The Internet is the new frontier! Whether you are a seasoned Internet veteran or a web beginner, you will find inspiration, new ideas and ways of looking at your business, your life and your use of time. Think about all the times you said: "if only I had..."
We will work with you to be sure that you never have to say: "I wish I would have.." Let's start now to go over the basics of "being on the Net."

Getting on the Web - where do I start? First, you need to do some brain storming, and think about all the reasons why you need to develop an Internet presence, in other words, a web site. Write them all down, don't worry about ranking, just list everything that you feel would help you if you had a web site, what's important, and the real reasons why you need one or want one.

Important Questions:

- What is important to you and your web site, what are your goals? 

- What do you look for as a web surfer when you search the web?

- Does your business have a web image, and if not, are you losing business to business as well as customer based e-commerce sales?

- The Web is a very inexpensive advertisement source, reaching millions of potential customers every day, are you taking advantage of inexpensive advertising, are you on the web?

Did you know that recent Internet surveys estimate that there are over 20 million users, people that surf the "Web" to shop, for information, as well as entertainment? Do you want to reach thousands of new customers very inexpensively? Then the Internet is the place to be.

Next, think about your competition, if they are on the "Web" and you are not where does that leave you? Behind them, of course. Now that just won't do will it? So, let's continue and see what we need to do to start the ball rolling. 

Steps to Internet Success:
 

1. Prepare a business plan, defining your "target market," and setting GOALS!
    
2. Developing a game plan for the next month, two months, six months, and down the road. Do not short change this part, you need to know if you are on track!
    
3. Plan for the idea, content development, budget, promotion, and the maintenance and later content additions of the site. (New Product additions at a later date.)
    
4. Decide on a business, having a good idea, something that people have an appetite for and a product or service that is needed, fill a "niche"! 
    
5. Surf the web, do your research, take time to develop your idea, and test it.
    
6. Use Internet experts, sign up for newsletters from reputable Internet and Web Development companies, they are ready and willing to assist you in your endeavors. 
    
7. Decide on a budget for your business, be sure to double the amount of time you think that it will take you to create your business and double the amount of investment.
    
8. Talk to local businesses that are on the Web, ask them to be your mentor, many business people are flattered to be asked for their advice, and will do their best to assist you, even telling you about things that they tried that "just did not work." Use their experience to your advantage.
    
9. Purchase the hardware and software needed to create and run your business.
    
10. Work long and hard on your content, what you are selling and why the customer "must buy this item or service" to be happy. Create a "buy impulse" on your site. 
     
11. Research competitors sites, see what works, what doesn't and use general ideas that work in your site development strategy.
     
12. Decide who will develop your site, and check for samples of their prior web work and call or email these customers to be sure that the developer is easy to work with, does the job as contracted, and if contracted to, works to keep the site maintained. 
     
13. Verify final costs of the web site, including domain name fees, hosting fees, transfer fees, and other miscellaneous fees, to be sure you have the "big picture" of the total costs.
     
14. Decide on a domain name, remember short is better, and be sure to check trademarks, to be sure you are not infringing on a registered trademark. See Internet links page.
     
15. Secure domain name, and register trademark, if applicable. See Internet links page.
     
16. Remember, content is "KING", and no matter how many bells and whistles the site has, if the user can not get to the content, or has difficulty ordering because of too long a load time for the pages, or a check out that does not do its' job, you just lost the sale, and maybe a customer. Start with a basic site that does the job, add the "extras" only if the interactivity really "adds a significant value to the site."
     
17. Making your web pages full of content and user friendly, not everybody is an expert user, plan for users that may not know where to go or what to click on.
     
18. Plans to target customers internationally, not just locally or nationally.
     
19. How are users going to request support? Plan info request forms as well as user comments forms or surveys to find out the customers needs and wants for future market development.
     
20. Create your on-line store, integrate merchant account with e-store.
     
21. Set up payment transfer to your banking or credit union accounts.
     
22. Security Certificates for verification of credit cards.
     
23. Plan for search engine keyword and description optimization to your site. Create doorway pages to allow alternative access points to your site.
     
24. Plans for promoting your business should be used at this time to "tell the world" about your new web site, be prepared to add the URL of your address for the web site to all your business cards, letterheads, receipts, invoices, anything and everything to do with your business. 
     
25. Be sure to carry a supply of your business cards with you all the time, and get used to handing them out to everyone you see, for your never know who might want to see your new site, sales are made not only via the web, but to get them there, word of mouth works!
     
26. Remember the long term plan, it also needed maintenance and updates to the site, now is the time to decide the integration of new products, use your on-line forms requesting input from the user to track and implement new marketing strategies.
     
27. So when do you sit back and see the money rolling in? Time is the factor here, as well as the web site listing on the search engines. Be sure that you spend time and effort on tracking your search engine listing and resubmit the pages as needed to raise your site's ranking.
     
28. Working on your new "on-line business" will take a considerable amount of dedication, sacrifice and commitment of time and budgeted monetary resources, but being your own boss is really worth it. Believe me, I know. 
     
29. So what's next? Work on the web site of course! More defined targeting of users/customers, as well as other forms of advertising, like banners, click through, and link shares, but more about all that later.
     
30. Now, you can sit back and rest a spell, this was a long newsletter, but it is only the beginning. Be sure and stop back, we want to assist you with any questions or advise you may need about your business.