Features - All Your Eggs In One Basket

Straight Talk...

In the summer of 2006 thousands of UK internet users were suckered into signing up for a broadband deal that couldn't be delivered for over six months. A reprimand from OFTEL was quick to come but not quick enough for the many who are now tied to a 18mth contract with a £70 'get out' clause.

What ever happened to good old larceny?

All Your Eggs In One Basket

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We all know that placing all your eggs in one basket is a receipe for disaster and none more so than in the web site business.

Many web site owners don't realise just how many eggs they're holding to achieve an internet presence. On this page we'll identify
all the seperate elements and show you how to keep them independent of each other.

The Eggs
1. Your internet access account.
2. The design & development of your web site.
3. Hosting your web site.
4. Your Domain Name purchases and yearly renewals.
5. Your email set-up.


	Internet Access Dial-Up (Std phone line) or Broadband (ADSL), this is the one egg you should definitely keep in its own basket. Try not to introduce

	anything into your internet access account that makes it difficult for you to switch providers, like hosting, domain name management and long contracts and try to avoid over tempting offers (see 'Straight Talk' left). Being able to switch providers is one of the few levers a user can have against a poor or restricted service.


	Web site design & development If you have the skills within your company to develop a web site in-house or you're developing it yourself, then you could save quite a bit of money. Otherwise you'll have to out-source this work to an agency or web designer. Some agencies charge thousands of pounds just for the design of a site. These agencies are commonly used by people who are not spending their own money, government departments, local authorities and the like. In actual fact it doesn't have to cost you a fortune, there's a huge pool of skills out there for you to draw from, particularly in the UK. Key points to consider before you choose an agency/web site designer are: i. Are they capable of doing what you want, look at other work they have done. ii. How much is it going to cost. iii. How long will it take to complete. iv. Where is and will you have full and exclusive access to the hosting web server. v . Will you have copyright over the site and its contents. vi. Will you own the domain name.


	Hosting Whether you choose a shared hosting environment (as most do), from the opposite end of the scale, a dedicated server or somewhere between the two, a virtual private server (VPS), depends on how popular your site is going to be and how much control you need over it. Another consideration you need to make is where your hosting is located the nearer you are to your customers or audience the better. Many sites that are aimed at UK customers are hosted in the US


	Domain Name This is the one egg you should definitely keep in its own basket. Try not to introduce anything into your internet access account


	Email This is the one egg you should definitely keep in its own basket. Try not to introduce anything into your internet access account

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