Tips on establishing your online presence<\/p>\n
By Vishnu K. Mahmud<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Neither the NASDAQ crash nor the death of the
\nvarious dotcoms have decreased the market enthusiasm for web
\nhosting and design.<\/p>\n
More personal homepages are set up as new users get \"wired\",
\nmeaning more people are using the Internet and more consumers are
\nbrowsing the World Wide Web for information, which is excellent
\nfor the internet communication strategies of corporations.<\/p>\n
Those that are online, that is.<\/p>\n
It is a well-known fact that the net is the most efficient
\nmedium for publishing and sharing data.<\/p>\n
Customers looking for information about products and services
\nonly have to go to web portals and search engines to get the
\nlatest information from personal and corporate websites before
\nmaking a decision.<\/p>\n
Companies who are currently online have a business advantage
\nsince their information is available like a print or video ad, 24
\nhours a day, seven days a week.<\/p>\n
But what kind of a website do you need? A simple, static
\nhomepage that has a listing of all your products and services or
\na flashy website with streaming video and dynamic (constantly
\nchanging) content?<\/p>\n
It all depends on what your business needs are.<\/p>\n
Every time someone asks me what kind of computer should they
\nget, a Pentium 4-based computer or the latest AMD processor, I
\nalways ask them, \"What do you intend to do with that computer?\"<\/p>\n
If their answer were \"just for surfing the net and word
\nprocessing\", I would tell them to get a Pentium 3 or older
\nprocessor. You don't need the most powerful computer on the
\nplanet to go online or type reports.<\/p>\n
If you play high-end games, edit video, make music or develop
\nsoftware, then you should get the maximum machinery your budget
\nallows.<\/p>\n
But for your business online presence, what do you need?<\/p>\n
There are two types of websites, development-wise. One is the
\nstatic, or fixed, website whose content is always the same. If
\nchanges or additional WebPages are deemed necessary, they would
\nneed to be altered or created using HTML (hyper text mark-up
\nlanguage).<\/p>\n
A good example of static websites would be personal homepages
\nthat are almost never updated such as
\nhttp:\/\/members.nbci.com\/smffhq\/, a Sailor Moon Fan site.<\/p>\n
However, a plumber in England can also use a static website
\nsince his services and fees are almost constant (see:
\nhttp:\/\/www.bath-doctor.co.uk).<\/p>\n
The other type is the dynamic, or constantly changing website.<\/p>\n
The WebPages of this Internet site are created \"on-the-fly\",
\nbased on the latest data available. These websites use
\nspecialized server programs and database applications to
\ncontinuously update themselves.<\/p>\n
Site administrators use dedicated back-end programs linked to
\nthe web database to enter new content. Astaga, Detik and CNN
\nwould be prime examples of a dynamic website, as the news changes
\nconstantly on these sites.<\/p>\n
Of the two types, the static website is the easiest to create.<\/p>\n
Using simple software programs (such as FrontPage or
\nDreamweaver), one can easily fashion one's WebPages and Internet
\nsite with the help of wizards and tutorials.<\/p>\n
There are many specialized firms in Indonesia who can create
\nyour database-back website using applications ranging from the
\npowerful (but ultra-expensive) Vignette Storyserver (used by CNN)
\nto Cold Fusion (used by Autobytel, an e-commerce website) to the
\nfree PHP\/MySQL-based software (used by countless others).<\/p>\n
These e-solution firms can assist you in narrowing down your
\ne-commerce or e-communicating needs as well as guide you to the
\nappropriate software and hardware packages.<\/p>\n
Apart from price, you must also consider time, speed, the
\nlevel of difficulty of the project, and the possibility of future
\nupgrades before choosing an e-solutions firm.<\/p>\n
You must also consider hosting services where your internet
\nsite will be connected on to the Internet. Again, there are many
\noptions.<\/p>\n
You could try a complimentary provider such as yahoo!com but
\nthese sites are only free for personal homepages. You can rent
\n\"web space\" to put up your internet site from Web Hosting
\nProviders like Atomic Cow (www.atomiccow.com) and pay by the
\nmonth or year.<\/p>\n
Co-location is the most expensive but best way of putting your
\nsite on the Internet.<\/p>\n
Using your own (or leased) hardware, you basically have your
\nown super connection to the Internet for outside users to access
\nyour site. Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Data Centers
\nin Jakarta can offer industrial grade Internet bandwidth so your
\nusers can quickly access your site be it from Bandung to Bosnia.<\/p>\n
Most web portals like Astaga and Satunet are located in Data
\nCenters to handle the onslaught of users at different times.<\/p>\n
So, what do you need? A simple static homepage placed at a
\nfree server such as geocities.com or an industrial strength e-
\ncommerce portal that has up-to-the-minute late breaking news?<\/p>\n
Either way, you should always decide what would be the best
\n(and most efficient) method of communicating your ideas to your
\nusers and prospective clients.<\/p>\n
Bigger is not always better as the now defunct e-toys, boo.com
\nand buy.com have found out.<\/p>\n
The writer is an IT consultant based in Jakarta. Questions?
\nContact Vishnu at vmahmud@id.mweb.com.<\/p>",
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