Registering Your .Com Name

When choosing a name you should get as short of one as possible. Long names are hard to remember. Good names are getting harder to find check to see if your name has been taken at Network Solutions.

Free web space

Don't want to pay for web space? We understand, and luckily there is a solution. You can get free web space through a number of different companies on the web like Geocities.com. All you need to do is register with them and 11 megs worth of web space is yours free. The only downfall is that you can't have a simple URL address like Owengraphics.com. You have to use the one assigned to you which is usually long and hard to remember. Also, the site your registered with will most likely be advertising on your home page and all other pages throughout your web site such as the pop up windows and banners. But if these things don't bother you it is an inexpensive way to go.
Note: The shortest name for a free ISP I have found is with Freeservers.com They do advertise a banner at the top of your site but you can have it removed for $5 a month.

Choosing an internet service provider(ISP)

When choosing an internet service provider, or ISP, it is important to shop around. There are a few important things to look for other than just cost. Do they have a help line? If not you may regret it. Do they allow CGI's, Common Gateway Interface? If not you will not be able to make your website interactive with such features as forms, guest books, process credit cards or make your site secure. If they do allow CGI's what scripts do they allow them in. Perl, C, Apple script. How many pop email accounts can you have. What is the band width "this decides the amount of information that can be transferred from you website". This is important to know for programming your interactive website. However if your ISP is reluctant to answer these important questions you should consider getting more for your money with another ISP. One excellent ISP is AZC.com they offer about everything you could ever need and more especially if you need ecommerce.

Advertising your new web page

If you're going to have a web site, especially for a business, you need to advertise. One good way to do this is to register with a well known search engine like Yahoo but it is a good idea to register with more than one. However, this process can become time consuming and quite redundant due to the endless forms to be filled out. You might want to try Register it to make it easier on you. Another good way to get people to your web site is banner advertisement. One place to do this is the Banner exchange. The two ways you can use banners is by simply paying for them to be advertised on other peoples web sites, or trading your banner for theirs, which usually works on a two to one basis. For every two banners you advertise on your web site, yours gets advertised once. You can also make money by advertising other peoples banners and links on your web site. Prices can range from 5 cents per click to $1.00 or more per click. Another way of advertisement is mailing lists. This you must be careful with because of all the anti spam issues. You can bulk email large amounts of people newsletters or links offering your product but you MUST make sure that all the people you email have asked to be on a mailing list and are not just random email addresses. *Spamming can even get you kicked of of your ISP-Internet Service Provider.

Web Programming

Your website can be programmed in different ways. Some of the programming languages are Java, Java Script, Pearl, C, C++, Python, Tcl, Visual Basics, Unix Shell, and AppleScript. The difference between Java and Java script is that Java script was made from java as a smaller version for use mainly on the internet. CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. It is used for shopping carts, counters, spam protection, etc. CGIs are written with most of the languages listed above, but the most widely use are C, C++, and Pearl.

Downfalls:
Applescript can only be read by Macintosh computers so anyone using a PC can't access the script. Pearl is for PC's only. Macintosh cannot access although most consumers today have PCs that may be something to consider. If a CGI is used to program a chat room, the page will not automatically reload after every comment with out prompting from the user. If java script is used to program a chat room it can have unlimited capabilities but customers who are not running java in there browsers will not be able to use it.

Links-For some helpful links for your new website please click on Links.

To find out more about our web designing and other service prices go to our Pricing guide.