As discussed in Choosing A Website Developer, there are some options when deciding how to begin developing your online presence.  Depending on the initial direction you take, your developer may or may not include hosting in the services they propose.  But whether you are making the “hosting decision” as part of the initial consideration, or it is something you won’t evaluate until the actual site development is done, there are several things to bear in mind regarding the selection of your hosting provider.  Here is a fairly comprehensive list that covers the bases:

1.     Technical Support – Does the company provide technical support via the phone?  Or is it available via email only?  Is there an extra fee?  Is the support unlimited, or do the technicians have quotas or a limit on the time they can spend on each call?  Consider all the details.  For example, Company A offers 24-hour support and charges extra, whereas Company B provides support during normal business hours for free.   Will you typically need support at 3am every night and be willing to pay extra for it?

2.    Security – You do not need to be an online security expert to ask about a hosting company’s record regarding online security.  Your developer can help you find a reliable company that had a track record of exceptional performance.  You should not accept anything less.

3.    Traffic / Bandwidth – Are there limits to the amount of traffic your website can handle?  Are there limits to the amount of bandwidth your website is permitted to use each month?  Inexpensive hosting often involves hidden glitches you may not recognize until after you have signed on with a provider.

4.    Additional Services – As your business grows, will the needs of your web presence?  What does your hosting company offer in terms of what you may need in the future?  For example, are they providing full support of your email and ecommerce/shopping cart needs?  And what is their history and track record?  Will they continue to be around for you?

In the case of web hosting, you definitely get what you pay for.  Cheap hosting is often just that…cheap.  Make sure you find out why a deal may seem better than the rest, and use the above information as a guide.

Does that sound like a strange title of a blog post from a website developer?  Granted, there is some sarcasm in my words.  Here’s a list of reasons some business owners shared with me about why they do not need a website:

a.    I am about to retire.
b.    We are changing our name.
c.    Our business is being sold.
d.    The company will not be in business much longer
e.    I only give my website out to my customers.
f.    That’s handled out of our Corporate office (click).
g.    I am a manufacturer’s rep…I work for dealers/distributors only.
h.    We are a wholesaler…we work directly with only retailers.

All of these reasons, while the business owner may really believe they have some relation to a lack of need to consider a website, all suffer from the same flaw: they are illogical.  If the business owner woke up, went to work, and opened their office….in short, if they answered their phone…then they should – at a minimum – consider how a website could help them grow their business.

As a business owner, does it not stand to reason that one should be open-minded to any opportunity that exists that might enable expansion of business or provide expansion or additional stability to the client base, regardless of what extraneous circumstances might be going on with the business?

After all, you are still in business, right?

At least for now.

Don’t spend hours in a staff meeting trying to arrange suitable date. Why not use this useful website that will arrange it for you!

Dear Reader:

Your opinion is important to me, so much so that I’ve designed a contest to encourage you to share it with me. I want to ask you, ‘what’s on your mind?’

As a business owner, how much do you value the Internet?

How do you think a website can help your business?

If you already have a site, what’s working well about it and what needs improvement?

If you don’t have a website what’s your reasoning for not having one?

What other questions do you have for me?

What specifically would you like to know about websites and Internet marketing?

Has the online world changed the way you do business?

Do you think you are fully taking advantage of the growing online audience that’s looking for a business like yours?

Every question posed here as a comment or in answer to one of my questions gets an entry into a drawing, which I’ll pull on Aug. 26; one entry per business please.  The winner will receive $377 off the price of a new website or $377 in web consulting if you’ve already purchased a website from me.

How much does a house cost? A new truck? A new piece of machinery? It depends, doesn’t it?

No doubt, these are all significant financial decisions, and the final price tag is something that affects the kind of item a consumer might decide on. But in all of these cases, the answer to the “cost” question depends on a lot of different things – mostly what the consumer wants included in the item. And more than likely, the first response to the “cost” question must be “well, how much do you want to spend?” or “what price range is in your budget?”.

Yet, when a website developer answers the “cost” question by asking what is in a potential customer’s budget, the potential customer invariably thinks the website developer is asking because he intends to gouge the customer for as much as possible. Why?

And consider this. If a consumer were to find a realtor that would answer the “how much does it cost” question without asking you for any more information, what would the consumer think when he told him a price that was more than he thought he could afford? What if this was you? If the realtor said, “well I can sell you a house that costs $300,000” and you knew it was about twice what you wanted to spend? You would probably respond with something like, “Well, that’s too expensive. Can you help me find a house around $150,000?” What you would NOT think is, “Wow…that realtor was trying to take advantage of me. I better go find another realtor that is willing to sell me a less expensive house.”

