"The Desktop Global Marketer" (tm)

   A free on-line newsletter of Sidereal Designs, Inc.,
   for Internet Entrepreneurs, and those who are
   considering becoming one.
_____________________________________________________

                 DATE - January 2000

In this issue: "Not surprisingly the most frequent question
we're asked about web sites is "How much does it cost?" To
give an adequate answer we need to probe a bit further into
what is really wanted -- all web sites are not the same."

_____________________________________________________

   "The Desktop Global Marketer" is free, and may be 
   re-published freely with permission. We encourage 
   you to give it to your friends.

   For subscription (or un-subscription) details,
   and other information, please see the end of the 
   newsletter.

   For any other purpose, please write to:
   	jamie(at)siderealdesigns.com
   Or visit us at:
   	http://siderealdesigns.com
_____________________________________________________

Not surprisingly the most frequent question we're asked
about web sites is "How much does it cost?" To give an
adequate answer we need to probe a bit further into what is
really wanted -- all web sites are not the same.

Basically, you're going to need three things: a domain name
registration, a hosting site, and pages to put up on it. The
domain name is going to cost you about $35/year. It used to
be that there was only one registrar to get it from,
Internic (now called "Network Solutions.") Now there are
many competing registrars, and you might find one that
charges a few dollars less.

Be sure the one you select is reputable and is going to be
around for a while, and read the fine print to make sure
you're not forced to do something like hosting with them to
get a better registration price. Also look for additional
services such as URL forwarding or free domain parking, and
get an idea how easy it is to make changes to your
registration with them. Recently we've been doing our
registrations through Register.com (http://register.com) and
have liked their service.

The next cost is web site hosting. It's not terribly
expensive, but it's a recurring cost that will add up month
after month, year after year. The industry average for this
is about $25/month, but there will be a lot of variation
depending on just what options are offered and on how
closely they're tied to the Internet backbone.

Understand your needs and check the options. It doesn't help
you to get a cheaper hosting price if you need an email
newsletter and they don't offer list servers. Some will
charge by the amount of traffic you get, others won't; some
will charge you for storage space, others won't.

All of them of course are ultimately charging what's
required to provide these things at a profit, but the cost
structure may or may not fit your needs well. This can be a
complex choice and unless you're savvy about these issues
you'd be well advised to consult an independent webmaster.

If the hosting service is connected directly into the
Internet backbone with a fast connection (what we a call a
"tier-1" provider,) your pages will serve faster and you
will pay more. If they are a tier-2 provider and get their
own connection through a tier-1 provider, they will charge
less and your pages will load more slowly.

This is not the end of it however. They can be a tier-1
provider and still try to cram too many pages onto too few
servers through too few connections and you will still load
slowly. This is how many of the seemingly great bargains are
accomplished. We host our own site with a hosting service
called Dezines (http://www.dezines.com,) but there are many
other excellent choices. If you're confused about what you
need and what is provided, get an independent professional
opinion.

Finally, you need pages to put up on your site. This is a
non-recurring cost, but will typically be your largest
initial outlay. This cost will range from $0 in some cases
to millions for large corporate sites.

If you're putting up a family page to show the relatives
your vacation pictures, almost anything will do. If you're
trying to be serious about a small business, you want to be
much more particular. (It's your business, after all; you
wouldn't open your new retail shop in a dingy store in the
low-rent district to save money.)  If you're a substantial
corporation you probably have your own full-time staff of
webmasters and aren't in need of web design services.

For the small business just getting into the web, the most
essential things are to understand what you need, to find
someone competent to build it, and to understand what you're
paying for.

What's really involved here?

First, you need to understand the functionality of the site
you need. Email list servers? Autoresponders? On-line credit
verification? Shopping carts? Real-time interaction? The
list of possible options is very long, and almost all of
them have little to do with the visible pages. A web site is
like an iceberg; most of the code is invisible behind the
scenes. All of these things can be expected to add cost to
your site over and above the visible pages, but they're
essential for most business sites.  You're probably going to
need help deciding what your site requires, and only then is
it meaningful to ask about cost.

