Peter Okolie
By now I expect that you understand why you need to plan (... getting started). But allow me offer you some help. You would provide answers to the following questions at the end of this article:
- What do I want to do online?
- What experience do I have as regards what I want to do?
- Do I need a website?
- What is the starting capital?
- Can I do all I want on my own or do I need to employ someone?
- How do I advertise what I do online?
- How profitable is what I want to do?
- How long before I begin to get returns on my investments?
You may not have all the answers now. However, at the end of this article, you should be able to jump at the answer, so, read on. Don’t forget, “a bad plan is better than no plan at all”. To do business online, you need an online office which is a website.
My office: The website
A website is a location on the internet where people can find you. If you are serious about doing business on the internet you need an office.
Now let's get a bit technical; the domain is registered and then hosted after which your website is ready to be uploaded on the internet. Please don’t get confused at this point. A domain is just a name. When you register a domain it means you are registering the name of your website e.g. www.positiveinteractive.com. To host a domain means to purchase the space where the domain would be placed. It’s like buying land and going to the local government office to register your plan before eventually building your house (website). That is easy, isn’t it?
It is not as difficult as you think. With just #2,000 (13USD), you can have your domain registered and hosted. You may visit www.domainafrica.net for domain registration and hosting. Find a Good Name; a good name is usually short, easy to remember, and reflects your business in some way. It’s the same in the offline world. Your domain name is how you’ll be known on the Web. Customers will have to remember it, spell it correctly, and type it into their Web browsers. Good domain names are memorable, short and easy to spell, and usually reflect your business purpose.
Now it is time to build your website. You could decide to use Julius Berger to build your house or call a cheaper construction company. In fact, I know a man that built his house all by himself. So if you can, why not? Go ahead and build your website. Sincerely, building a website is not a very difficult task. Many popular software companies allow you to create web pages visually by adding pictures and text just as you would a word processor.
An example of a popular web editor is Microsoft front page. You can get some free website templates from www.positiveinteractive.com/download/wt. All you have to do is edit the template to suit your company and you are ready for business. If you have problems with this, feel free to talk with me.
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Culled from XPRESSIONZ magazine 4th edition (2008)
PREVIOUS NEXT
Culled from XPRESSIONZ magazine 4th edition (2008)
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