The Importance of Having A Web Presence
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Written by Renee C. Quinn B.S. Pennsylvania State University M.B.A. University of Phoenix Posted: March 13, 2010 @ 5:00 pm ReneeQuinn.com | Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn 
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When you want to learn about a new business, the latest news, the upcoming weather or the current sales at your favorite store, what is the first thing you do? In today’s technologically savvy times, majority of all people asked this question would probably answer it the same way; they turn to the Internet. Computer prices have dropped significantly since the inception of the home personal computer and now most homes, schools and libraries have computers. Now when we want to find out more about a company, we simply go to our favorite search engine and search for the company by name. But how often do you find that the company you are looking to learn more about still does not have an Internet presence through a website of their own? When you go to business networking functions, do you still receive business cards only to find they have email address ending in @hotmail.com or the like? In today’s business world it is hard to fathom just how many businesses still do not have a web presence especially given that many of the best web hosting companies make it simple to host a website and offer the ability for customized email addresses.
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About the Author
Renee C. Quinn acquired a Masters of Business Administration with her course work focusing on e-Commerce and e-Business, with an emphasis on marketing via the World Wide Web. Her particular career focus to date has been on business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. She writes on various business and social media topics for IPWatchdog.com. You can follow Renee on Twitter at IPWatchdog_Too. Renee is available to consult with individuals and businesses on how to set up and effectively use social media and social networking tools to establish a successful marketing campaign. You can contact Renee via e-mail.
Good advice all the way around.
I would also suggest the following:
1. As long as you have (and use) the critically-important (especially in the U.S.) .com tld (top level domain)–also at least register (and re-direct to your actual site) address the .net, .org, .info, and .us tlds. While few type / use these when looking for a company; given their low prices; they’re low-cost insurance.
Those who’s business is entirely or primarily not U.S. based should consider using / also registering the country codes applicable to their countries of operation; i.e. .de for Germany.
2. Register any hyphenated versions as well. These are surprisingly popular in some of the countries outside the U.S., and–used properly–can be helpful with the search engines. Using a mythical firm named Knox Goldman Walsh as an example, they should register Knox-GoldMan-Walsh.com (though I wouldn’t personally bother with hyphenated versions in the other tlds; at least as long as you’ve got the .com version).
The firm behind “IP-Contingency-Lawyer.com” ; one of the advertisers here; is another example of this use (though I personally would not use the hyphenated version in advertising because it makes it harder for many to remember; i.e. than IPContingencyLawyer.com.
Nice article. One thing to remember is when you go to the “Top Ten” sites, these rankings are rarely based on customer satisfaction.
The Top 10 hosts are ordered by the owner of the site by which host’s affiliate program pays him the most money. Or, they are paid slots, in which the host that pays the most money for the ad is in the top slot.
In some cases the Top 10 sites are owned by a hosting company and they will put their brand or brands in the top slots and then affiliate or paid ads for their competitors in lower ranks so that they appear to be a better host, and then also take money from their competitor’s affiliate program so it is win/win for the host that owns the site.
By far it is better to google a host’s name and look for comments on reputable sites like this one who are not specifically aiming to promote web hosts by their perceived ranking as a “best host.”
Though caution must be used using this method too as many hosts also understand that many customers know the Top 10 game, and so to compensate they will pay for articles in unrelated sites as well.
Caveot emptor!
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Web presence goes beyond having a website. The ability to search or find useful organized information on your website is part of having a presence. An even bigger and more practical element is offering users a way to reach someone and obtain more information. Responding to email, as difficult as that is, is part of a site’s web presence. If email is never answered or phone calls don’t reach anyone, “presence” is diminished.
For hosting, I also like Dreamhost.
Good resource for finding domain names is Domize.com.
“Digital intellectual assets” are often given little consideration by many companies until too late. Domain names should be pursued aggressively and early. It’s also helpful to lock up trademarks in popular services by obtaining control over your names in Gmail accounts, YouTube channels, Twitter user names, etc.
