Putting your small business on the Web Maria Langer

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book is written for those with existing businesses and explains how to create a professional business presence on the Web and how to reach the right markets for your products and services.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction: Start Here (p. XIII)
• Putting Your Small Business on the Web (p. xiv)
• About this Book (p. xiv)
• Organization (p. xiv)
• Conventions (p. xvi)
• Food for Thought (p. xvi)
• Companion Web Site (p. xvii)
• Pronouns Shouldn't Come in Pairs (p. xvii)
• About the Author (p. xviii)
• Who Am I? (p. xviii)
• Why I Wrote This Book (p. xix)
• How You Can Contact Me (p. xix)
• Part I Overview (p. 1)
• 1 Internet Basics (p. 3)
• Internet 101 (p. 4)
• What is the Internet? (p. 4)
• A Brief History of the Internet (p. 5)
• Internet Features (p. 6)
• Internet vs. Intranet (p. 7)
• The World Wide Web (p. 8)
• A [Very] Brief History of the World Wide Web (p. 8)
• How the Web Works (p. 9)
• Web Usage (p. 13)
• Who Uses the Web (p. 14)
• How Much Time Users Spend Online (p. 15)
• How Users Surf (p. 16)
• Some E-commerce Stats (p. 17)
• Food for Thought (p. 18)
• 2 What the Web Can--and Can't--Do for You (p. 21)
• What the Web Can Do (p. 22)
• Provide Information 24/7 (p. 22)
• Reduce Marketing Costs (p. 24)
• Reduce Support Costs (p. 28)
• Give Your Organization a More Modern Image (p. 32)
• Make Your Company Look Impressive or Important (p. 33)
• What the Web Can't Do (p. 34)
• Replace All Other Marketing Tools (p. 35)
• Make Money (with Some Exceptions) (p. 37)
• Food for Thought (p. 40)
• 3 What It Costs (p. 41)
• Site Design and Construction (p. 42)
• Do It Yourself (p. 42)
• Use an In-House Person (p. 44)
• Use a Consultant (p. 45)
• Site Setup and Hosting (p. 45)
• What's In a Name? (p. 47)
• Server Setup (p. 50)
• Other Setup Fees (p. 50)
• Web Hosting (p. 51)
• Site Maintenance (p. 51)
• Additional Fees and Hidden Costs (p. 52)
• Food for Thought (p. 52)
• 4 Web Hosting Options (p. 55)
• ISP Web Hosting (p. 56)
• Two Methodologies (p. 56)
• What It Costs (p. 58)
• Pros and Cons (p. 58)
• Server Co-Location (p. 60)
• How It Works (p. 61)
• What It Costs (p. 61)
• Pros and Cons (p. 62)
• On-Premises Server (p. 63)
• How It Works (p. 63)
• What You Need (p. 63)
• What It Costs (p. 68)
• Pros and Cons (p. 69)
• Food for Thought (p. 70)
• Part II Building Your Site (p. 71)
• 5 Site Content (p. 73)
• The Bare Minimum (p. 74)
• Business Name (p. 74)
• Business Description (p. 75)
• Contact Information (p. 75)
• Hours of Operation (p. 77)
• Meeting Your Objectives (p. 77)
• Product or Service Details (p. 78)
• Pricing Information (p. 78)
• Support Information (p. 78)
• The Four "A"s (p. 79)
• Staff Information (p. 80)
• Other Resources (p. 80)
• Site Revision Date (p. 81)
• Content Responsibility (p. 81)
• Keep Information Current (p. 82)
• Keep Information Accurate (p. 82)
• Respect Copyrights (p. 84)
• Food for Thought (p. 85)
• 6 Interface Elements and Features (p. 87)
• Basic Elements (p. 88)
• Formatted Text (p. 88)
• Hyperlinks (p. 88)
• Graphics, Images, and Multimedia Elements (p. 90)
• Form-Based Elements and Features (p. 93)
• E-Mail Forms (p. 93)
• Database Interactivity (p. 93)
• Search Capabilities (p. 95)
• Guest Book (p. 95)
• Other Features (p. 99)
• Hit Counters (p. 99)
• Online Chat (p. 100)
