Okay, so why would anyone want to create a homepage? It's simple really. The internet is all about communication. A homepage is a method whereby you can communicate about yourself, your family, hobbies, pets, likes, dislikes, religion or anything else that you desire. Oh, there are limits to what you can put on your web site - you must stay within contractual terms of company which is hosting it. You also should not violate any laws - but besides that, post away.

You say you have nothing to communicate that anyone would want to know? Hmmm. You're alive, aren't you? You have a family, a job, a pet, a hobby, anything? Let's see what kind of topics you can choose.

- Make a fan site for your favorite television show (Star Trek, Wonder Woman, Dallas, whatever)

- Create a personal diary.

- Post a photo album.

- Put up pictures of all of trash cans in Disneyland (someone already did it).

- Write about and include drawings and photos of your cat, dog, fish, armadillo or snake.

- Tell everyone about your job.

- People are always interested in religion - talk about yours.

- You like your car? Create a web site all about that.

- What about your travels around world? A diary and/or photos is a good thing to put on a homepage.

- Did some school papers of which you are proud? Post them.

- If you are an artist or photographer, display your work.

- Figure something out? Tell us all about it.

- Had an out-of-body experience, been kidnapped by aliens or remember your past lives? Well, we'd all like to know.

That's just a sample, there are an infinite number of subjects that you can write about.

All right, so now you want to create a home page. How do you go about it? Find a company (a provider) to host it, choose a web editing package (optional), and get to work. If you want to include photos or other graphics you will need to get a graphics editor and possibly a scanner. Don't worry, just start small and work your way through it. The providers usually make it pretty easy to get started.

In first two articles on streaming media, I discussed audio, maturest streaming technology, and streaming pictures, which marries photos and graphics with an audio presentation. (If you missed these two installments, please go to http://www.wbcimaging.com/articles/audio_article.htm). I'd now like to tell you about streaming video, hottest and most exciting media development on web today!

Just as television progressed from black and white, sometimes snowy, broadcasts of 1940's and 50's to elaborate home theatre systems of today, streaming video is making transition from tiny, blurry pictures to 1/4 screen color presentations with near CD quality sound. And with surprisingly good quality over 28.8 connections that most web visitors experience today! I credit this breakthrough to RealNetworks, creators of RealVideo, which is currently most popular streaming video format in use. (Others about which you might have heard or read are Vivo and Microsoft NetShow.) At end of first quarter of 1999, RealNetworks reported that over 45 million of their FREE players had been downloaded; this number is growing by 15,000 per day!

An online streaming video presentation is another marketing tool that is now affordable and extremely effective. Streaming video adds far more than just a personal touch to your web site; it actually sets you miles apart from your competition. As with streaming audio or pictures, a video presentation guarantees that at least 86% of your visitors will stay to listen or to watch. Statistics have shown that over 90% of white collar workers have a PC on their desks, but only 9% have access to television in workplace. That means that you can reach more white-collar office workers during normal office hours than all of network and cable stations combined.

Streaming video enables you to combine best attributes of web-based media with compelling nature of broadcast media. On-line advertisers are realizing significantly higher click-through rates with adoption of streaming media technology. Recent studies have found that streaming media advertising substantially increases brand recall, brand awareness, and positive brand perception. This really gives you opportunity to deliver a powerful message about your products or services - much like having your own, personal "infomercial. " Unlike a television infomercial, however, yours is available for one fixed price and it runs 365/24/7... thanks to Internet.