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| You don't HAVE to have a website to promote your merchant's products and services. But - it is a great tool to have. |
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| You have several options in getting started with your own website. We'll look at a few here: |
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| Free Site |
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| You can get your own website and have it hosted free of charge. The free webhosts usually offer some kind of template to start with. |
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| Though "free" may sound good - there are some drawbacks to free sites. For one, the hosts will limit the amount of pages and page size you host with them. |
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| You may also be limited to the templates they offer and not allowed to create your own look and feel. |
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| In many cases, a free website hosts do not allow you to have your own domain name. So, instead of a URL like http://www.yourdomain.com, you'll end up with a URL like http://www.tripod.com/members/~yourdomain |
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| Plus, you won't have an email address that matches your unique name or desired domain - which is important for branding. For starters, this is okay - but if you want visitors to take you seriously, getting your own domain name is a MUST. |
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| You may already have a free website available to you. Many ISP's offer free websites with the purchase of an email account. Check with your ISP to see if this is something that you have and where to find instructions on using it. If you don't already have a free site, you can find a listing of free web hosts by going to Yahoo.com and clicking on the following menus: |
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| Business and Economy (from the middle of the home page) then: |
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Business to Business |
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Communications and Networking |
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Internet and World Wide Web |
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Network Service Providers |
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Hosting |
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Web Site Hosting |
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Free Web Pages |
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| Paid WebHosting |
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| Your other option is to pay for your own domain name and pay to have it hosted. Though it doesn't have the "Free" appeal, it does offer you the highest level of control and gives your visitors the impression that you care enough about the products you are promoting to actually pay for a website. |
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| You can either start by finding a webhost or start by picking a domain. Since choosing a domain is kind of fun, try starting there. |
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| You can purchase the rights to the domain name you find - or wait and have your webhost do it for you. I would suggest letting the webhost do it for you but BE SURE that you maintain ownership of the domain name. If you don't, you'll be stuck with a domain name that you've marketed and someone else owns. |
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| Once again, Yahoo.com has a huge listing of web hosts that will host your site for you. Many web hosts also offer help (both paid and free) on setting up your website. Check their literature and ask them if they offer templates, webpage creation software, website creation tutorials or other helpful information or tools for new web site owners. |
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| Click the same Business and Economy link as before and follow these links: |
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Business to Business |
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Communications and Networking |
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Internet and World Wide Web |
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Hosting |
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Web Site Hosting |
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| From there, you can choose to search by region or view directories of Web Hosts. |
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| Join Affiliates Web Design Groups |
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| Adding Banners and Links to your Website |
