So you’ve chosen your domain name, and you’ve registered it as well. What’s the next step? You need to choose a web host or a web hosting service. Why is it important to choose a web host?

This service will store and maintain (hence term “host”) all the data you need to keep your web site up. As you can probably see, it is quite crucial that you choose the right service for your web site as anything else will prove to be disastrous for your online business. Here are some things that you need to look into when choosing the best web hosting service for your needs.

Amount of space. How much space do you need? How much is the web host offering? Bear in mind that while you might need a small amount right now, you would probably want to expand in the future.

Reliability, speed, and security. It goes without saying that you need to be assured that all the data that goes through your web site is secure. You also need to be assured that the web host will be able to provide their service 24/7, and that any downtime is covered by the agreement you make. More so, you will want to make sure that users will not experience slow loading times.

Support. This is tied in with reliability. If downtime does occur, or if you experience other technical problems, how will the web host help you? Round the clock customer support is ideal; however, expect to pay more for this.

These are only some of the things that you need to check out. Bottom line: draw out your plans and expectations first, and make sure the web host can meet them.

In the last post, we talked about some things to bear in mind when starting an online business. One of the most important steps was to pick a domain name and register it. So how do you go about doing this? Read on to find out.

Go to a domain name registrar. You have a lot of choices here. I suggest looking at the following:

1. Go Daddy
2. eNom
3. Tucows
4. Network Solutions
5. 1&1 Internet AG (a.k.a. Schlund.de)

These are the top 5 registrars as of February 2010, according to Wikipedia. For my personal blogs, I use Go Daddy.

I assume that at this point, you already have an idea of what you want your domain name to be. Once you’re in the domain name registrar site, check the availability of your desired domain name. If it’s already taken, you have to try another name. This is why you need several alternatives. You may also change the suffix (instead of .com, try .org, etc.).

Once you get your desired domain name, just follow the online prompts for payment and registration; and you’re all set!

If this sounds like gibberish to you, here is an easier way. Go to www.google.com/apps. You can click on the option Google Apps for Business and read about your options. It is very easy to register a domain name using this, and you get your own Google Apps package as well. I actually use them as I get e-mail, calendar, docs, and more in one go.

You may already have a business running, but you might be thinking of going online to expand it. In some ways, starting an online business has a lot of similarities to starting the brick-and-mortar kind. In many other ways, there are big differences. Let us take a look at some of the most essential steps that you need to take when starting an online business.

Treat it as you would when starting an “offline” business. You need to get permits, register the business, do research, and all that stuff. Make sure that these things have been done even before you start going the online route.

Pick out a domain name and register it. The domain name is the web address of your online business. Ours is biziki.com. What will yours be? There are many ways by which you can register a domain name. We’ll take a look at that in a separate post.

Choose a web host. Once you’ve registered your domain name, you need to get a web host. This is the entity that will give you the storage space you’ll need as well as the support that you might have to rely on. Again, we will look at the specifics in a separate post, as it can be quite detail-intensive.

Create your site. You can opt to design your web site yourself, but you might need expert help. If I were you, I’d find someone who has extensive experience in web site design and work with them.

Market your web site. This is very very important. People will not come in droves to your site unless you spread the word. It’s basically the same as an offline business. Marketing and advertising is absolutely necessary.

I realize that I just posted a feature on a free webinar yesterday, but as I said in my previous post, I am loving the idea of being able to learn for free online. Free webinars are one of the hottest things going on today, and I hope that you will take advantage of these whenever you can. If you have the time, I suggest that you attend the free webinar that Pat Gage is conducting on the 6th of April, 6:00 PM PST. If you don’t – well, make the time!

The free webinar is titled “How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Business Without Spending A Ton On Advertising.” Now doesn’t that title provide you with enough motivation to attend the webinar? Here’s some information on Pat Gage in case you want to know more about him:

Pat Gage is an expert web 2.0 and is to give out strategies to use Web 2.0 to grow your business in times to come. Pat Gage will also offer helpful tips to increase the traffic of your website or blog and he will also tell the method to acquire free content for one’s social media blog or website.

Pat Gage will provide effective tips on how to get followers on twitter and how to attain your videos on first page of Google, and other important tips regarding SEO and Internet Marketing. Pat Gage will also share the beneficial secret of getting connected to the businessmen in LinkedIn during the seminar. The other aspects of Web 2.0 that will be covered during the seminar are how to send bulk emails to a list of friends, how to build your list by offering free videos and the importance of Auto-Pilot. He will also explain how Facebook, Twitter and Myspace help in improving the business.

What are you waiting for? Visit Info Seminars Club and learn your way to business success!

One of the things I like most about the Internet is that you get a lot of information without it costing you a single cent! With the technology widely available, you can easily embark on a self-improvement journey. These days, one of the best sources of information are the free webinars that you can find online. Some webinars require a fee, but there are a lot which are offered for absolutely free!

