advices for new SMEs and free lancers

if you are new to the world of internet, fear not. i am here to help. i promise, using my reputation, that i would not con you - at all. trust me.

by reading and following my advices, you are assuring that you have understood the License and Agreement under paragraph 9, and is ready to comply with it.

i hereby assume that anyone who reads this article is absolutely new to the dot com era or the internet and i wish i would be able to offer helpful information.

one way to keep your businesses going is to maintain what you already have -- that is, continue to provide for the customers with the best services you can. another way would be to get more customers. we all know that the only ways are to obtain new customers through connections, which i do not have to go into detail. the other would of course be publicizing -- this is the part i play, help in your publications.

publications in the old times, which, is still surviving well, come in the form of paper, leaflets, pamphlets with all your company's information on it and a phone or fax number. this is effective, but the problem is: how can we be more effective? the world wide web (WWW) would be the key.

building a "company" online is a very good way to publicise. i'll list the reasons why:

1. accessibility
the internet is accessible from anywhere in the world (that's why you call it the WWW) and so is your online "company". you can give out pamphlets in SITEX whatever year, but sure, they'll be lost one day. the web however, will not.

2. cost-effective
imagine the number of pamphlets you'll have to print for an exhibition or some big conference and the money you'll have to spent on every single one you print -- that's a lot. the web site however, is a one time payable thing. after the site is built, you can get just one staff, and i say just one, to update the site occasionally. besides, the one staff could be yourself! and again, the website is viewd by ALL users in the world. imagine printing fliers for ALL the people in the world...

3. navigation
you send out a booklet, all the information takes up, say, 15 pages. a user looks at the content page, tries to look for a particular topic and subject. if he finds it, then it's ok. what if he cannot find it? you know he ain't going to call you before reading some other companies' booklets. what about the web? here, he can just type in a keyword in a search box, and in one click, the results appear. what if they still cannot find? let them have the option of sending an email to you in just another click. trust me, it's easier to send emails than fax of calling by phone. they would prefer the web. also, typing in the web address would definitely be more convenient than searching among a pile of leaflets which were kept for very long(propably outdated already) and looking for the information. the web never gets outdated by the way (if you update it).

4. attractive
designs on the web does not consume your ink in the printer. you can have super cool pictures and designs and it doesn't cost you your inks or the toner in laser jets. we all know making name cards with colour gradient is a NO WAY, too expensive thing, but on the web, just do anything. surely, people are attracted to more attractive things. you can even add movies and flash intros to impress your customers. these fancy stuffs would really entice your customers and make them read on and on and on....

5. keeping databases
some of you may be recieving faxes and email orders and having a clerk to sort them out etc.. what if you can "make" your customers place their orders in the correct place? then you don't have to go through the hassle of arranging the faxes -- so many paper -- again! the good news is: with the advancement of online forms, you can do these just right. suppose you have another order from ABC PTE LTD. he enters his orders online, easy for him, then the web program searches for the company's profile, adds the order in. as such, you dun need to settle faxes which comes in randomly like you have ABC PTE LTD coming, then XYZ INC comes next. and then suddenly ABC PTE LTD sends another fax saying they missed out an insert...or what-so-ever.

i can carry on and on, but these are the basics, are are sufficient to reason the goodness of having a web site sitting online.

if you have decided to create a website, read on. if not, do as you wish.

in the following topics, i'll tell you more about where to get your resources. if you let me handle your website, i would settle these things for you.

what are the things to look out for?

first...
to have a website, you need a server. you can buy your own at a 4 to 7 digit dollar from www.dell.com. getting your won server gives you the ability to control your assets. as in bandwidths, crashes, inaccessibility...etc.

or you can get a hosting service for as cheap as S$6.95 per year through me. or you can choose from www.netfirms.com, www.tripod.com, www.geocities.com. they offer ad/banner free hosting, which means that they will not "vandalise" your website with advertisments if you pay them, or, they'll "vandalise" if you don't pay them (free web hosting plan). either way, you still can have you web site. if you want FREE web hosting for you, i suggest tripod.com as it gives you a choice how you want your site to be "vandalised" (maybe it's rude, but that's how i think).

however, if you have got your company registered, i STRONGLY suggest that you get a paid hosting service. paid services promises good services, surely, you don't want to have your site saying "unable to access" when a customer enters you site. also, you get your own domain name. which means the surfer needs to remember just a short and sweet name for the address of your site -- an advantage over long addresses. by far, S$6.95 per year is the cheapest, Singapore based, web hosting service i can get for you.

second...
collect all the information your company has, especially those profiles and whatever you want to showoff and sort them nicely. it is very important to make sure every thing your customer needs will appear on the web site that you are going to make. remember that first impression is always the most important factor of success. if your customer enter the site and comes out dissapointed, you lose reputation. so make sure what ever relevant information is laid out nicely.

third...
get a reputable web designer or myself, Shinning Studios, to help you in the layout, design and overall look and feel. you may consider adding interactivity such as games or online forms. add them into the design and let the designer handle it all. demand what ever you can. i would have suggestion for you if you let me create you web site.

forth...
getting started on the web is not easy. now what we do is to test the site. you'll have to be the first to navigate through all the links and see if any information is wrong or left out. adding bits and pieces here and there, and your web site is complete.

fifth...
but that's not all you know. because no one knows that you've built a website. so you need to let them know. but how?

namecards
print the web address on to the namecards and tell them to see what you have installed for them.

faxes and letters
add the web address in the headers, even in fliers and all the forms of paper you get to print.

emails
send out emails and sign of together ewith the web address. let it be part of your signature.

search engines
list yourself in search engines such as www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, www.altavista.com and of all, i recommend www.overture.com. overture.com results appear in many other search engines also, a good way to spread news. once again, there are different plans for listings. for free, you have barely a 20% chance of getting listed. by paying, it's 100%. and pay more to get inside top 10 sites pay lesser and you get among the top 100. nevertheless, search engines provide a good way to allow people to get to know about you when they don't even know that you exist. .visit the sites for more information.

exchange links
meaning, you partner with your clients and put each others link on their coporate web sites, so that, any who visits any one web site, would probably visit the other. this is an effective way to buid ties and increase traffic at zero cost. you can try www.linkexchange.com, but i am not sure if it is effective or not. check the site for more details. if you look for me in creating website or anything, i'll put you in the affliate section.

newsletters
sending out newsletters is a big project, but it is high effective in keeping your customers informed of new events and offers. it also reminds people that your company actually exist, not lost in the wind. however, for very small companies, we do not have many things to write about, nevertheless, we should put it in consideration. i'll talk more about planning newsletters other articles.

upon satisfying the five "golden" steps, you'll be fully equipped for a dot com journey. once again, what i have just commented on are just guides which you don't have to follow, but you can.