Starting a Business on the Internet

The number one question to ask when starting a business,


whether on the Web or in a traditional setting, is why would


people want to buy the product or service. Somewhere in


the world, one can find people selling anything so why


would people come to you? Are you selling something


unique, do you make or market something that no one can


find anywhere else or would find it almost impossible to


find elsewhere? Do you sell your product at a lower price


then anyone else? Maybe your prices are competitive with


other businesses but you offer superior service. Perhaps


you have the ability to offer unique services that no one else


can or will duplicate. Do you have some other advantage


over other companies? The next thing to consider once you


have settled on a product or service to market is a name.


Names are very important especially when starting a


business on the Internet. The Web address or URL


(Universal Resource Locator) of a Web page is an


important part of becoming a popular place for surfers to


shop. There are two ways in which an URL for a business


Web page can de done: registering you own second level


domain or being listed under some one else's domain name.


A URL is made of several parts. First, there is the root


level domain: com, org, net, tm. The root level domain can


be many things; com, org, and net are the only root level


domain names not associated with a two-letter country


code. Any other domain name will be associated with a


country: us, United States; de, Germany; tm, Turkmenistan.


Some business names will lend themselves to easily


become a second level domain name, that is the name


before the root level domain name. Major brand names are


easy to do such as www.microsoft.com, www.ibm.com.


When people look on the Web for a certain company it...