Here’s the difference in how most business owners look at the website in comparison to how most consumers look at the other financial decisions previously mentioned: when one goes to buy the house, he is a consumer who has already decided that he will likely make a purchase of some kind. With the website, however, many business owners ask the “cost” question with the intent of factoring the answer into whether or not he will continue considering. This is where the shift must occur. Some even ask how much something costs for the main purpose of saying “no thank you, that’s too much.” What they really ought to be asking at this point is, “What do you think a website can do to increase my business?” Followed by a discussion about what they want and need in a website and how much it will cost to create it, based on their desires. Eventually, like all other business purchases, a decision can be made on a cost/value basis.

You must first embrace the fact that you must have a website to continue to do business. Only after you have accepted this fact will you then be able to approach the decisions about a website from the proper perspective, only then will you be able to discuss the feature and benefits you want in a website in an effective way, and only then will a developer be able to provide you with the high-level of service – like what you receive from the realtor – and help you make the correct decisions about a website that will function for your business while also falling within the confines of your pocketbook.

Is developing a website for your business really an expense? Perhaps it’s not. If designed, maintained, and promoted properly, a website can actually make you money. In fact, you should expect it to.

Frequently, I am faced with the objection of a website being cost-prohibitive for a small business. Especially when a small business may already be struggling to make ends meet and cover already existing expenses, often times it is difficult to imagine spending money on developing a web presence. Arguably, however, a business owner in this predicament may be examining their situation from the wrong perspective.

As we see more and more people going to the web to not only explore options for doing business but also for ways to do business more easily, it is apparent that the Internet is not just a passing fad. In fact, the Internet itself is already an indispensible component of today’s economy.

In fact, it’s not unrealistic to consider the possibility that one of the reasons cash is tight and business is slow might be because you are missing out on bringing in your share of online business. If you are not selling where customers are buying…if you are not promoting and advertising where customers are researching…then they are likely buying from someone else.

So how do you bridge the gap? First of all, know that a website actually increases revenue and more than pays for its investment. The reality is, time and time again, companies that have chosen to invest in a website have proven this to be true. Now, go out and find a web solution provider that you can trust…one that you know has your best interests in mind and one who will be there for you long after the sale. You want not only a website developer, but a partner in your Internet marketing…someone who is invested in your success.

Don’t be intimidated by the Internet. Embrace it. Your business might just depend on it.

Remember the days when a business was not considered “credible” unless they had a FAX number? In today’s Internet business economy you could be losing credibility just by the online signatures you leave.

I spend a lot of time telling you how to promote your business online and help customers find you through the search engines, but what about the people that may already know about you or find out about you through a more traditional method?

For many of your potential customers, the first thing they look for on your business card or in your ad is a website. The customer who is checking out at the cash register in the lobby of your restaurant may pick up your card, hoping to consult your menu from home at a later time to help plan a special event. Yet, when they get home and realize there is no website on the card, you have taken yourself out of the competition for their business. The person reading your ad in the yellow pages hopes to consult your website before deciding if they will call you to fix their plumbing problem. Again, no website in your ad, and you are out of the running.

And what about an email address? For many consumers and businesses, email has replaced snail mail and fax machines as a main method of communication…sometimes as important, or even more important, than the telephone. Email is a timesaver, so if you don’t have one, what does that say about your customer service? Not having an email address makes it difficult for many people to reach you, and they may not be willing to make the extra effort to pick up the telephone even if your phone number is right in front of them. Sometimes even having an email address is not always enough. Business that use free email services are sometimes not taken seriously. Which email address sounds more credible and stable: “joe@joeselectrical.com” or the guy at “electrician@hotmail.com?”

Times have changed. Everything is faster these days, particularly when it comes to making buying decisions. Sometimes we have less than 60 seconds to make a good online impression. What does your website and email address say about your business? Speed has raised the bar. Having a fax number is no longer an indication of stability and credibility.

Your website and email address is your electronic signature. How do you stack up with the competition? Do you make it easy for new customers to contact you and buy from you? Do you deserve their trust? Does your business look like it has kept up with the times?

The new school year will bring with it all sorts of tasks that we need to do. Well Remember The Milk is a new way of keeping on top of your to do list. Jobs can be added to your easy to manage task list and you can view this anywhere. I have already begun to use the site and I think it will help me over the next 12 months! Here is a site with instructions for using this application.