Seminar offers e-business start up advice
by Dusten Gambrell, Reporter

“First select a Web name and slogan, then the type of site, theme of site, and a color for the site. This is all that is needed for creating the site.” Judy Firmin, NW Campus instructor of computer science   

  Creating a business-based Web site may not be as expensive or difficult as many fear, a computer science instructor said last week.
Judy Firmin, NW Campus computer science instructor, conducted a seminar showing a number of Web sites designed to help people establish their own sites.
   The first Web site used to demonstrate how to set up a Web site was www.online-commerce.com/tutorial.html. This site tells the step-by-step process of setting up a way for a Web site to receive credit card payments. The site states that the business needs an Internet merchant bank account in order to accept credit card purchases over the Internet.
   The Web site also says a Web host should house and support a business Web site. A certificate is needed to enable secure credit card transactions; an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Encryption is often used. Along with these, software is needed to handle transaction.
   “Most people use Shopping Cart,” Firmin said.
   Shopping cart software allows customers to purchase items, keeps track of their accounts and ties together all aspects of the e-business into one cohesive whole.
   Ecompublishing.com allows a business to set up a merchant account.
   Payflo Pro, a service provided by verisign.com, allows payment on a business Web site.
   The Web site networksolutions.com allows a business to check if a certain Web address, called a domain name, is being used and allows the purchase of a domain name not currently in use, Firmin said.
    If a domain name is taken and the business wishes to see information on the owner, the Web site whois.com gives general information and contact information on the site’s owner.
    Firmin said the information stored on whois.com is “public information” and easily attained.
    Firmin said information on a Web site is stored on the server’s computer, and the size of the Web site affects this server directly. The more visitors to the site, the more it floods the server with work. This server also is affected by the data transfer rate. The higher the transfer rate, the higher the number of visitors the Web site can handle easily.
    Valueweb.com gives details on different Web hosting services. The plans start from $19.95 a month and get very expensive for the top-of-the-line plans, Firmin said. The plans differ in the offered features that will affect a business differently, depending on the business’s Web site needs.
   Certain specifics include amount of site disk space, number of e-mail addresses, included software, data transfer rate and customer support for questions about the site.
    Two Web hosting sites are webhosting.yahoo.com and dellhost.com. Both offer plans to set up a Web site for a specific need, Firmin said.
    “Dellhost is more expensive than Yahoo,” she said.
     Using a starter Web site on the Yahoo server costs $11.95 a month plus a one-time set up fee.
    Firmin gave step-by-step directions on creating a Web site using the network solution site.
   “First select a Web name and slogan, then the type of site, theme of site and a color for the site. This is all that is needed for creating the site,” she said.
    After these steps have been completed, the site is ready to be edited to specific needs.
   Terry Biegler, a business owner and media specialist on NW Campus, attended the presentation and asked how a Web site can receive visitors.
    According to Firmin, Web sites could be submitted to search engines for a fee. Often different Web sites work together. A visitor may need to use one site while using the other. For quick movement between the two, both Web sites may place links to the other site on their site.
    Biegler also asked how a Web site could be listed higher on search engine results.
    “The business would have to pay to be another place on the page,” Firmin said.
     Firmin affirmed the ease and low cost of setting up a business-based Web site.
     “For $36, a Web site can be set up in minutes,” she said.