Frequently Asked Questions
| Web Site Questions: | |
| Why should I consider having my own web site? | |
| How is having my own web site different from advertising? | |
| What type of information should I include in my web site? | |
| How do I keep people coming back to my web site? | |
| How much will a web site cost me? | |
| How do I submit my site to the various search engines? | |
| How do I know if anyone is visiting my site? | |
| How should I promote my new web site? | |
| How do I know my web site's server is working? | |
| Web Hosting Questions: | |
| Can I have parked or pointed domains with my web hosting account? | |
| E-mail Questions: | |
| Can I get e-mail at my web site name? | |
| Can I use mailing lists from my web site? | |
| Can I receive e-mail at my parked or pointed domain name? | |
| Domain Name and Domain Registration Questions: | |
| What's the difference between a "web address" and a "domain name"? | |
| I'm not ready to create a web site yet. Can I register a domain name anyway? | |
| Will you handle the domain registration process for me? | |
| If you register my domain name for me, who really owns the domain name? | |
| Can I change a domain name that I have already registered? | |
| Can I transfer my existing domain name to your servers? | |
| Will you transfer my existing domain name for me? | |
| How soon can people access my new domain name? | |
| Web Site: | |
| Q. | Why should I consider having my own web site? |
| A. | Your web site can be a very effective marketing tool to attract new clients or customers. Many businesses and individuals are using the resources of the Internet to help identify potential vendors and to learn more about them. Maintaining a professional looking web site that tells your story enhances your image and makes you appear more up-to-date and technology-aware when compared to your competition that has a poorly designed site or no site at all. Also, receiving e-mail at your domain name makes a better impression than having it addressed to "aol.com" or an e-mail service such as "hotmail.com". |
| Q. | How is having my own web site different from advertising? |
| A. |
Advertising (and direct mail marketing) are shotgun approaches to getting your company information to your potential customers or clients. A web site is much more selective in that most potential customers or clients have a specific area of interest and are searching for a type of company, organization, product, or else information about a specific company, organization, or product. That means people who visit your web site are already "pre-qualified" and the ratio of positive responses is much higher than with advertising or direct mailing. |
| Q. | What type of information should I include in my web site? |
| A. |
The Internet is all about information. The very minimum is information about your business: what your business is, contact information, hours of operation, and background information about your business such as its history and core values. Additionally, information should be included that describes your products and services, tips and suggestions, examples of successful projects, and customer testimonials. Since the Internet is a visual medium, you should also include photographs of your business and your successful projects or products. |
| Q. | How do I keep people coming back to my web site? |
| A. |
Offer lots of information and keep adding new content. Remember that visitors can view as much or as little as they want during each visit. Also, visitors will want different levels of detail during different visits. One way to keep up interest in your web site is to offer a newsletter (either via e-mail or direct mail) that identifies new information on your web site. Another way is to offer coupons or discounts that are only available from your web site. |
| Q. | How much will a web site cost me? |
| A. |
Obviously there is a very wide range of cost based on the size of the web site and the volume of information transferred or business transacted. Also, the initial creation of the site can vary greatly, based on complexity and who creates the site. However, for a small business site that doesn't provide e-commerce, the approximate ongoing costs are as follows:
In general, the cost per customer attracted is lower with an effective web site than with other forms of advertising or mass marketing. |
| Q. | How do I submit my site to the various search engines? |
| A. | There is a script included with each full-service hosting plan or you can do it manually for each serch engine. |
| Q. | How do I know if anyone is visiting my site? |
| A. | You can access detailed statistics about visitors to your site once it's established, including how they got there (where they came from). |
| Q. | How should I promote my new web site? |
| A. | Promotion of your web site on the Internet is a critical part of the web site designer's responsibility. You can easily promote your web site locally by including your domain name and your e-mail address on your letterhead and business cards, in your catalogs and advertisements. You can also include your domain name on your signs, but it's probably not worth the expense of creating new signage just for that. |
