First Things First

Brainstorm With Co-Workers and Clients

A lot of time, energy and dollars can be easily wasted if your staff and clients are not receptive to the idea of your business becoming another address on the Information Highway. If you are not being pressured by the presence of your competition to get online, take the time to survey your coworkers and your clients. Find out how many are online now or are planning to be soon. If they are online find out what type of access they have (direct dial or through a proprietary online services provider) and the highest modem speed at which they can access the World Wide Web. People who are online and especially those who have been online for any length of time are excited about the commercialization of the Internet and are eager to share the address they call "home" on the World Wide Web.

One of the most important brainstorming exercises to complete is selecting a couple choices for your Web site domain name (i.e., http://www.yourcompany.com) and your online address for mail (i.e., yourname@yourcompany.com). You will need this information at the time you decide to establish an online presence.

To help stimulate your brainstorming and get a fairly current picture of domain name availability, visit http://www.websearch.com and conduct searches on keywords with which your web project or company is most often identified. Be prepared to wait a while for the results to appear as the service at websearch.com scours multiple databases containing domain registrations from the entire world.

If you find that your domain name choice has already been taken or that you are fresh out of ideas, we recommend that you read The Domain Name Handbook — High Stakes and Strategies in Cyberspace. If you are online when you are reading this and don't have the book yet, you can order it from Amazon.com without leaving your chair. Packed with over 600 pages of meaty facts, it also comes with a valuable CD-ROM to add to your Internet collection.

Research Your Competition

In the early days, you didn't have to be concerned much about competition on the web, but now the web is populated by all types of businesses. The numbers are growing dramatically every day. You need to know if your competition has a Web site, whether it is an active publication and what they are publishing on their site.

Define Your Mission

To leave your mark on every visitor to your home page, it is extremely critical that they are clear on who you are and why you are online with them. Your online mission should convey a "what’s in it for you, the visitor" message as well as confirm your identity.

Establish Realistic Goals

More often than not, businesses decide to publish their first web because "everyone else is doing it" but the fact is those who launch webs without setting goals typically fall by the way. For you to maintain an effective web presence, your entire company must embrace Internet technology. Define specific tactics to support your mission, discuss them with your people and assign responsibility for their implementation. Also be aware that the national average per page price for professional assistance in publishing your Web site is over $100. If you don't have between $1,500 and $2,000 set aside for production work on the first generation of your site, you will need to determine whether you can accomplish the task satisfactorily in-house. The more sophisticated your site becomes, the higher production costs will be.

Learn to Communicate Online

To this day, electronic mail (e-mail) is still the number one method of communicating online. At a minimum all sales personnel and management should have an Internet access account with e-mail privileges. They should know how to use e-mail software as well as how to communicate online. Most importantly, they must exercise a concerted effort to use this communication medium.

Assess and Train Your People

As quickly and often as possible, assess your people for Internet skills and train them on the subjects pertinent to your business. At a minimum, everyone should know how to:

• Select an Internet access provider
• Make an Internet connection
• Conduct effective e-mail communications
• Participate in online discussion groups
• Use the AOL chat client (AIM)
• Translate online jargon
• Browse the World Wide Web for business purposes
• Exchange files with clients and coworkers across the Internet
• Safeguard your information
• Stay out of trouble

Educate Yourself

Whether you are a one-person business or the CEO of a large corporation, you would be wise to invest in some Internet skills training. Worthwhile training does not have to be expensive. If you are fortunate enough to have a CompUSA Training Center in your area, you will find they offer all-day hands-on courses in the $200 or less range. Once you know enough to get your web browser open and enter a web (URL) address, you can also get the education you need through a variety of reliable resources directly through their Web sites while you are online. Web-based training is one of the fastest growing online activities. We try to keep a current list of resources on our corporate Web site at http://www.westward.com/training.htm.

Corporate Web Address: www.westward.com | E-Mail
Phone: 800-260-3094 (USA) |505.292.3094 (New Mexico)
Westward Connections | A Majority Woman-Owned New Mexico Corporation