Information Analytics - How to Select a Web Presence Provider

You've decided that it's time for your business to go online with a web site. and you've decided that you want to go with a web presence provider instead of hosting your web site in-house. The next step is to locate a provider that offers the range of services you need.

This document describes the process of creating a web site as well as providing a list of questions you should ask a potential web presence provider.

The first thing you'll need to do is create a plan for your web site. Determine what you plan to offer online and what services will be required to make it successful. For example, if you want to accept online orders, you'll want to make sure you select a Web Presence Provider (WPP) that supports "secure server" and encryption. If you want to put your product catalog online And add an electronic "shopping cart", your provider must run the right type of web server and be able to offer database services.

If you want to set up multiple email accounts under your domain name, the WPP will need to provide POP (Post Office Protocol) accounts and a webmail interface, preferably with anti-spam filtering. The advantage of getting your own domain name is that you can have email accounts under that domain. This gives you portability in case you want to change providers. You won't be tied to an address at AOL or other Internet service provider. Before you print your business cards and letterhead, make sure you register your own domain name!

When registering a domain name, the first thing you'll need to do is determine if the name you want is available. most of the good domain names in the .com or commercial domain are already taken. You might find that a company in another state or country has the same name As your company and has already registered the name. Your WPP can check on the availability of a domain name, or you can access the domain name registry through http://www.enom.com/.

After you've decided on a name, you must register it with a domain registrar, such as Enom.com. In order for a customer to find your web site (or send you email) the name (www.companyname.com) must be resolved into a numeric address. The Domain Name Server takes care of this function.

If your web provider registers the domain name for you, they should always register it in your name. after all, it's yours and you should be in control of it. Domain registrars will only accept change requests from the administrative or technical contact who registered the domain.

Also they should set it up so you are billed directly, not your web provider. If your web provider were to go out of business, and you wanted to quickly relocate your web site to another provider's server, you would only be able to do this if the domain is registered in your name and if you are one of the contacts listed in the registrar's database.

Your web presence provider should also have an adequate connection to the Internet. most web sites receive A modest amount of traffic. If you're putting up a corporate site, you can expect "hits" or Accesses in the range of dozens to thousands per month. This level of traffic places a minimal load on a web server. most web servers based on Pentium processors can easily handle one million hits per day on a T1 (1.544 mbps) Internet connection.

If you expect your site to receive significant volumes of traffic, you should consider a provider that has one or more DS3 circuits (up to 45 megabits per second), or the ability and willingness to expand to meet your demand.

Most providers put a data transfer limit on each account or web site. For example, if their limit is 5 gigabytes per month, that means that the total number of bytes transferred between server and browser cannot exceed 5GB without incurring additional charges. Let's say your site has one web page (about 5KB) and two graphics on the page, each 20KB, for a total of 45KB. In order to exceed the monthly data transfer limit, that page would have to be viewed 113,770 times. many providers charge a nominal fee for additional blocks beyond their allotment, such as $40 per 10GB.

Some providers advertise low rates with "no data transfer limit". Like ISPs with flat rate pricing, they're counting on you not using the full allotment. What you need to do is look at what type of bandwidth they have and how many customers, to determine if they can really support the level of traffic you expect.

Questions to ask:

How fast is the web provider's connection to the Internet?

How heavily loaded is their connection?

How much do they charge for additional bandwidth?

Your web site will consist of pages and graphics--files stored on a web server. The web server should have adequate memory and disk space, and should be implemented on a high speed server. Most web servers run on either Windows or Linux-based computers. Most Windows servers use Pentium processors. Similarly, Unix machines can be based on Pentium, alpha and other processors.

It's relatively easy to serve static web pages and graphics on a web server--any type of processor will do the job adequately. If your web site requires additional services such as dynamically generated pages (ASP, PHP, JSP, Cold Fusion) fill-in forms, order forms, or databases, then you'll need to look more closely at the type of server and what its capabilities are.

It's important to determine what kinds of backup facilities and procedures the web provider uses. machines configured as "servers" often include higher-speed disk arrays and more memory than desktop PCs. High-end servers can be configured with RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) or mirrored drives to improve reliability. RAID disk arrays allow computers to continue running even if one of the disk drives in the array fails. Arrays can be rebuilt and restored without shutting down the computer or interrupting service for an extended period of time.

The web provider should also have a recovery plan, and the plan should include off-site storage of backups, plus a "hot spare" or redundant computer in case the primary web server fails.