| Q. | How do I know my web site's server is working? |
| A. | There are on-line services that will periodically test your web site to see if the server is available and report problems to you via e-mail. One of these is QWK.Mon. |
| Q. | Can I have parked or pointed domains with my web hosting account? |
| A. | If the plan allows subdomains, it also allows parked or pointed domains. Each parked or pointed domain uses one subdomain. |
| E-mail Questions: | |
| Q. | Can I get e-mail at my web site name? |
| A. | Yes. Each hosted account includes a number of "POP3" e-mail addresses (of the form you@yourcompanyname.com) as well as auto forwarding to your normal e-mail address. Also, having e-mail addressed to your own domain name instead of an ISP or e-mail service such as "aol.com" or "hotmail.com" provides a better impression of you and your organization. |
| Q. | Can I use mailing lists from my web site? |
| A. | All hosting plans except the Basic and Plus plans allow mailing lists from your web site. |
| Q. | Can I receive e-mail at my parked or pointed domain name? |
| A. | Yes! Unlike many hosting plans, our plans support separate e-mail addresses for the main domain AND each parked or pointed domain. |
| Domain Name and Domain Registration Questions: | |
| Q. | What's the difference between a "web address" and a "domain name"? |
| A. |
A "web address" is a domain name plus a subdomain name that identifies the specified web page(s). For example:
is a web address. "Yourcompanyname" is only a directory located within the registered domain "www.someone.com." You don't own any rights to a web address; only the registered owner of the domain name does. Also, you can't have e-mail addressed to you at yourcompanyname (you@yourcompanyname.com). Your name on the Internet (yourcompanyname) should be your own property. The only way to protect your name is to register your own domain name as yourcompanyname.com (or .net, or .org, as appropriate). |
| Q. | I'm not ready to create a web site yet. Can I register a domain name anyway? |
| A. | Yes. Because your domain name is so important, it is better to register your domain name immediately rather than having someone else registering it first. We'll be glad to register your domain name now and you can set up a hosting account later. Also, we will point your domain name to our servers so that when you sign up for hosting, your new domain name will be ready to use (no transfer will be necessary). |
| Q. | Will you handle the domain registration process for me? |
| A. | Yes, we register new domain names, unless the name you would like to use is country specific. Contact us for additional information if this situation applies. |
| Q. | If you register my domain name for me, who really owns the domain name? |
| A. | You do! We will provide the domain name registration service for you but we will register it in your name. We will never hold your domain name hostage. |
| Q. | Can I change a domain name that I have already registered? |
| A. | No. Once you register a domain name, you cannot change it. If the domain name you registered no longer suits your needs, you should register another domain name. The original domain name you registered will continue to be registered to you until the end of the registration period. |
| Q. | Can I transfer my existing domain name to your servers? |
| A. | Yes. We will provide you with our name server information and technical contact information so you can transfer your registration and upload your site to our servers. If you have an existing web site with another hosting service, you should keep it active while waiting for the transfer to be completed. All e-mail and web pages will still be accessible from your existing site. After the transfer is complete, it takes one to three days to propagate the new IP address to the name servers on the Internet. During this period, visitors could go to either site. At the end of the three-day period, you should have your previous host delete the old domain account and update their DNS records. Note: If you use this same provider for your dial-up Internet access, you may not be able to access your new site until they update their DNS records. Click here for our name server and technical contact information. |
| Q. | Will you transfer my existing domain name for me? |
| A. | Yes. When we submit a transfer request, one of the current listed contacts must approve the change. If the contact e-mail on your domain name has changed since you originally registered it, you will need to update the registration information before you can complete the process. |
| Q. | How soon can people access my new domain name? |
| A. | Once your new domain name has been registered, our servers should be responding to it within 24 hours. Note: If the name is being transferred from another provider, it usually takes 24 to 72 hours before it is actively responding to our servers. All Internet providers must update their records (DNS tables) to reflect the new site's location. Since not all dial-up providers update their DNS tables on a daily basis, this process could take even longer than three days to complete for all dial-up providers. |