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Small Business Resources: The Cost of Being On-Line In our last issue, we looked at the question of whether or not your business might benefit from being on-line. At the end of that article, we promised this month to take a glance at the costs of such a move. ... Of course, the variety of ways of getting your business on-line, as well as the ever-growing number of vendors for hosting, make it impractical to give an exhaustive accounting here. But what we can do is look at some of the basic considerations, and some of the questions you might want to ask yourself before taking the plunge or, if you're already on-line, making any changes. ... A Quick Overview of What You Need to Consider... Before you put your business on-line, you need to consider several things:
For Free or Not for Free? Like lots of things in the world of computers these days, there are actually some options out there to snag a web site for free. And like many such opportunities, you may end up getting exactly what you paid for. ... The most straightforward analogy here is free internet service: It's out there. But, unless you're among the first users on a relatively new service, the connections often drag considerably in comparison with the pay-as-you-go variety -- whether local, like SoverNet or TogetherNet, or national, like AOL, EarthLink, or MSN. In addition, free hosting doesn't necessarily mean free domain hosting. Usually, these freebies provide you with a sub-directory on a Home Pages domain. But they do provide some free space that you can use to build on. What You're Probably Already Paying For ... But more to the point, whether you realize it or not, you probably already have some on-line space available as part of your account with your ISP {Internet Service Provider}. For example, in addition to access and e-mail, SoverNet provides each basic account with "up to 5MB web space and up to 5MB shell storage." Your internet address would be www.sover.net/~username -- meaning that you'd be limited to whatever username you currently have registered. Additional space is available in 5MB increments. According to their services profile, TogetherNet, in addition to access and e-mail, provides "1MB to 5MB of space on our web servers for your own web pages." As nearly as we could tell, what that translates into is an initial 1MB, with increments available up to 5MB. The address would be similar to the SoverNet model, e.g., www.together.net/~username. What's Available in the Neighborhood? For domain hosting, any of the ISP's usually provide the service for an additional fee. But you're certainly not limited to them. There are also options that specialize in domain hosting, e.g., Burlee up in Burlington offers virtual hosting, as do countless others around the world. Middlebury Community Network [MCN] is a long-time option for businesses between Rutland and Burlington. They offer single Home Pages, as well as full web domains. Here at DownStreet, we are offering Business Home Pages {from 1-3 pages} as an extension of our 7-line Yellow Pages listings. In addition, we also offer domain hosting through Interland, rated the No. 1 web hosting solution for small businesses by most of the trade magazines. The Costs Costs for getting your business on-line can vary dramatically. Domain registration costs $70 or so for the first 2 years, though prices have been coming down since InterNic, once the only domain reg service, lost its monopoly a couple of years ago. Home Pages also vary -- from free {assuming you design and publish the pages} to our own $75/year Business Home Page {which includes a business e-mail account and which we will design and up-date for you three times during the year at no additional cost}, to the somewhat more expensive MCN option {which costs $200 for the 1st year and $100/yr. thereafter for a single page with }. If you're in the market for a full domain web site, costs can vary from as little as $5/month to dedicated or co-located servers that can run you upwards of $300-$500/month or more. The average price for most reputable hosting services, including Burlee, is about $20/month for a basic package, including numerous e-mail accounts. Most of these assume that you'll be doing the design, programming, and publishing. For those relying on others to do the design, programming & publishing, MCN offers a package for about $1800 for the first year, which includes a max of 8 pages, 16 images, and a few other limitations, but does include search engine registration. Domain reg is extra. Here at DownStreet, we don't have a set package for web hosting where we do the design and publishing. In our experience, there are too many variables to offer a one-size fits all package. For those who will do their own design and publishing, our web hosting services start at $350 for the first full-year for hosting on a new Windows 2000 server, with 150MB of space and up to 50 e-mail accounts. The initial price includes the $70 domain registration and $40 one-time set-up fees. After the first year, the current cost is $300/year. For who'd like us to design, program & publish a simple domain -- similar to the 8-page/16-graphic one mentioned above, and also including plenty of e-mail addresses, meta-tags for search engines, and free info up-dates several times per year -- we could design, program and publish your site for a total cost of less than $1000 for the first year. After the first year, and including up-dates several times per year, the cost would be less than $600/year. What Do You Really Need? Before you jump in with both feet to any of these options, though, you'd do well to take some time and answer some of the questions we've posed for you. You may not need your own domain. A simple Home Page of two might work better. ... You may not need someone else to design and publish your site for you. {There are plenty of programs available nowadays that make design and publishing a whole lot simpler than it was when we started out, programming everything a keyboard stroke at a time.} ... The long and the short of it is this: If you have any questions, just call, write, or drop us an e-mail {at business@downstreetmagazine.com}. We'd be happy to give you our 2¢, no hassles, no obligations.
******* ******* If you would like to submit an article for our Small Business Resources section, don't hesitate to let us know. Simply e-mail us at business@downstreetmagazine.com. The e-mail should contain your name, address, and a phone number where we can reach you. You may also send a copy of your proposed article. The text can either be included in the body of the e-mail, or you can send it as an attachment in just about any word processing format. If your piece is accepted, we will pay a small honorarium for your interest & your time. [See Freelancers Wanted for more details.] ******* ******* If you would like to advertise in this section, or throughout the magazine, please visit our Advertising Info Pages ... or call, write, or e-mail ads@downstreetmagazine.com. ******* ******* . |
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