Questions to ask:

What type of web server does the web provider operate?

How fast is the web server? How much memory?

Do they maintain multiple servers with backup capabilities?

Does the web server use RAID disk arrays?

As you plan your web site, you'll have to decide if it makes sense to design your own web pages or to hire a designer. Also, after the web site is operational, you might want to take over maintenance of your pages or continue to contract with a designer or the web provider to maintain and update them.

Most web providers offer FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to the web server. FTP allows you to log in with an account and password to upload or download files from your web site.

Other solutions, such as Content Management Systems are available that give you the ability to build and manage your website through a browser. Sometimes CMS is included and sometimes it's an add-on service, depending on the features provided.

Questions to ask:

What form of server access does the web provider allow?

Does the provider support a content management system or Microsoft Front Page?

Many web sites require some form of order processing--the ability to accept credit card numbers or other confidential information in a secure fashion. To implement a secure server there are three requirements:

The secure server software uses the SSL or TLS protocols to provide an encrypted session between the server and the browser. All information sent between the two for the duration of the connection is encrypted using a single-session key. Once the session is completed, the key is not used again. Your WPP will need to order a certificate for use with your domain name and install it on the web server. Prices for certificates start at about $49.

After the confidential information reaches the web server, it must be delivered to you, the merchant. There are several ways of accomplishing this. First, it can be faxed from the server to you. This method is relatively secure since it doesn't traverse the Internet as plain text.

The second method is to store it on the web server in a file or database where you can access it via another secure server session. This method protects the information from exposure on the Internet, but if it's stored on the server as plain text, it's vulnerable to attack (by hackers or even your web presence provider!).

The third method is to re-encrypt the information and deliver it immediately to you by email (or store it on the web server in encrypted form). This approach requires that you have special software to decrypt the messages. S/mImE or PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) can be used to encrypt and send secure email messages.

If you plan to implement a secure order form, make sure the web provider is fully aware of the security requirements involved, and has a plan to protect your data at every stage of its movement and storage. Computer hackers and criminals are more interested in finding an exposed web server with a file containing lots of credit card numbers than they are in capturing one credit card number that is traversing the Internet.

Also, check with your bank to make sure you can use your merchant account to process credit card orders received over the Internet. They might require that you switch to an Internet-enabled merchant account, and/or use a gateway such as Payfuse or Authorize.net.

Questions to ask:

Does the web provider offer secure server services?

How will confidential information be protected on the server?

How will the information be transmitted to you, the client?

If you're registering a domain name, you'll most likely want to receive email at the same address. For example, if you've registered companyname.com you might want to create] the following email accounts: info@companyname.com, sales@companyname.com, techsupport@companyname.com, jsmith@companyname.com and so on.

Generic accounts such as "info" or "sales" could be set up to be forwarded to "jsmith" while "techsupport" might be forwarded to several people in a department.

There are several ways to implement email accounts. You probably already have an email address through your Internet Service Provider (such as user@navix.net or jsmith@aol.com). You might want to continue using this account out of convenience, and have all the addresses at companyname.com be forwarded to it. This is often the most convenient way to manage email if only one person in your organization is retrieving the mail.

If you want to set up multiple accounts, most web providers offer additional POP (Post Office Protocol) email accounts. In the above example, "info" and "sales" could each be set up as POP accounts, or as aliases for the "jsmith" POP account. Separate POP accounts allows for private email boxes also.

A more sophisticated approach is available for large companies. If your company has an internal email system, or plans to install one, it's possible to set up a POP domain, where all mail destined for your company would be held on the web provider's computer. Your mail server would periodically dial up and Access the server, download all the messages and redistribute them to users within your company.

Your provider might also offer "list" services. A list server allows you to set up a mailing list that can be used to broadcast email messages. It can be used for discussion forums, product support or product Announcements. Lists can be open or closed, moderated or unmoderated. an open list is one where anyone can join just be sending a message to the list server. A closed list can only be joined if the manager of the list adds your name. an unmoderated list is one where anyone can send a message to the entire list; a moderated list requires that all messages go through the person moderating the list before being posted.

Other services include autoresponders (a message sent to an email address generates an automatic response from A stored text file), email-to-fax (a message sent to an email address is forwarded by fax).

Questions to ask:

Does the web provider offer email aliases and POP accounts?

Are lists supported? autoresponders? Email-to-fax?