Second, you need to decide what you're willing to pay to
have the site look attractive. Good layout and wise choice
of text arrangements that make your words easy to scan will
go a long way towards keeping people reading. Eye-catching
graphics, a well-coordinated color scheme, and a clean,
business-like look will go a long way towards creating the
impression that you are a serious, professional, competent
enterprise -- usually without the visitor even thinking
about it. Good graphic design is not cheap, so think
carefully about the pros and cons of not having it.

To put these things together well, to have a web site that
works well and efficiently, that is easy to navigate, that
presents your enterprise in the best light, is the job of
your webmaster. There are many ways to get this job
done. Some cost less than others.

You can get the $0 option in several ways. For example, some
hosting services will design your page free if you agree to
host with them for some period of time, or to pay them for
the design if you go elsewhere. Understand that they are not
a charity and one way or another you are paying for their
design services.

(In a recent case that we consulted on, such a service also
copyrighted the client's pages and put their own advertising
on them. Read the fine print.)

You can always get someone to design a site very cheaply;
it's not a difficult thing to do. Any high school kid with a
computer can put up a web page. It will usually be filled
with neat flashing gizmos, hackneyed icons, and obscure
navigation methods. It will load like glue because of all
the cool java applets that do tricky things, and the color
scheme will resemble a pizza. You can have this for around
$100.

In a more serious league, for something between $100 and
$500, you can find professional web design firms that will
put up fairly limited sites that work, provided you are
willing to choose from some standard options that they
offer. You can pick a background from column A, a set of
bullets from column B, and supply a logo of your own design
that they'll add, etc. Often these can look fairly nice
aside from the fact that all the elements have been seen
before everywhere.

Where you can get in trouble with this one is with any
special options that you need to run a business. The moment
you need special features, or individually-designed
communications methods, or custom CGI scripts, or any of the
other things that require a non-cookie-cutter approach, they
will have to start adding on optional extra charges. Find
out about all this in advance; don't be surprised later. Get
a second opinion.

From this level on up (and there is no top-end) you need to
be working with a professional who will design a site for
you based on your custom needs. Every case will be
different, but as a rule of thumb you can expect a quality
web site custom-designed for a serious professional practice
to run from one to several thousand dollars. A quality site
for a small business doing e-commerce with databases for
inventory and on-line transactions will start around five
thousand and may go much higher depending on size and
requirements.

Here are some questions you should ask:

"This is what I want my site to do. What do you think it
requires, and why?"

"How much would it cost to build what you think I need?"

"This is how much I have to spend. What can you build me for
that amount?"

Don't bother asking what he charges by the hour. How would
you know how long it should take him to do something? Let
him worry about that.

(If you'd like to learn a bit in depth about what sorts of
things a competent webmaster should worry about for you --
and what probing questions to ask when you're selecting a
webmaster -- you might enjoy reading this:
http://siderealdesigns.com/quality.shtml)

Here's my closing two-cents worth on value: The world is
shifting to on-line business with amazing speed. If you're
going to do business on-line treat it as seriously as or
more seriously than you would treat your off-line
enterprise. There was a time when just having a web site was
impressive. No longer. People today are accustomed to
quality and recognize its absence. Consciously or
unconsciously they form an opinion of you and your
enterprise from your web site as surely as they would from
your store or office. First demand a quality site, then get
it at the best price you can.

Best,

Jamie
_____________________________________________________

To subscribe, send email to: 
	newsletter-request(at)siderealdesigns.com
and include the word   subscribe   as the only item in
the body of the letter.

To unsubscribe, send email to: 
	newsletter-request(at)siderealdesigns.com
and include the word   unsubscribe   as the only item in
the body of the letter.

If you have problems with either of these, write directly
to jamie(at)siderealdesigns.com for prompt attention from
a human.

If you would like to re-publish any of our newsletters,
at no cost, please contact jamie(at)siderealdesigns.com.

"Sidereal" is pronounced sy-DEER-ee-all, and means "of
or pertaining to the stars, the heavens, etc."