 | Scott Petre
is the Vice-President and General Manager of Cox Business Services-Kansas (CBS-KS). He has been in the cable telecommunications for 22 years. In the early 90's, Scott managed the cable system upgrades which introduced fiber optics to the network, readying it for expanded channel capacity and high speed Internet services. Following that, he had the responsibility of launching Road Runner, which is Cox's high-speed Internet provider. CBS is an affiliate of Cox Communications, Inc., and is one of the largest providers of broadband service in the nation. Cox Business Services products include high-speed Internet solutions for businesses, data and video point-to-point transport systems, Virtual Private Networks, Web Hosting, E-commerce and business e-mail. Unlike other telecommunication providers who lease facilities from a telephone co., Cox owns and uses its own facilities, which allows Cox to serve its customers more effectively. CBS serves customers across Kansas, including Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Topeka, Manhattan, Pittsburg, Coffeyville, Junction City, Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend and others. You can reach Scott at (316) 262-4270 or any of the sales or customer service reps at 316-858-4227 or 800-620-6196. |
Communications
2002-04-01 12:14:00
Building a web site
Question: We need a website for our business. How do we get started and what are the costs?
Answer: The process isn't as difficult as you might think, assuming of course that you don't anticipate millions of hits per day, at least initially. The first step is to understand the concept of "web site hosting". Web hosting is the business of housing, serving and maintaining files for one or more web sites. You can choose to either buy your own servers or contract with a web hosting provider, who will provide all of the server equipment and high speed Internet connection. If you were to host your own site, it would be fairly expensive. So, using a hosting service lets many companies share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files. Shared web hosting is also called virtual web hosting because the services are basically transparent to the visitor. The fact of the matter is, your website does not need to be tied to a specific geographic location for people to find it. It is, in fact, simply a "presence" on the web, located somewhere in cyberspace.Next, you'll need to select and register a unique domain name for your business, which will be your web site address. There are a number of web sites you can visit to determine whether or not "yourbusinessname.com" is available, such as http://www.networksolutions.com/ or http://www.register.com/. Once you've decided on your name, you'll need to officially reserve it with a check for about $70, which is good for two years. Then, unless you're a fairly creative person, you'll probably want to contract a web designer to design a site that will showcase your product or service. Although there are many web designers listed in the Yellow Pages, it would be advisable to obtain a referral from a colleague. Should you want to give it a try yourself, there are several basic software packages available. One of the most well-known ones is FrontPage, by Microsoft. Since your first web presence will probably consist of only a few pages, you should expect to pay between $400 and $1,000 for a web design contractor to provide this creative service. Once this work is complete, you'll need to find someone to host your web site as described earlier. While the computer space that is provided for web site files is important, having a service that has a fast connection to the Internet and a state-of-the-art network will ensure fast web page delivery and ultimately happier visitors. You also want to make sure your web hosting service has adequate security measures in place to safeguard against unauthorized access to your data and communications, as well as 24x7 customer support. Basic web hosting plans are fairly inexpensive, starting at about $25 per month plus a small installation fee.
