| Small business owners are faced with a dilemma, | | | | company name availability first. For example one of |
| they know they need a website to attract more | | | | our clients was HB Equipment Company. We looked |
| business, but they don't know where to begin. Use | | | | and the name HB Equipment was already taken, so |
| this article as a checklist to get help in creating an | | | | we chose HBEquipmentCo as the domain name. |
| effective website presence. Note: Over the years | | | | As equally important as your domain name is the |
| we have created a short list of hosting providers | | | | ability to show your email address as part of your |
| that offer the best value to small business owners. | | | | domain as well. So we recommend that you create a |
| We encourage you to visit our website for | | | | couple email addresses - and This lends credibility ias |
| recommendations on each step of the process. | | | | an organization instead of using a free email account. |
| The first purchase is getting your company domain | | | | Your hosting service is very important because it is |
| name. Be sure to purchase the domain name with | | | | the foundation for your website. Starting in mid 2008, |
| your company credit card in your own name. | | | | we recommend that all small business owners |
| Unfortunately too often webmasters will register a | | | | request that their websites are created as blogs. |
| domain name in their name and if a relationship with a | | | | Why? It's easy... Blogs are very search engine friendly |
| client goes bad, the client cannot access their domain. | | | | and they are easily updated by the company owner. |
| So be sure to purchase the domain. In some cases, | | | | Once the blog has been created, it is easy for the |
| you can actually get your domain name registration | | | | company owner or administrative assistant to update |
| free as part of your hosting package. We | | | | pages or add new pictures or links. We recommend |
| recommend hosting services that are less than $100 | | | | WordPress blogs because they come in a variety of |
| year pre-paid. | | | | themes and being open source, they are free. |
| Where do you find domain names? It is easy to | | | | Creating a blog site can be done easily within a few |
| locate if a domain name is available by conducting a | | | | hours, depending upon the complexity of the website |
| search online. at any hosting service. Look for your | | | | content and number of pages. |