• But Wait... There's More! (p. 101)
• Food for Thought (p. 101)
• 7 Site and Page Design (p. 103)
• Developing the Right Look (p. 104)
• First Impressions Count (p. 104)
• Build a Company Image (p. 106)
• Using Graphic and Multimedia Elements Wisely (p. 106)
• The Importance of Consistency (p. 111)
• Effective Navigation (p. 111)
• Consider Usability (p. 112)
• The Three Click Rule (p. 112)
• Just Say No to Splash Screens (p. 113)
• Navigation Bars (p. 114)
• Breadcrumbs (p. 116)
• Food for Thought (p. 117)
• 8 Saving Money by Doing It Yourself (p. 119)
• Building Web Pages: An Overview (p. 120)
• A Closer Look at HTML (p. 120)
• Building Locally, Uploading Remotely (p. 122)
• Organizing Files (p. 122)
• File Naming Conventions (p. 124)
• Creating Pages (p. 125)
• Adding Resources and Links (p. 126)
• Testing Pages (p. 126)
• Web Authoring Tools and Techniques (p. 127)
• The Hard Way: Editing Raw HTML (p. 127)
• The Easy Way: Web Authoring Software (p. 130)
• Macromedia Dreamweaver (p. 134)
• Tips for Doing It Right (p. 137)
• Words of Wisdom from Someone Who's Been There (p. 137)
• Don't Forget To... (p. 138)
• Food for Thought (p. 140)
• 9 Working with a Web Designer (p. 141)
• Finding a Web Designer (p. 142)
• Where to Look (p. 142)
• What to Ask (p. 145)
• Hire Him! (p. 151)
• Staying In Control (p. 151)
• Communicating Your Needs and Preferences (p. 152)
• Dealing with Ownership Issues (p. 153)
• Reviewing Work in Progress (p. 156)
• If You Lose Control (p. 156)
• Food for Thought (p. 157)
• Part III Going Online (p. 159)
• 10 Uploading Your Site (p. 161)
• All about FTP (p. 162)
• What Is FTP? (p. 162)
• How FTP Works (p. 162)
• Security (p. 162)
• FTP Software (p. 163)
• Uploading and Updating Your Site (p. 167)
• Local and Remote Folders, Revisited (p. 167)
• How To Do It (p. 167)
• The First Time (p. 168)
• Updating Your Pages (p. 169)
• Food for Thought (p. 169)
• 11 Directing Visitors to Your Site (p. 171)
• Promoting Your Site (p. 172)
• Letterhead and Envelopes (p. 172)
• Business Cards (p. 172)
• Forms (p. 172)
• Brochures and Catalogs (p. 173)
• Print Ads (p. 173)
• E-Mail Signatures (p. 174)
• Getting Found (p. 174)
• Search Engine Basics (p. 174)
• Using Meta Tags (p. 180)
• Adding Your Site to Search Engine Databases (p. 183)
• Adding Your Site to Directories and Other Sites (p. 186)
• Food for Thought (p. 187)
• 12 Maintaining Your Site (p. 189)
• Updating Site Content and Features (p. 190)
• Keeping Content Fresh (p. 190)
• Adding New Content (p. 190)
• Adding New Features (p. 191)
• Test, Test, Test! (p. 191)
• Monitoring Usage (p. 192)
• Log Analysis Software (p. 192)
• What to Look At (p. 195)
• Food for Thought (p. 201)
• Appendixes (p. 203)
• A Bibliography (p. 205)
• B Web Sites and Pages (p. 207)
• Index (p. 213)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Maria Langer has written more than a dozen computer books, including two Macintosh Bible Guide books (Word 6 and Excel 5) and many Visual QuickStart Guides (PageMill, America Online, MacOS, Word, and Excel). She's also the author of the Quicken "Official Guide " books for Osborne/McGraw Hill and the author of FileMaker Pro Companion (Claris Press). She was an editor for The Macintosh Bible, Sixth Edition , and writes a monthly column for Computer User magazine. She also serves as a consultant, Webmaster, applications trainer, and regular speaker at major computer conventions.