Does Your Business Have It's Own Internet Identity?
     By Terry Williams

In the offline traditional business world there is one axiom that has been true since the beginning of time: "Location, Location, Location Is The Key To Your Businesses Success!" Many very good businesses have gone under because they failed at fulfilling this simple but vital commandment of doing business. You can have the best product, service, company, customer service or whatever and without securing a prime location where your customers can find you, you're only asking to go out of business!

Since the commercialization of the Internet many consultants have told their clients that location is not the "Etched In Stone" commandment for doing business online. This can't be further from the truth. Location is just as important online as it is offline for making sure your potential customers can find you! Now I'm not talking about a physical location but an Online Business Presence, or Internet Identity, if you will.

What Is An Internet Identity?

Having your business on the Web is becoming very important as we near the 21st Century. In fact, in almost every advertisement you read in the newspapers, magazines, or watch on TV you will find the business is also advertising their Internet address (URL) for their web site. This is your Internet Identity or Business Location.

So What Does A URL Have To Do With My Internet Identity or Location?

Since there is not physical real estate on the Internet, this becomes a very challenging proposition. What you need to do is put on your virtual thinking cap for a moment and make a quick list of 2 or 3 URL's you know of, right off the top of your head. No take a look at this list. Whatever URL's you wrote down I can guarantee you that most, if not all of them, looked like this: www.company.com. How did I know this?

Just like the prime location, real estate, in the offline business world there is also prime locations in the online business world and these locations are called "Domains." A domain is simply a reserved name that identifies your business on the Internet, your Internet Identity. Why is this so important to your online business? Because it builds consumer confidence in your entire online business operation. The key to producing sales and creating profits on the Internet is in creating a comfort level in the mind of your potential customers in your businesses validity, philosophy, customer service commitment, and many other factors in order for them to lay down that plastic and make a purchase.

How Do I Decide What Internet Identity I Want?

When you begin to look into your own Internet Identity you're going to find there are a number of options to choose from and it can get a bit confusing. These options range from receiving web storage space from the company who provides your Internet Access to having your own domain.

The cost involved usually is the determining factor in which Identity many businesses choose, however, make sure you base your Internet Identity decision on what you want to accomplish for your online business, not just on the cost alone. You can get your own domain for your business at very reasonable prices if you take a bit of time and do some simple searching and research.

Here's A Few Options

Renting Server Space. Normally many ISP's offer a free web page or space to put up a few web pages. This is usually the least expensive way to get a URL. There is an important consideration to keep in mind when deciding to go this route. Your URL is at the mercy of the ISP and you have virtually no control over your URL.

What I mean is this:

Now you have an Internet Identity attached to a very lengthy and hard to remember URL. Remember your list of those web sites you made earlier, I bet they didn't look like the example above. More importantly, you have no control over YOUR OWN Internet Identity! Your URL may be changed from time to time or your web site might not be available because of heavy server traffic to your ISP or any number of other reasons. The key here is you have no control over YOUR OWN Internet Identity.

Owning Your Own Domain

Just like owning your own business and registering it with your local and state governments you can do the same with your own Internet Identity. A domain is simply a reserved name that you own and cannot be duplicated. The key benefit of owning your own domain name is that YOU HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL of your Internet Identity. Your URL is much shorter. Your domain name is located right after the ISP's domain.

For example: "http://www.ISPdomain.com/yourdomain."

You now have the option to move your domain to any ISP you wish. An ISP that accepts clients with domain names are usually prepared to handle the increase in traffic this will bring to their server and you probably won't have the problems outlined above with the exception that if you change ISP's, your URL will change as well.

Owning Your Own Virtual Domain

This is the ultimate in Internet Identities! Every major corporation online has their Internet Identity either on their own server or via a virtual domain. Under a virtual domain your URL becomes (http://www.yourdomain.com). To any web surfer, potential customer or current customer you will look as big as any of the larger businesses on the Internet, for example IBM, Microsoft, AT&T etc.

You'll also have the flexibility to add to your online business presence through autoresponders, departmental email addresses such as: (sales@yourdomain.com) or (service@yourdomain.com), forms processing, secure online transaction processing and many other options to make your Internet Identity as powerful as you wish.

The ISP's who offer virtual domain hosting services can help you every step of the way and are very well equipped to handle the traffic and challenges that comes with this type of Internet Identity. This setup is a bit more expensive, however, you can find these services ranging in price from $25 to $100 a month.

Your Best Option For Success

Your Own Virtual Domain. If you're serious about your Internet Identity, you want to get your own domain name under a Virtual Hosting. This provides you with total flexibility over your own online business presence and will allow you to adapt and change with the online environment that changes everyday. There are ISP's who will help you with getting your domain name and also with the virtual hosting of your domain. Make sure you take some time and consider the ISP and their services carefully as this will be the life blood of your online business. When contacting ISP's simply request information on getting your own Internet address (Domain Name Reservation) and Virtual Hosting for your domain.

Here's Some Resources To Review

There are many resources on the Internet where you can find plenty of information on getting your business on the Internet, domain name registration and virtual domain services.

To get a complete listing of ISP's that you can search by country, state or province, graphic map, or by area code is "The List" at: http://thelist.internet.com/

To get complete information on Domain Name Registration, you can visit the InterNic at: http://rs.internic.net/rs-internic.html

Final Thoughts:

So there you have it! If you take some time to consider what type of Internet Identity you want for your online business, you'll be one giant step ahead of your competition. Consider your online business goals and tailor your Internet Identity to meet those goals. There are thousands of ISP's out there and ISP's come and go very quickly. Make sure you carefully consider the provider who handles your Internet Identity and I recommend you get as much information as possible prior to making your decision. If you can't find the information or answers you need or would like any recommendations, I would be happy to provide you with a few recommendations.

Terry Williams, an internationally known online marketing expert, is the publisher of "Internet Marketing Issues", a Free Weekly Ezine that provides online marketing tips, techniques and secrets that will explode your online profits. You're invited to learn all about the latest in online marketing and see why thousands of subscribers in 15 countries around the globe rely on the information provided in IMI for their online business marketing needs. IMI has also been selected as a Starting Point "Hot Site"

For A Free Subscription, Delivered To Your Emailbox Every Thursday, just email: Sub-IMI@intersuccess.com or Visit IMI on the web at: http://www.intersuccess.com/imi/

Copyright 1997 By Terry Williams & Associates. All Rights Reserved

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