10 Steps for a successful e-experience:
1.	Define the purpose of your website.
	What do you wish to accomplish with your site? Who will be your "target" audience? Will you be selling goods &/or services over the web?
2.	Get familiar with the web-design software you intend to use
	Whether it is FrontPage2000, Dreamweaver, etc.. Start getting familiar with the software you intend to use for the design of your website. There is no need to buy all the html books in the store and read them till you are blue in the face. All design programs will insert the correct html for you if you know how to use them. If all you need is an informational website, take a look at our E-Pro package, it includes Site Builder which will allow you to design your site in 30 minutes without HTML knowledge. If you are planning on selling goods &/or services over the web, look for a versatile, customizable, and easy to use shopping cart system. They range from entering a few lines of code per item per page (which could be time consuming) to database driven & managed via a web-browser. Miva Merchant is web browser friendly! Need a custom solution? We can help.
3.	Pick the Domain you want to use.
	Although many good names have been already taken, there is no need to go out and spend more money than you have to. Don't buy a registered domain! Test your e-idea first with your own domain. Domains consist of word(s) therefore do some brain storming and ask for ideas. You are bound to come up with something catchy that works well for you. Use your company's name, product or service name.
4.	Register the Domain.
	When registering make ABSOLUTELY sure that the domain is registered under YOUR name. Many web hosting companies will have you pay for the domain registration and register the domain under THEIR name. Later, if you ever want to take your domain somewhere else they will want to charge you an outrageous fee to hand over the domain you thought was yours. You can register your domain through HomePageOnline.com at the time of placing your hosting order by clicking HERE If you have already registered a domain, all you need to do is edit the domain's record to "point" to our servers. Go to the company/website where you registered the domain and edit or modify the record. (You usually get a user/password or it may be donve via email or even fax) You want to change the to the following: Primary Name Server: ns.homepageonline.net Primary Name Server IP: 208.56.139.235 Secondary Name Server: ns2.homepageonline.net Secondary Name Server IP: 208.56.138.221
5.	Choose a Web Hosting Company
	There are alot of choices out there but picking the wrong one can sure be a headache. Look for value, service & no long term contracts. If you sign up with someone for a year, what will you do if you discover their service is no good 2 months down the line? Your customers will not be able to reach you and you will be loosing money! (Not to metion the aggravation of having your contract cancelled for bad service) Choose a company that allows you more control over your site. You don't want to call or email everytime you need to make or add an email to your account. These things should be easily managed through a control panel accessible to ONLY you, the administrator. Look for Value, don't setup hosting with a company that limits you. Our e-commerce site, for instance, has no limit on the number of products you can sell online.
6.	Begin building your site
	While looking for a hosting company, start to play around with the web design software and learn about webdesign. Look at other solutions such as Miva Software which will allow you to manage your e-commerce site through your browser without knowing about web design. Planning an e-commerce site? You need what is called an ssl certificate that allows your information to be encrypted when passing payment information such as credit card numbers. HomePageOnline makes this process simple all via your control panel. Check out our site-builder, you can create your informational website in 30 minutes without html or programming knowledge.
7.	Contract with the Web Hosting Company
	Start your hosting service, set up your email, learn about ftp, etc...
8.	Publish your site to the web
	Upload your newly designed site to your server. It is a good idea to publish to a different folder such as /test so that you can view your site online and correct any mistakes you might have missed. Ask people you trust to look up your new site and have them look for errors, positive critique is always good. Once the final review is ready, go public and publish your new site!
9.	Learn about e-Marketing and Search Engine positioning
	An excellent source is by downloading and using WebPosition Gold. Don't want to take the time, have us do it for you. Click here
10.	You are now in e-business!!
	Congratulations!! You are now an e-entrepreneur! Print your domain on EVERYTHING you can!!