NETWORK WORLD JAMES E. GASKIN'S SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY 11/11/04 Today's focus: Low dollar or high service?
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Choosing Web hosts, avoiding scams * Links related to Small Business Technology * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by McAfee(R) Get proactive security you can trust Why strain your IT resources monitoring viruses and reacting to each emerging security threat? McAfee(R) brings next-generation intrusion prevention solutions (IPS) to businesses of any size. Learn more about the proactive security solutions that leading Global 2000 companies trust-affordable, accurate, and scalable protection. Visit: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=87846 _______________________________________________________________ WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NEW DATA CENTER? Sign up for Network World's Data Center Newsletter in which Johna Till Johnson and the team at Nemertes Research will provide an ongoing assessment of current data center business drivers and future trends; concrete advice and guidance for IT executives seeking to consolidate data centers, improve disaster recovery, and deploy virtualization techniques. Click here to subscribe: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=87904 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Low dollar or high service? By James E. Gaskin Shopping for Web hosting has become a bizarre exercise. I find myself convinced that one company asking $2,400 per year can be a good value for some, while another asking $2,500 per year is effectively, if not legally, a scam. How did the market get this weird? Technically, a Web host is nothing but files on an accessible server. Web-hosting services group files for many Web sites on one physical server at the low end and dedicate multiple physical servers clustered together for a single Web site on the high end. Either way, they're all just files on a server. I've said many times I strongly recommend small companies pay a hosting service rather than run their own Web host. Let experts provide redundant Internet data connections, non-stop power and keep security strong. But what should you pay? One dollar per month (as I do for one low-volume site) or $500? A direct mail piece recently invited me to an Internet Marketing Conference. The company called a build-it-yourself cold sandwich a "Premier Dining Package" worth $189, so I went. There, I sat through 90 minutes of PowerPoint, info charitably described as incomplete and outdated with an emphasis suspending critical thinking skills. The goal, of course, was to sign me up for the full-day "training" course and get me to pay the $2,500 Active Merchant fee. Legal, yes. But so is telling a room full of hopefuls to buy lottery tickets "investment advice." Never pay money upfront if you don't know exactly what you're getting; never sign a contract before you get all the info; and never do business with a company that admits "some examples might not be" their customers. Legitimate hosting services often include software to help you design your own Web site. Two of the easiest Web design software applications are Contribute from Macromedia and Fusion from NetObjects/WebSitePros. Affinity offers the CreateIt product, using Contribute, and each offer hosting plans starting at $25 per month. 1&1 Hosting uses Fusion and other software, and costs as little as $5 per month. Of course, "easy" is a relative term, so you might want to pay a designer or someone like Paul Chato, to help. President of the new YourWebDepartment.com service, Chato runs a seminar called, "You've Got a Web Site, Now What?" and offers marketing advice, custom-designed development tools and personal handholding. His customers want an experience even easier than Contribute or Fusion, and personalized marketing advice. Chato's services are relatively high priced, but unlike with scammers, you actually get what you pay for. His two-year development and beta effort went into making a front-end customizable for each customer, and clients can work on their sites as long as they want before starting to pay for it (one customer took a year). If you can build your own site, save your money and go for an inexpensive, automated hosting service. If you want helpful software and support, or someone to build the whole thing, just remember personal service always costs more than impersonal service. Next time: What to look for with e-commerce hosting sites when you sell lots of products online. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS New content management options http://www.nwfusion.com/nlsmallbusinesst823 Web pages made simple http://www.nwfusion.com/nlsmallbusinesst448 Contribute http://www.nwfusion.com/nlsmallbusinesst24 Fusion http://www.netobjects.com/ StoresOnline.com http://www.storesonline.com/ iMergent http://www.imergentinc.com/ Affinity http://www.affinity.com/ 1&1 http://order.1and1.com/ Your Web Department http://www.yourwebdepartment.com/ _______________________________________________________________ To contact: James E. Gaskin Gaskin writes books (13 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area. He has been helping small and midsize businesses use technology intelligently since 1986. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco Systems Special Report: Bridging the Gap; Enterprise ROI IT professionals today don't indulge in the latest-greatest technology for their own sake; instead they concentrate efforts on projects that are most likely to help achieve business goals. Read about the challenges and opportunities when IT starts 'bridging the gap' and directly contributes to enterprise ROI. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=87983 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Small Business Technology newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/columnists/gaskin.html Breaking telework and SMB news: http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/ _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NEW! Website dedicated to Networking for Small Business now available The editors of NW Fusion and PC World have combined all their expert advice, authority, and know-how into a powerful new tool for small businesses, the new Networking for Small Business website. Get news, how-to's, product reviews, and expert advice specifically tailored to your small business needs. Find help with Security, Broadband, Networking, Hardware, Software, and Wireless & Mobile technology at: <http://www.networkingsmallbusiness.com/> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. 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