Very timely blog post, by the way. Thanks!!
Thank you , Renee! A very good article!
A few recommendations from a pro,
Don’t use GoDaddy.com for anything! They are a terrible host and only lure people in with their sexy ads and seemingly good deals. I generally agree with the comments from “web hosting.”
Buy your domain names from the same company as your hosting provider, unless you know what you are doing in order to re-direct them. The convenience of having it configured for you and being able to use their tools is usually worth an extra dollar or two. Register.com isn’t bad if you want to go it alone.
Make a list of the features you want and consult an expert to find out what you actually need and how much it is going to cost. Anything more than a basic online flier is probably going to require you to hire somebody and that costs money. A professional with good reviews should be able to take you specs, make an estimate, recommend a host, set up everything for you and do all the work. Of course, you get what you pay for in this regard. A good place to look for people is: http://www.rentacoder.com
Websites can be everything from do it yourself myspace pages to full blown internet apps with teams of developers and designers, so do your research first and figure out what you need, want, and can afford.
[...] way to advertise yourself and your business for free or at a very low cost. In my last article The Importance of Having a Web Presence I talked about utilizing the Internet via a website of your own, in order to expand your reach, [...]
-Steve M Marsh,
Thank you so much for your added suggestions. You are correct that the other addresses such as .net, .info and .org ar also important to think about. Particularly depending upon what your industry is. People may assume so when you are looking for a domain, you need to try and consider the assumptions of others. Hyphens and underscores also should be considered. Again that you for your input and thank you so much for reading IPWatchdog.
-Renee
-Web Hosting,
Thank you for reading IPWatchdog and adding commentary to the discussion. I agree that majority of the “Top 10″ type sites are solely at the discretion of those making the list. However, from my years in the Mental Health field, research clearly shows that you can get a pretty good synopsis of the general feeling within the industry if you get a large enough sampling. Rest assured that it is for this very reason that I did my homework and researched the topic thoroughly looking for a clear sampling from those in the industry as well as reviews of these services. I looked for as many “Top 10″ lists that I could find on this very topic. I used a sampling of more than 20 lists and looking for trends, took my data from all of the lists and reviews in my sample. Consistency is key.
Again thank you for reading and we appreciate your taking the time to add your insight.
-Renee
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Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate your thoughts and input. I recommended go daddy.com for domain name purchasing and not web hosting, because we have purchased domain names from there for years. We have not had any issues with our service through them, although we don’t dispute that there are probably others who have. I agree though, it is important to do your research. I tell people every day to “Do your homework.” No matter who you choose to work with, including us, it is important that you research and make sure you are not getting into a situation you are not comfortable in, you cannot get out of or that is inflexible.
-Renee
You’re certainly welcome, Renee.
Glad to help such an excellent IP info & advice/recommendation site/service. Can’t believe I didn’t know about IPWatchdog.com until just recently. I visit almost daily now; often a couple times/day.
A couple more thoughts for this string:
For anyone in any industry/field/profession looking for a very nice yet very affordable, template-based, easy-to-use site, take a look at what 1and1.com has recently started offering; starting for less than $20/month.
Also; never let anyone but “you” (the business owner) register your domains. There have been many, many cases (I’m sure many of your readers already know this) where company owners have had their web designer(s), host companies, etc register the domains in their own names; only to be held hostage down the road if the biz owner ever changes their site service providers.
And be sure to register/renew your domains for the full number of years allowed; 10 years in the case of .com; and keep an accurate, most used e-mail address for notices from your domain registrar. 1,000′s of companies have their domains expire every year due to these two common problems.
Steve-
Another excellent point. Many people do choose to renew their domain names each year but can loose site of that as each year passes. It is a great idea to renew for as long a period as you can. But with that, I suggest that you add a calendar entry about 6 months before the next renewal date so that it is not something that is missed.
We are glad to hear that you enjoy our site and visit frequently. WEe hope you are sharing the siote with others who you feel will benefit as well.
Renee
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