They provide only very basic features on their website.

__________________
Buy or Sell a Business - Directory of Business Brokers

Hi, my name is Austin and I am new.
I'll advise that even if you are looking for the easy way out, there is need to be familiar with the basics until you gradually become a pro. There is no substitute for knowledge (It will put you over the top). There are so many free stuff available now.

Yup, but if you want to stand out from the rest, you do need to create some thing new, which others on the internet don't have.

__________________
Buy or Sell a Business - Directory of Business Brokers

Sure, you are right. That is where finding your niche comes in. I visited Anuj,s blog and I discovered he really got some good stuff in there! Keep it up

Thanks for the appreciation, that is what keeps me going . Blogging is sure lot of fun, so is posting on these forums.

__________________
Buy or Sell a Business - Directory of Business Brokers

It can be scary launching into the world of the web. When I started my journey, I didn't know that a domain name was a dot com address or that you had to purchase "space" on a virtual server to host your website.

My tips:

1. Find a web designer you can trust. Most people run to the "create your own site" places to save money. In the end, you just realize that there are programming things you have no control over and your site does not look professional. I used DylanDesignLab com Website Design, Programming, Maintenance, and Planning for my site. They worked with me on the phone and email to get exactly what I was looking for. They will create your site either from scratch or from a template (cheaper but still professional and edited by them).

2. Do your research. You want cheap web hosting, but not something so cheap that you will never get customer service or end up with your server down. I found HostRail com to be the best in customer service and price. Their site explains the products the best and they are super fast at getting back to you if you call or email.

3. Expect to pay for quality. In the making of your site and the purchasing of your hosting options, you have to expect to pay for it. Your website may cost between $200-600 to have a web designer make it for you. Your hosting will cost around $20/month and your domain name about $8/year for a dot com name. If you are selling online, you need a cart system ($40/m) and an SSL certificate ($30/year). However, considering how much you spend for internet hook up and your cell phone bill, this is not very expensive. You have to look at it in a long term perspective. People are shopping online more and more. They are looking for your business online. If you have a presentable, well functioning site, these start up costs are totally worth it.

4. Quantity is a lie. Most web hosting companies tell you they will give you 50,000GB of bandwidth and 500GB of Disk Space/month for a $30 web hosting package. This is a lie. If you ever used that much gigs in a month, they will kick you off. They are simply trying to dazzle you with large numbers because they know the average person isn't going to use that much anyway. Most small companies are lucky to even use 5GB of bandwidth per month and 1GB of disk space/month. Don't pay for what you are not using (or even getting in this case).

5. Use people! People love to see people on a website. It makes a customer feel like they can associate with the site because there is a face there. Psychology i guess. Have your web designer use people on your site. It helps, believe me.

Good luck!

__________________
www.HostRail.com
www.DylanDesignLab.com

Nikesh, what will the site be about...is it going to be a company site? PM me and I'll give you all the information you'll need (for free).

My tips:

1. Find a web designer you can trust. Most people run to the "create your own site" places to save money. In the end, you just realize that there are programming things you have no control over and your site does not look professional. Make sure your designer asks to be paid per project, not hourly. How long it takes him/her to write a chunk of code shouldn't be reflected in the cost to you. Ask your designer if he/she uses a template. Good designers will work "from scratch" and use php. You can request to have your site designed from a template, which often cuts the price of the design in half because the designer has half as much work to do off a template.


2. Do your research. You want cheap web hosting, but not something so cheap that you will never get customer service or end up with your server down.

3. Expect to pay for quality. In the making of your site and the purchasing of your hosting options, you have to expect to pay for it. Your website may cost between $200-600 to have a web designer make it for you. Your hosting will cost around $20/month and your domain name about $8/year for a dot com name. If you are selling online, you need a cart system ($40/m) and an SSL certificate ($30/year). However, considering how much you spend for internet hook up and your cell phone bill, this is not very expensive. You have to look at it in a long term perspective. People are shopping online more and more. They are looking for your business online. If you have a presentable, well functioning site, these start up costs are totally worth it.

4. In web hosting, quantity is a lie. Most web hosting companies tell you they will give you 50,000GB of bandwidth and 500GB of Disk Space/month for a $30 web hosting package. This is a lie. If you ever used that much gigs in a month, they will kick you off. They are simply trying to dazzle you with large numbers because they know the average person isn't going to use that much anyway. Most small companies are lucky to even use 5GB of bandwidth per month and 1GB of disk space/month. Don't pay for what you are not using (or even getting in this case). Find a company that is upfront with you about prices and product.
- Hide quoted text -

5. Use people! People love to see people on a website. It makes a customer feel like they can associate with the site because there is a face there. Psychology i guess. Have your web designer use people on your site. It helps, believe me.

Good luck!

__________________
www.HostRail.com
www.DylanDesignLab.com

Learning as you go it good. Start a one page 'business card' site that you can use to build your web business. In my opinion search engine marketing is more important than web design. Market your site and business using press releases, free directories, social bookmarking and try to get listed in some niche directories.

Once you are able buy a custome template or have a web designer provide you a template in either php or joomla. You could also buy a psd design and have someone code it at a cheap price.

Spend your time writing good content. Content is more valuable than the design.

Try going for a host that has fantastico, lunarpages is very good. Fantastico allows you to install all kinds of free scripts at the click of a button including shopping carts, forums, content management etc. However, customising them takes some knowledge but they tend to have good user guides. The best way to learn is to dig in there and have a go and experiment.

Another way to go is to have abusiness partnership with somebody who knows what they are doing. A lot of my collegues who speialise in seo and ebusiness do this. Basically they build, maintain and promote your site you take the money, deal with the product and the customers. Al of this is done on a percentage deal generally 25% upwards depending on the cost of the product involved. If it is a high cost product they will happily take less of a percentage. This means you have the best guys doing what they know best allowing you to concentrate on what you do best. However, the product or service has to have a unique selling point and be in demand and it has to be worth their while as they are doing a lot of work upfront for nothing. Niche sites are good for this kind of deal. This is a good situation to the ebusiness consultant as it gives them a long term passive revenue stream.

If you think your product or service might be suitable you are welcome to PM me with the details and I will give you feedback. If it is suitable I will happily pass the information onto my colleagues or you can pitch a local web design company directly - make sure hey do actually know what they are doing with the marketing though as you don't want to be tied into a contract with a company that talks a good talk but really doesn't have a clue on how to seo and convert traffic.

Hope this helps

Serendipity Business