E-Branding Part III: Setting Up Your Web Site

Learn what it takes to build a world-class presence on the Internet.
Aug 13, 2007

By Josh Ellsworth

Establishing an online presence for your company is a no-brainer. After all, the cost is relatively minimal, and the benefits are many, ranging from the potential for round-the-clock orders to the ability to tap into new market niches. But how do you actually go about setting up the site? Thankfully, it’s easier and less costly than you might think.

Registration, Please
First, you’ll need to register your online business, just as you would a bricks-and-mortar company, so that you can obtain an Employer Identification Number, or EIN — also called a tax ID number. For less than $100, you can register your business with the IRS over the phone or via the Internet at irs.gov. Although requirements vary across the country, you’ll probably need to register with your state.

It’s also a good idea to trademark your business name, if you haven’t already done so. Of course, you’ll need a business name first. When coming up with your company’s moniker, look for one that doesn’t lock you into a particular set of services. For instance, “Johnny’s Custom Hats” might not be a good choice, as customers might only look to you for that particular product, even if you offer a much broader array of goods and services.

At the same time, you want to have a focused name that allows you to reach your desired customer base. For instance, if you’re trying to tap into the teen and young adult market, it obviously wouldn’t be smart to name your company Baby Boomer Apparel. Ideally, the name should suggest to potential customers who you are and what you offer. It might not be a bad idea to create your logo at the same time, ensuring that your name and visual identity work well together. Again, if you’re pursuing a youth market, you’d want a logo that looks fresh and edgy, for instance.

Name in hand, you’re ready to file for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You could do it yourself, but you may want to hire an attorney to assist you with the process. After all, we’re talking about your company’s name — its identity—so it’s something you shouldn’t take lightly. The last thing you want to do is built a customer base and a strong presence on the Internet only to find that the name is unprotected and an unscrupulous person can take a free ride on your hard work by using the same business name.

Master of Your Domain
Your next step is to acquire a domain — the URL, or Web address, for your site. For instance, Amazon’s domain name is www.amazon.com. Generally, the name of your business and the domain name should be one and the same, making it far easier for customers to find your site. For instance, if your name is Baby Boomer Apparel, you’ll want the domain www.babyboomerapparel.com, not something like www.bba.com or www.bbapparel.com. In fact, this is such an important point that you may want to check for domain name availability when you’re choosing your business name.

A number of Web sites make it easy to find out which domain names are available and which ones have already been registered. GoDaddy is one of the most popular, trusted sites for this task, but you can find many others by simply typing “find a domain name” into a search engine such as Google.

If you find that your domain name is taken, you could go with an alternate extension, such as .net, .info or .biz. For instance, if www.babyboomerapparel.com is taken, you could see if www.babyboomerapparel.net is available. However, this isn’t the ideal choice, as most people are much more familiar with the .com extension, and if you tell them a URL ending in .biz, for example, they’re likely to forget and use the .com extension anyway.

That said, if you find that various extensions of your preferred domain name are available (.biz, .net, etc.), you may want to get as many as possible to prevent competitors from getting a similar URL. “It’s a good way to protect yourself against others,” says Mike Koval, Web developer for Imprintables Warehouse.

Registration for a .com domain name generally costs around $10 a year, with a two-year minimum registration, while other extensions, such as .tv, are more expensive. You can sign up for multiyear agreements at a discounted rate. Given the low price for domain registration, it’s not a bad idea to scoop up a handful of related names, and then direct all of those pages to a single site. For instance, you might want to register www.apparelforboomers.com, www.boomerapparel.com and www.boomertshirts.com, and direct them all to www.babyboomerapparel.com.

Finally, be sure to keep an eye on your renewal, as you don’t want to accidentally let the domain registration expire, thus allowing someone take ownership without you even knowing it. Some domain registration companies let you choose an option to automatically renew the site year after year.

Selecting a Host
A host is the place where you store all the files and pages for your Web site. In theory, you could set up your own host, or server, but this can be an expensive and complex option. If you’re a techie and have the money (as in thousands of dollars), go for it; otherwise, let a third-party do the hosting. This way, they worry about the technical issues, including monitoring the server, and you worry about selling T-shirts.

When choosing a host, find out how much space the company offers. Your site is likely to be quite large, given that it will probably host lots of images — which require lots of disk space. At a bare minimum, the host will need to provide you a gig of space, but 10 gigs or more is recommended.

Besides disk space, you’ll also want to find out what the company offers in terms of bandwidth, which is measured in megabits per second. A page usage of about 40,000 — which should give you plenty of headroom, especially when you’re first getting started online — translates to about 1 gig of bandwidth, or data transfer.

Find out if the company offers the ability to increase your site’s bandwidth as traffic increases. Likewise, can you purchase more disk space? And can you get a dedicated server for your site, meaning you’re not sharing a server with other companies? Further, find out what kind of programming languages and databases the company supports, as your site’s language must match the host’s language. Most hosts can handle most languages, but it’s still good to double check.

Since you’ll be doing e-commerce, find out if the company offers secure servers for Web transactions. A secure server is encrypted so that hackers can’t read what customers are typing, helping ensure the privacy and safety of their credit card information and other private data. Without a secure server, customers may not feel comfortable providing their credit card information, which means they may not do business with you online.

Choosing a good host is a critical step in establishing your online business. You need to know that your site will stay up and available — and if it should go down, the host will move quickly to get it back up. Also, a reputable host will provide fair terms and conditions, such as letting you retain ownership of your domain name.

To find a host, just type in “Web host” on a search site, or visit industry forums such as t-shirtforums.com or imprintablesforums.com and ask for referrals. Take your time and do plenty of research so that you’re certain to get your new business off on the right foot. Hosting plans cost as little as $4 a month and as much as several hundreds of dollars a month, depending on bandwidth. Expect to spend an average of around $20 a month when you’re getting started online — a small cost, given the potential profits that await you in cyberspace.

Josh Ellsworth has been in the garment decoration industry for eight years, working for the past six years as an account representative for Imprintables Warehouse, Masontown, Pa. Ellsworth manages his own blog called Heat Press Yourself.

Click here to view the entire series of "10 Steps to Launching Your e-Brand."

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