- The very first thing I always recommend is setting up a "Home Page" - sometimes other than your own website page. You will then set this page to be your initial starting point on the web.
The following Web Portals offer Customizable Home Pages;
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my.yahoo.com
- google.com
- excite.com
- Lycos.com
- MSN.com
- and there are many more
These sites also come with an email address, such as yourname@yahoo.com, or yourname@google.com and so on. You can configure your regular email program to fetch this mail for you. These addresses come in handy when you go to places on the web where you really don't want to use your regular business email address.
Many times during your research activities, a website will ask for an email address before it allows you to access the information you want. These email addresses above are excellent for this type of email 'spam' those research activities might create. And, they run their own firewalls and virus detectors for you, so you can feel safer using them on sites you are not sure about.
Setting up your home page;
When beginning a business on the web, and that is what you do when you put up a website, you need to keep in touch with the trends on the net. And, by creating a customized Home Page from one of the major portals above, it allows you to scour the net for news and information targeted toward your business and your interests and have it accumulate all in one place for analysis.
Just like any start-up entity, that website business will need managing and supervision to produce the results you want. Cyberspace no longer offers the Build it and They Will Come scenario. There is now fierce competition for customers on the Web, and one needs a plan to carve out their fair share.Part of that plan should be tracking and keeping in touch with what potential customers are doing in cyberspace. How they are accessing data, and where that data is coming from. Then, what do they want? How do they want it fed to them?
He with the best plan will win. And, it is all in the Focus.
I personally use a customized Yahoo! home page. I like this portal because it offers one so much access to data in various areas.Google offers many different amenities, such as google earth. The portal you choose will depend upon your business type and interests. If you need satellite tracking or imaging, then google earth may be the portal you choose. If it is major financial trends you are looking for, Yahoo! may be your choice. Look each of them over, and see what the fit is. The idea is to have that portal supply you with as much data as you need, streamlined to you all in one place.
Be sure to download the Toolbar that comes with your Home Page Portal, because wherever you are on the Net, you will have instant access to Search features.
These portals also allow you to capture and manage links that you use often. Again, placing everything you need at your fingertips all in one place. Time is money, and time wasted is Frustrating. Set up your Portal like you would your computer desktop. Have everything at your fingertips. Sites you need to visit regularly can be placed as a Hyperlink on your Desktop. Just place your mouse on the link in your browser window until the URL highlights, then left click and drag the URL to your computer's Desktop. Then, simply clicking that link on your desktop, will take you directly to that page.
There is a lot of really good, free software available on the Net for your business needs. Calendars, Contact Managers, Lable and Envelope printing programs, Calculators, and so on. One just needs to know where to find it. Some of the sites below offer some very good pieces at no cost to you.
There are areas such as Forrester.com where white papers can be purchased, and where some data is free. This is a good site for research, however, I do think it is a little pricey. Sometimes, the data purchased from here can be located elswhere with a little searching effort.
There is also Lexis Nexis.com where they provide customers access to 5 billion searchable documents from more than 32,000 legal, news and business sources. Corporations and legal professionals can also manage, organize and integrate their work processes using our unique set of solutions This is a pay services, however.
Another great resource in research is Wikipedia,a free Encyclopedia which I find quite comprehensive.
We've now offered you some suggestions that we know for sure pay off in doing research on the Net. Cyberspace is one of the very few places left, that if handled correctly, can pay off greatly in profits And, it doesn't have to cost a lot. You just need someone who understands the ins and outs of the World Wide Web and who can guide you through the maze of what is safe and what is not.
How can Interim Business Services LLC help you?
- We can offer guidance. We can do everything we have discussed above; from research to planning, to Hosting and Design set up to Marketing, and for a whole lot less than you would think. We firmly believe that if you are not successful, then we are not successful.
We are a small business, too. We know the blood, sweat and tears it takes to get things going. We know how precious those dollars are, and we also know how to stretch them. We understand the risk you think you are taking. That is why we offer what we do on this web portal.
We also know that word of mouth brings us the best customers. That is why we put our heart and souls into whatever it is we do. If you are satisfied, then you will refer others to us, and our businesses will grow together.
We welcome your inquiry. All it takes is a phone call to 419.630.6862, or an email to inquiry@interimllc.com to test the water.
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