Re: Web Hosts

**"Christopher P. Lindsey" t*@spamfodder.com**

> Many of you have domain names and websites, plus knowledge of site building. 
> I'm about to launch a new business that requires a website.  Please share 
> your experiences on the following:
> 
> Best web host
> Best web creation software......or are the templates and free stuff on web 
> hosting sites good enough?
> How you handle payments

Hi Doreen,

   As an ISP myself, I can probably answer a lot of your questions.

   You're going to find some sites that provide hosting at a very low cost,
   but they're also very hands-off and only provide you with an account.
   This is a great place to go if you know exactly what you're doing and
   won't ever need help.

   At the other end of the spectrum you'll find slightly more expensive 
   providers (like myself) that provide more customized services.

   The thing that you have to answer beforehand is what you're looking to
   provide with your online presence.  Is it just a standard, cookie-cutter
   Web site that provides information to the public?  Or are you looking to
   have unique features like a custom search engine?  

   I think the templates are great if you just want to establish a Web 
   presence, but if you want your site to be unique they'll never work.

   Another thing to consider is whether or not the domain name matters to
   you.  Do you want your own domain name?  Or is it OK if you appear to 
   the world as 

      http://www.example.com/myhost/

   That can make a difference in how an online store with secure payment 
   is set up and can increase your costs as well (you need to have a special
   certificate signed by a certificate authority to use your own domain name
   for checkouts; they're usually around $50-$160/year depending on who you
   use).

   Our clients usually handle payments by credit card.  The Web site takes
   the credit card number and encrypts it, then emails it to the client.
   The client has a passphrase (like a password, but with multiple words)
   that they use to decrypt the credit card information.  They then manually
   key it in at their end.

   There are variations on this -- with some of our clients we stick it into
   a database that they access remotely.  Others visit a secure Web page to
   get the credit card numbers.  The important thing is making sure that 
   your Web host understands security and never keeps credit card numbers
   around in an unencrypted state.

   Another popular method of payment is PayPal.  It's pretty much the same
   as a credit card except that they take a slightly higher percentage of 
   the sale.  From a customer's perspective it's sometimes easier and
   more secure, and from your perspective it's easier because you don't have
   to set up a merchant account with a credit card company.

   I could probably go on all day.  :)  Let me know if you have other 
   questions or if you'd like to hear about our services at Mallorn
   Computing.  Any revenue that we make goes towards running hort.net.

Chris

http://www.hort.net/gallery/      3900 online plant photos and growing!
http://www.hort.net/gallery/date/2005-12-18/       The latest additions
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