting (or just hosting) is the process whereby a company gives you space for your web site and provides for your domain name to refer to your site. This is by far the most common method used to "get on the web". With on exception, hosting services do it all: they provide many features and services including: a bunch of disk space, many email addresses, other email features such as auto responders and email lists, FTP directories (anonymous and login based), web mail, scripting ability, discussion boards, chat rooms, sophisticated page counters, web logs, detailed statistics, data base support, and many other features.
The one thing that hosting service don't provide is your physical link to the internet - this is what an ISP does. Note that many ISP's also provide hosting services. I've generally found ISP based hosting services to be more expensive than more conventional hosting companies - but be sure to check with your ISP and review their products and services.
There are a zillion hosting services, Yahoo has a compressive list. Google also returns a nice list. They all provide many different features packaged at many different price points. You need to do a lot of research. Talk to other people, read the feature lists, read reviews etc. etc. Here are some points:
There is a form of hosting called "dedicated hosting." Normally, your web site is supported by one or more big computers called servers. A server, or set of servers can handle hundreds or thousands of web sites. This is perfectly OK and doesn't compromise your web sites integrity or security. Servers and the software than runs on them are designed for this.
However, if you have have a very big site or special other special requirements you can request a dedicated server. This is a server computer dedicated only to your web site. This is very expensive costing anywhere from about $200 to over $1000 per month.. Be happy: if you ever need a dedicated server as it means you are making a lot of money (or at least spending it).
Ok, these are my opinions. The key thing about web design is iterating on the time tested technique of learn and do. Do a lot of research: The web is its own best teacher. There are some fabulous web sites that will teach you how to develop web sites. Many are both highly professional and accessible.
Don't use free or low cost email providers: such as Yahoo mail, Hot Mail, AOL or MSN. This stuff is cheap or free, but they are also "cheesy". The free email services add text or advertisements to your email! Hardly suitable for a business purpose. Many of the free email service have onerous limitations. For example, Hot Mail only lets you have 2 mega bytes of email - any more than that and they delete email for you. Many free email services do not let you send or receive attachments. These services are pretty cool, but they host the maximum number of people on the minimum amount of equipment - they are often slow and notoriously unreliable. Just don't use them. Get a "real" email account. If you use a hosting service for your own domain name then you will have email using your own domain name.
Don't use frames on your web site: Many people will argue with me about this. For example, Alan uses frames on the "Groop" site (please Alan, don't take offense). Frames simply make it difficult to link to individual pages on your site. They are also harder to maintain. I don't like them. However, I encourage you to do your own research and decide for yourself. Here is some good info on frames and problems with frames:
problems with frames
Guide to Frames Usage
What's Wrong with Frames
Good and Bad Frames
Do keep your web pages simple ( more or less). For every three people there are at least six opinions on the 'right' way to design a web site. There is no one right way. As you travel the web, pay attention for stuff that works then emulate the sites you like.
Don't use background images unless they are very subtle. They may look great on your machine, but they generally make sites hard to read and are distracting. Here is a bad example - you can easily find more. In some cases, background images can be great and really add to a sites design. Here is an excellent example.
Don't use animated gif's (well very much anyway): Over use of animated gif's simply sucks. Here is a example of a page that sucks. Subtle Animated gif's can fit into a well designed site - assuming the site is well designed. So use them sparingly. Ok, I admit, I have an animated US Flag gif on my personal site - I let a fit of patriotism overcome my normally wise and sound judgment (besides, I really like the waving flag gif).
Don't use automatically loaded music!!! This really sucks and makes your site seem really cheesy. It is also distracting. Just don't do it. Here, here and here are examples.
Do make your web site accessible by both a 'www' name and a simple domain name. For example, www.mybiz.com and mybiz.com should both take people to your web site.
Do get your domain name in the ".org", ".com", and ".edu" top levels. These are the three most common top level domains. The others just don't matter. Don't waste your money on ".tv", ".biz" or the like.
Do use Microsoft Front page. Web design Guru's will hate me for this one. However, Front Page is a very good tool and is easy to use. It will let you create web pages easily. It also lets you directly edit HTML.
Do learn HTML. HTML is the lingua franka of the web. You simply must learn it. The good news is that HTML is very easy. There are tons of good on-line resources and print resources for learning HTML.
There are LOTS of good sources on the web for information on web authoring and publishing. Here are a few
Note, I find the Web Design Group's site most excellent!
[1] (back) Ok, the Internet is complicated, machines behind a proxy or NAT router may have the same address but this isn't visible from the Internet proper... This topic is way beyond the scope of this article. If you need to know more, just send me an email.
[2] (back) Yes, yes, I know - its not always the IP address of the web server, but this is a fine first order view for this discussion. If you really must known, if you go to a web site, there may be many computers that "serve" that site. The IP address of the domain name is just where you start. This can be all horribly complicated but don't worry about it - your ISP or hosting service takes care of all this complexity for you.