Experienced web designers charge hundreds of dollars per hour (or per page). Designing web sites requires good graphic design and page layout skills. It requires a detailed knowledge of computer graphics, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and quite often programming languages such as Java and VB Script. Web page design is becoming more like programming every year, and often can require the skills of both a graphic artist and a programmer. You should choose a web designer with the same care you would choose someone to design a four color brochure or TV commercial for your company. Your image on the web is just as important as the image you present in other media.

If you decide to have your web site designed by a professional designer, you should ask for references and for a list of sample web sites. also, you'll want to browse the Internet to look at what your competitors (both local and national) are doing, and to find examples of web sites you like. This will give the web page designer a better idea of what you want. also, by exploring the web sites of your competitors, you can find out what makes their sites successful (or not so successful).

Professional web designers will create your web pages as "work-for-hire" meaning that you own the resulting pages and graphics. always ask up-front who will own the resulting work.

If your web presence provider also designs web pages, ask who the pages belong to. If the web provider owns the pages, you might not be able to move them to another server, should the need ever arise.

Questions to ask:

What experience does the web designer have?

What are the URLs of samples of their work?

Does the web designer have any programming experience?

Does the web designer have a computer graphics or art background?

Who owns the web pages they produce?

Will the pages display a copyright notice for your company?

As mentioned above, some web sites require specialized software development or database programming. You might want to put your product catalog online, or create an inventory control/order entry system. You might want to add some Java applets or customized fill-in forms to your site.

If you're going to do the programming in-house, you must first determine what server platform the web provider is using and whether you can develop applications for it. Many web providers will not host custom software such as CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or ISaPI (Internet Server application Programming Interface) because incorrectly written applications can crash a web server or open security holes that can be exploited by hackers. They might want to review all the source code to your program before allowing it to run on their server.

Many web providers offer a variety of software features that eliminate the need for the development of custom software -- saving you money. They might offer database, web conferencing, classified ad software, fill-in form processing, secure order form processing, autoresponders, ad banner management and so on. Other features include and SSI or Server Side Include. The more packages offered by the provider, the less work you have to do to build and maintain your web site.

Questions to ask:

What services and features are provided on the web server?

What level of security does the provider implement to protect the server?

Are database services available?

How are fill-in forms supported?

Are server-side includes, PHP or ASP supported?

After your web site is online, you'll want to announce it to the world. This is done by sending email to, or filling in request forms on sites such as Yahoo, Lycos, Web Crawler and literally hundreds of other directories and search engines. The process of registering a web site can take weeks to months because of backlogs at these popular web directories. The process doesn't end either; new directories and sites appear all the time. You'll want to continue to search the Internet for new places and opportunities to announce or list your site.

One way to generate more traffic is to buy pay-per-click ads on Google. Sites such as Google, and Yahoo offer banner ads at a cost per thousand comparable to other media and direct marketing. Banners ads can be targeted to specific keywords or directory categories to reach the desired target audience.

Web servers log all traffic to every page on the server. The information recorded includes the date and time, the page or graphic that was accessed, the size of the file, the IP address (numeric ID of the user's computer or Internet Service Provider) among other things.

Unfortunately it's not possible to determine the name or email address of each user. This is by design and for privacy reasons. However, it is possible to track users by their IP address or if they fill in a form (such as a guest book or request for more information). The problem with IP addresses is that they aren't always unique. If you access the web through a dial-up line, you'll be assigned a different address each time you log on. Some ISPs cache or store web pages. Those accesses won't even show up in the log file. also, some ISPs use just one IP address for all users on their network, making it look like one person accessed the same web page thousands of times.

In spite of these problems, it is possible to extract useful data from web server log files. For example, you can tell how many accesses ("hits" or "visits") to each page and file of your web site. You can also tell if the accesses came from America Online or other dial-up services, or if they came from the US or other countries. If the user has a unique corporate address (such as IBm.COM or PBS.ORG) you can get some idea of what businesses are interested in your products or services.

Your web provider should supply statistics reports on a regular basis. The reports should include a list of accesses per day, the number of times each web page or image was accessed and a list of domain names of users who accessed your site.

Questions to ask:

Does the web provider supply statistics reports?

What information is included on the report?

This document covers most of the major issues and questions that should be considered when establishing a web site. For More complex web sites, there are many additional issues that will have to be addressed. There are many good introductory books on the Internet and how to design web sites. Also there are hundreds of online resources, tutorials and help guides on the Internet. The best advice can often be obtained from other companies who have already created web sites-they can offer suggestions on what strategies have worked best for their business.