An Internet presence is fast becoming a necessity, whatever your business. Whether you start with a single page and upgrade later, you will want to own your own unique internet address or 'domain name'. Whilst this may be your company name, it might also refer to the work you do. For example www.macdonalds.co.uk could be any company doing anything in the U.K, however www.valve-seals.co.uk actually gives a better indication of what the company is really all about. Having chosen a name you need a place to host it, hosting is just renting space on a computer that is permanently accesible to people using the internet. As with any other form or renting there are fees to pay, usually called hosting fees, these are normally paid monthly and also cover simple maintenance of your site. You then need your site designing and publishing, designing the site involves turning your company information into an attractive electronic format that can be seen by anyone using the Internet. Publishing the site is the activity involved in putting the completed design onto the space you have rented for it and making sure that when someone puts your internet address into their web browser, your site appears.

In practice your web design company takes care of all the details for you , you simply provide them with the text and pictures you would like to appear on your new site.

If you wish to learn a little more about the web, email etiquette for business and many other internet topics, enrol for the free home study course at the top of this page.