Why Should My Business Have a Website?

Funny you should ask :)

It is imperative that today's businesses, no matter the size, have an online presence. Think of a having your own website as inexpensive advertising that allows you the highest level of control. Your business can easily dictate what is displayed and how, through a multitude of media, including audio, video, or print. This information is extended into an interactive experience for your customers and gives them control over what they receive.

No one likes a pushy salesman. An online presence makes the customer feel as though they can take what they need, at their pace, while giving your business the opportunity to non-intrusively enter the home and to utilize world-wide marketing of your services and products.

Take a look at some of the uses for a business site:

• E-commerce
• Newsletters
• Product Announcements
• Online Business Cards
• Calendars & Events
• Directories
• Training
• Photo Galleries
• Outreach Services

Small businesses, particularly, benefit from having an online presence. They tend to struggle against established organizations and companies that compete with a greater availability of resources.

By now, you may be thinking, "But wouldn't I just be buried among millions of other websites and businesses like mine?" Possibly, but this is where you have a chance to make a statement that may otherwise be too costly to even try. You can think of it another way. A website also puts you on a level playing field with your competitors. The way you excel past them is in your products and services, marketing, and customer approach.

OK, so now the sales pitch:
If you're ready, simply choose the right hosting package for your needs.

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Having More Than One Host Is Worth It

In my news section at Guardpost Online, I linked to an article about Exodus Communications, Inc., a web hosting company that went bankrupt some time ago. There was a happy ending, in that most, if not all the customers continued to be supported by another company. Yet, it speaks to the dire need of redundancy.

Having been an IT professional for 11 years means that some of the most common words of advice from someone like me is that you should be able to stay online, all the time, by planning ahead. This is where having more than one host for your website is critical. Yes, this sounds like a sales pitch, coming from a host provider, but it is still good advice, nonetheless. Let's think about it a second. On average, you can pay anywhere from $4 (USD) to $500 per month on hosting. If you're paying anywhere over $20, you're likely a business and the funding of another host may not be as much of an issue. Even if you're an individual, the $4 per month, turn $8 per month (for two hosts), may be worth it to keep your site alive.

Don't end up like Exodus and consider what it will cost you, if customers or visitors cannot get to your site. In my experience, no network is 100% secure, or reliable.

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Work Hard, Be Patient

Simply put, I’ve been busy. Due to a rather dry summer and water restrictions, my lawn has become wrought with dead patches. So, I recently aerated my lawn and spread grass seeds all over. After a couple of weeks, I fully expected grass to start popping up. No such luck. I was getting rather disappointed, but I left for a trip for about week and came back to some actual growth. Nature has a way of reminding you that hard work and patience pays off.

This brings me to today’s topic of having a proper work ethic and giving not only those you work with some wiggle room, but also yourself. This is probably less of an IT-focussed area of discussion, but it is certainly applicable. I’ve always had a strong work ethic and I don’t settle for half-done. This can sometimes be a problem for me when I can’t or don’t finish something. I’m a perfectionist, which can make things take a while, but I also don’t like spending a lot of time on any particular project.

The reality is that to priorities change. Along with other factors, it’s virtually impossible to complete everything you want and need to do. My suggestion is to work very hard at what you do...you get paid for that. It also makes a statement about who you are. Without patience, however, things aren’t going to go well for you. Not everything works on your timeline. I plan well, I organize well, but I don’t have control over all the factors that impact my work.

Much like my lawn, the efforts I put into my work today, will pay dividends tomorrow. You will find that taking that notion into your own, especially if you manage people, this will also pay off. Stick to the plan, as best you can. Be patient with yourself and the people you work with. You, and they, will be more productive and find the fruits of your labor will flourish.

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There’s No Place Like Home

For what it’s worth, it can be difficult to work from home, especially if you have kids. I don’t do it often, and will only do it if I have to. Sometimes, in order for me to leave work early enough and to get that family time in, I do decide to finish up projects from home after work that I didn’t have time for in the day. That said, with today’s cost of gas on the rise and other factors (less manpower, more work, limited budgets, etc.), it is becoming more attractive to work from home.

This brings me to my main concern. How much are we willing to sacrifice to get to work? The minimum wage barely covers the price of gas, let alone rent and food. Another question is how much are we willing to sacrifice at home? You already sacrifice time with the family when you are at work, but then you give up time with the family if you are bringing work home.

Working from home can be extremely advantageous for both the employer and employee. It reduces the cost of doing business on many levels. Some businesses do this already and have even gone so far as to purchase equipment for the employee to use at home for both work and personal use. This is a can of worms that I, as an IT professional, would not want to open.

It’s harder to control who sees the content on the screen, to manage what the asset is used for, to ensure that it stays operational, etc. Thus, there needs to be an agreement setup between employer and employee that clearly delineates responsibilities on both ends.