One webinar that is coming is Cold Calling Live. It is a project that spans about 6 weeks of training and will be launched in April 13, 2010. Sponsored by Weiss Communications, the project includes a free webinar, which will be held on the 30th of March, 2:00 PM Eastern time. Here’s more information from the press release:

Sales professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs who want to ‘try out’ Cold Calling College Live 2.0 will have an opportunity to do so on Tues., March 30th at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. At that time, Ms. Weiss, will deliver a free, information-packed, preview webinar of Cold Calling College Live 2.0. She will be sharing some of the tools, scripts and strategies that will be available to participants in the program. Those who attend the preview webinar will also have the opportunity to submit their questions ahead of time or ask questions live during the webinar.

For more information and/or to register for the information-packed, free, Cold Calling College Live 2.0 preview webinar: visit the Wendy Weiss website.

Even if you’re not planning on enrolling for the whole program, this webinar might help you!

Social media, social networking, social web sites – we hear of these things practically all the time now. Employees from all sorts of industries have various social networking accounts that they use, even at work! Many employers are quite concerned, especially since these sites may eat up bandwidth that could be used for more “productive” purposes.

The question remains, however, of whether these social media platforms can be made useful for business purposes. The truth of the matter is that IF you want your business to stay competitive, you NEED to engage in social media activities. What are the reasons for this? There are several, but the main thing that I can think of is the fact that social media platforms serve as an alternative means of communicating to the outside world; a means which is practically free; a means which reaches out to a much wider audience.

Let’s look the reaching out part. I don’t have hard numbers, but I can say without doubt that a huge majority of people in the WHOLE WORLD are engaged in social media activities. Facebook and Twitter are only a couple of the most popular platforms today, and a lot of businesses have already set up their own accounts. Why? Because they know that they can communicate with existing and potential customers through these sites; customers which they may not reach otherwise.

Of course, there is the FREE part. No need to pay consultant fees. No need to pay for the account – unless you want to upgrade. You can have someone in your staff to maintain the account, or you can even do it yourself!

So yes, social media should be an important part of marketing your business.

Your business is having a rough week and so are you. All you want to do is curl up under the bed and hide. If you do have to go out, you tell everyone you meet how terrible things are. You’re just blowing off steam and it doesn’t hurt anything, right? Wrong. One of the most important business principles is to act like your business is doing well no matter what.

After all, if you aren’t doing well and people know it, they’ll be less likely to use your services or buy your products. They’ll wonder if you’ll be around to stand behind your satisfaction guarantee. They’ll ask themselves if you’ll do the best possible work you can do if you are worried about finances.

Instead, put a smile on your face and tell people you are doing great and so is your business. You may just find that after you say this a few dozen times that it’s really true. After all, who wouldn’t want to have such a gung ho, positive person working on their project or selling them the things they need?

Republican Candidate Mike Huckabee spoke about the impending issue regarding the possible firing of talk-show host Don Imus stating that if this would be the case then perhaps all talk show hosts should be fired as well.

Apparently, this controversy has stemmed from the issues that have been made public such as that of the Rutger Women’s Basketball team. He also emphasized in hitting Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for their part in the case as well.

Obviously, the role of media in such issues has been way going overboard. But to get ratings up and attract attention, this seems to be the current practice all over the world. Hence if there are condemnations to be made, is should be made through all media and not for the account of one man only.

[tags]huckabee, republicans, rutger, basketball, rutger team, jesse jackson, al sharpton[/tags]

People running for political office do not win the trust and vote of people by merely sitting down. The financial aspect and funds are essential requirements for a political candidate to be known and spread anywhere. The battle today is the strategic approach on how to make money, the obvious life stream of US politics to support their move towards successful political campaigns.

It has been proven that the chances of candidates to win elections are obviously relying on funds to support their venture. Such has been proven from past electoral candidates such as George Bush in the 2000 elections where he was able to raise close to $30 million dollars in a single quarter (excerpt taken from The Money Shot).

Gone are the days of medieval means of making candidates known through simple campaign methods. The use of tri-media such as television, radio and print ads obviously need the support of money. Sad to say, this has been the differentiating factor and leverage being used to be ahead of the other packs of running political candidates in the United States today.

[tags]politics, candidates, life stream, budget, finance[/tags]

And so the probe continues. The current issue surrounding the cheap medical treatment and attention that US troops have been getting from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center seems to be escalating as more issues are being unraveled as the days go by. Finger pointing and getting to the bottom of all issues concerned is certainly something that has been common and it would not be surprising to see President Bush’ name among the people to be blamed.

To date, former Army Secretary Francis Harvey has been forced to resign because of the issue and it will not take long before some other big names would follow. The US troops have become a sensitive issue as of late and with this dilemma now brought into the open, the media will certainly have a field day in exposing the issue at hand. Perhaps even the candidates may use this as leverage in their campaign since attending to the current needs seems to be more important to get those votes in their corner.

[tags]walter reed medical center, us troops, war vets, iraq[/tags]