Guide to Getting Started on the Web

This information was Last Updated: 23/3/2001 by Bryan Jackson (TrafficGeneration.com)

With the exponential growth of the Internet, there has never been a better time to get your business onto the web. With a wealth of free tools and information to help in this process, you can now create your own web presence for a few hundred pounds and a few hours work. With all the lessons we've learned from creating and running Contractor UK for the past year or so, we thought we'd create our own guide to getting started on the web for other small business owners.

Many small businesses that are threatened by IR35 could well benefit from a web presence, since this is a clear indication that you are operating a 'legitimate' business. The Internet is the perfect medium to create new business contacts and diversify your existing interests. You may also want to create a site for non-business purposes, or just to learn some new skills.

Despite all the jargon and hype which surrounds Internet and E-Commerce, the process of setting up a web site is surprisingly simple – you can make it as hard as you want, depending on the complexities of your site design. Most IT contractors will find Internet programming skills easy to pick up – even if you don't, there are mountains of guides, tutorials and links to help out along the way.


Step 1: Webspace 

You will need to set up some webspace – either with a free provider such as Freeserve, or pay for a professional hosting. With free providers, you are unlikely to have many extra facilities, such as the ability to run Perl scripts (CGI), or ASP for example – but for all other purposes, this should be fine.

Many free providers have good bandwidth and are perfectly reliable (Contractor UK ran on Freeserve for over a year), so your site should be fast. Most free providers will give you 10MB of space, which is more than enough for the majority of businesses (enough for 1000 average sized pages).

For the professional hosting options, make sure you shop around. You can pay anything from £50 per year to thousands, depending on what you're looking for. Contractor UK runs on DellHost. We also use Atlantic Hosting for our other sites (a better value option).


Step 2: Domain Names

You should also purchase a domain name for your business – either your business name, or something catchy. Make sure you buy the .com, .net and .co.uk versions of your name. If you make it big one day, you'll regret not paying the few pounds to secure your name (The BBC does not own two versions of its own name, for example).

Don't be conned into paying £125 for a domain name – you should pay no more than £12 for a .co.uk (2 years) and £40 for other extensions. Don't go for the £1.99 domain name offers either – these services are offering domains as loss leaders, and it can take months to transfer the domain name to a different host!

Domain Names also need to be hosted and pointed to your webspace. Again, this should cost £25 or so. You'll also want to set up one or more email addresses which will tend to be on your hosting server, or pointing to your existing email account.

We can recommend Easily and JustDomains who both good value .com and .co.uk domain names and reliable service. We have also joined up with Livetodot who provide .it names for £30 per annum (including VAT).


Step 3: Creating Your Site

Once you've set up your webspace and secured your domain names, now the fun starts. You can make your site as complex as you want – you may want to start with a basic brochure page for your business, or go for a complex e-commerce solution.

HTML forms the backbone for most web sites. You can design an entire site with just a basic knowledge, before moving on to JavaScript (for more interactivity) and venturing into the world of Perl, ASP and so on. You'll need an HTML editor - MS Frontpage is an OK bet if you're new to coding (but will create lines of annoying additional code), otherwise the best free raw editor out there has to be Arachnophilia. A few graphics are always a good idea - but unless you're selling music online, sound effects are the surest way to get rid of visitors!

It is best to keep the site simple and uncluttered. All the web's leading sites (such as Yahoo! and the IMDB) work on these principles. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and that all hyperlinks work. You're best to keep page download speeds to under 15 seconds, or visitors will simply look elsewhere - another reason to keep graphics small and relevant. Here are some useful sites:

Step 4: Uploading Your Pages

You'll need an FTP application to send files to your from your desktop to your webspace. Common programmes include Terrapin FTP and Cute FTP. Some software will not work with certain ISP's, but on the whole, most ISP's are fine.


Step 5: Promote your Site

Once your site is up and running, you should submit your pages to the major Internet search engines, such as Yahoo!, AltaVista and Excite. This is the key to getting visitors to your website. You could also try asking other sites to link to yours. For more information on traffic building, visit our sister site, TrafficGeneration.com

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