Yet, for all the bad, there is much more good to be had here. The way the economy is going, and with the IT industry making huge strides in “cloud computing” this year and in the coming years, working from home is starting to make more sense. Let’s tip the scale a bit, shall we?

If I sacrifice time with the family, while I’m at home, I can at least say that I’m there and perhaps get to see them more often, even if only for a few minutes during a normal work day. I can also save money on gas, maintenance cost on my car, time getting to work and back, etc. I’ll be more productive, as long as I can establish rules in the house. I also need to ensure security of information owned by the company, such that prying eyes are kept at bay. For this, establish rules with your company and abide by them religiously.

Yes, there are huge drawbacks involved with working from home. Probably the most important drawback and likely the one most apt to make you stay on your commute, is the need for face-to-face customer interaction and team collaboration. Consider setting up a video conferencing terminal (a simple system with a camera and microphone on either end, with some type of conferencing service or software in place). It’s not the best approach from a personal standpoint, but you may find that as time goes on, you’ll be ahead of what is fast becoming the new trend, both for home and work use. This trend is collaboration through web-based multimedia.

I don’t want to belabor this any further, but what I’m asking everyone to consider is taking a leap of faith. Perhaps the ones with the hardest challenge here are not the users, but the IT professionals like myself. In the great words of Nike (you know, that shoe manufacturer that overcharges for their products, based on brand name), “JUST DO IT!”

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An Apple a Day...

What kind of news shall I talk about first? How about the iPhone and Apple’s hard lean into the ubiquitous communications market? I’m no MacHead, believe me. I’ve been using computers for almost 30 years, but I spent most of them using just about everything Microsoft.

OK, some people are hard-headed. I actually hate Microsoft and have for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong...they are certainly masterful at business. Yet, there has been such an attitude at Microsoft that permeates the market with great arrogance and lack of respect. Just about every time I bought a Windows-based product, I felt as if I just left the car dealer, wondering if I made the right decision.

Now that I have a Mac, I’m less concerned, as I can run most of my old and new apps, with relative ease. I use VMWare Fusion and/or Boot Camp to do what I need to. Granted the wonderful and ever-present activation loop that using a Microsoft operating system with Fusion and Boot Camp lays before each user is still a huge obstacle. I’m not even sure who to blame for such folly, VMWare or Microsoft.

All I know is that I’ve been in a very similar endless loop with Microsoft support, for the past few days. I finally stumbled on qualified help, so I thought I would share it. If you are going through this now or plan to have a Windows install on an Intel-based Mac, then please save yourself a lot of pain:

Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive for the Windows install (I recommend more than the default 20Gb, as this may not leave enough room for your other Windows apps).

1. Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive for the Windows install (I recommend more than the default 20Gb, as this may not leave enough room for your other Windows apps).
   
   
2. After the computer restarts, install Windows (I used XP Home Edition).
   
   NOTE: You need a full-install version (otherwise you cannot eject the disc for upgrade installs). There is a way to work around the upgrade using an external CD/DVD player attached and both discs on the same system at the same time, but I recommend against this.
   
   
3. Once installed, you won’t have internet access, etc., to activate. Insert the Apple Leopard disc and it should auto-install the proper drivers for pretty much everything you need.
   
   
4. At this point, PLEASE DON’T ACTIVATE! Restart the system, but after the initial boot sound, press and hold the option key, until you see the option to boot either into Mac or Windows OS. Choose Mac using the arrow keys and hit ‘Enter.’
   
   
5. Once the Mac OS has loaded, load Fusion and you’ll see the Boot Camp partition listed in the virtual machines list. Load it and STILL DO NOT ACTIVATE WINDOWS.
   
   
6. Once loaded, install the VMWare Tools by going into ‘Virtual Machine’ option on the menu at the top of your desktop and select ‘Install VMWare Tools.’
   
   
7. Upon completion, reboot the computer again, but this time let it boot into the Boot Camp partition. Activate Windows by phone and be honest, but understand that when it asks you how many computers you have Windows installed on, you state “one.”
   
   NOTE: This is legal, as I called Microsoft myself and found out that running one instance of the OS at a time on the same physical machine is OK (the software is just not smart enough to realized the virtual machine and the Boot Camp partition are the same). Keep in mind that if you do anything to alter the configuration of the virtual machine, Windows sees this as a different machine altogether and, thus, you’ll get the activation loop.
   
   
8. Once activated, reboot back into the Mac OS. Load Fusion and the windows VM and then activate one more time. You may also have to activate MS Office, if you installed it also. At this point, it is my understanding that you’ll be fine.
   
   NOTE: I have tested this and it works. If you run into activation problems for some odd reason, start again and ensure that you paid attention at each step. It worked for me.
   

OK, so like I said, I’m not a MacHead. I don’t think that Mac’s are the best product out there, but certainly for the few faults I’ve run into, I’m loving having one over my PC by leaps and bounds. Owning and using an Apple is like using your game console after troubleshooting your PC for the last few days. It just works. ‘Nuf said.

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