Developing your Internet Business plan

This is the most important step of all!  Without a good concept, quality product, good services, or interesting content, you are wasting your time. 

So many businesses launching websites view the Internet as just another place they 'have to' establish exposure.  

Their websites tend to be little more than "Brochure Websites."  They simply replicate printed material from brochures.  While these sites are not totally worthless, they fail to take advantage of the  opportunities offered by the new technologies online.

For your website to be effective and profitable, it must be interactive.  By that we mean the site must have marketing tools built into it that cause viewers to feel they are part of a community; a place where they want to visit often.

Your domain name

Selecting a domain name is an important part of developing an Internet business.  Even if your company already has an established business name, it may not be in your best interest to use that name on the Internet.  You may even benefit by using two (or more) domain names.

Designing your website

If you do not have the time, the inclination, or the skills needed to design and maintain your own website, you will either need to hire someone to work in-house or hire an independent design firm.  Unless you plan to have a highly active, involved and frequently-updated (daily or hourly) website, it is generally much more cost-effective to hire a design company.

Keep in mind Design Firms can be extremely expensive.  Unless you shop around, you may end up paying $30,000 for a website, when you could have had the same (or better) website for as little as $500 to $1500.  Ask to see samples of their work and ask for a quote up front.  Then find a trusted Internet-knowlegeable individual to review their proposal.  Many companies who worked formerly only in the print or television world (magazines, commercials, etc.) have very little appreciation with issues like bandwidth, load time, navigation.  You may end up with a very pretty, but almost worthless website. 

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