Visit our partners and sponsors:

SWeCS NEWSLETTER - 23 January 2006

In this issue...

- When You Can't Afford Website Hosting
- This Fortnight's Question
- Low Cost Photography Service
- Resources For Small Business

WHEN YOU CAN'T AFFORD WEBSITE HOSTING

When you have a website, it needs to be hosted on the Internet somewhere. This simply means that your website files are saved onto a computer somewhere in the world that is permanently connected to the Internet, so that anyone can see it at any time.

Most hosting plans average around $20 to $30 a month, depending on what you need (many plans are much more expensive if you need databases etc).

If this cost is too high for you, there is another option that will still let you have your own domain name, but avoid monthly hosting fees.

Before we explain how, we must say that we do actually recommend you get a hosting service if you can. This is because you get so much more control over other things such as email addresses, website statistics, and other services.

However, if you're happy to skimp on those features, you can always arrange to have your domain name forward to a free hosting account (either invisibly or visibly).

Almost all ISPs provide you with a free hosting account with your Internet connection. If yours doesn't, then you're definitely in the minority, and you should switch ISPs. You should be getting (for example) a free 50MB hosting space, which is more than enough for a website.

Once you have placed a copy of your website on the free server, arrange to have your domain name (eg. www.yourdomain.com.au) forward to your free hosting account. There are two ways you can do this. First, most domain registrars will forward your domain to any host for free (if they don't, perhaps you should consider transferring your domain to our domains registry for free at http://domains.southwestecommerce.net). When this happens, whenever someone visits your website at www.yourdomain.com.au, it automatically forwards to your free site (for example, www.westnet.com.au/yourfreesite).

The second way is that you can also pay a small fee per year to have your domain forward to your free hosting service, but to also mask the URL. That way, when someone visits www.yourdomain.com.au it shows the website at www.westnet.com.au/yourfreesite, but in the browser it still shows www.yourdomain.com.au, so people still see your domain name in the address bar and do not get confused by the URL change. We can provide this "premium" URL forwarding for only $29.99 per year. So for that cost you can avoid hosting fees but still have a website that looks like it's hosted.

As we said earlier, we still believe that a proper hosting account is usually the way to go if you can afford it, but if you can't (or don't want to) pay for hosting, then domain forwarding to a free account is another option.

THIS FORTNIGHT'S QUESTION

This fortnight's question comes Jason:

"Do you have a portfolio of websites that you have completed, that we can have a look at? "

Sure do. If you visit www.southwestecommerce.com/webarchive.htm, you will see a list of websites that we have completed over the last year or so.

Also, if you visit www.southwestecommerce.com/webdev.htm, there is short form you can fill in which gives us all the information we need to be able to give you a free quote.

Got a question? Send it to us at admin@southwestecommerce.com and we'll do our best to answer it, as well as publish one every fortnight for everyone to see.

CHEAP PHOTOGRAPHY SERVICE

South West eCommerce is available to take digital photos of your property, shop items, whatever.

Photography isn't our core business, but we do believe we have the necessary equipment and expertise to take quality photos for use on the Internet, offline promotions, or any other use.

Please email us for a quote.

RESOURCES FOR SMALL BUSINESS

Ecommerce Library

Browse through the SWeCS Ecommerce Library, full of FREE information about getting more out of the Internet. Sections include Web Site Development, Web Site Promotion & Internet Marketing, Online Commerce, Computer & Technical Issues, and Miscellaneous.

Newsletter Archives

The SWeCS Newsletter archives provides a wealth of FREE information on small business and the Internet. Browse through the main topics or search for your particular query.

SWeCS Affiliate Program

Start up another income stream, by earning commissions for each referral who signs up for one of our services.

Affiliate Directory

Browse through a list of reviewed Affiliate programs. Let us do the work of testing it out for you!

Do you know of a resource that should be added here? Email us and let us know. There is only one condition - it must be free.

OTHER EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

Here's some other email newsletters you might like:

www.southwestlife.com.au

www.dunsboroughbayvillageresort.com/news/newsindex.htm

www.west-oz.com/newsletter/newsletter.asp

http://derekstockley.com/newsletters/news-index.html