DON’T BE AFRAID

I also know that when I say these things, some people get spooked. People get spooked because although they might run an online business, they may not understand technology that keeps their business running.

Let’s face it.

More people are learning how to design and develop their own webpages. In fact, software has been created to help them do so rather easily.

But when it comes down to more complex technologies such as web logs, database technology, and web programming, most people just freeze up and fail to make an informed decision.

Some will turn to a programmer with hopes that a programmer could save their online business, and many will get burned by their personal programmers. When a programmer burns a webmaster, cost can be very high. And at end of day, programmer may leave webmaster with a broken web site.

The only real choices left to most webmasters is to learn how to install pre-made scripts on their own, or to keep their websites technologically simple. *Technologically simple* often fails to help webmaster find success that he or she so fervently desires.

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF PRE-MADE SCRIPTS

Web software is often very simple in its installation, so webmaster really should not fear it.

All one needs to install their own pre-made web scripts (software) is an online web site file manager or optional FTP software. They will also need ability to change *permissions* on files on their web server.

When downloading scripts for installation on your server, file may come in .zip, .tar, or .gz format. Each of these are variations on compressed / zipped file format. There are many utilities available for unzipping files. One such utility is WinZip which can be found at: http://www.winzip.com/

Most scripts, once downloaded and unzipped, may appear in text format with extensions such as .php, .cgi, .pl or .cfg.

Most of these files can be read as plain text in an application like NotePad. Occasionally, file will be in a binary format which cannot be read with a text editor.

The files which can be read in a text editor are often written in Perl or PHP programming languages.

While most of scripting will seem like Chinese to you, you will be able to pick out certain sections that can be read and understood easily.

If application also contains a .cfg file, this is your configuration file that can usually be changed to reflect your own personal needs or desires for operation of software.

THE BASIC ROI PERCENTAGE CALCULATION

Many experts seem to agree, “calculating an accurate return on investment (ROI) is not an easy thing to do.”

I do not intend to give you a thorough analysis of ROI calculation process. Calculating an accurate ROI is hard to do, but explaining full scope of ROI calculations in less than 1000 words is far more difficult.

As such, this article is only intended to introduce you to basic concepts behind ROI calculations. Here is a very basic equation for calculating ROI:

ROI = [(Payback - Investment)/Investment)]*100

Your payback is actually total amount of money earned from your investment in your company. Investment relates to amount of resources put into generating given payback.

You should run ROI calculations on both monthly and yearly timelines.

IMPROPER CALCULATIONS BY MANY SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

The actual amount of investment into a business is often misunderstood by business owner. As a result, true ROI calculations for most small businesses are skewed.

Most small business owners make their mistake in this most necessary calculation, because they do not properly value their own time. Please note that when I previously defined “investment”, I stated that it relates to “amount of resources put into generating payback.”

Indeed, “resources” includes cash money. But, it also includes “human resources” or “time”.

If most small business owners would value their hours at minimum wage, and calculate their time into investment equation, they would soon realize that their small business is running in red!

Some small business owners will finally run ROI calculations including human resources, and suddenly realize that they could make more money working a job. If small business owner has been running their business for a really long time, struggling to make ends meet, they might see this calculation and close their doors once and for all.

PLEASE DON’T LET ME DISCOURAGE YOU