Start an Internet Business in 5 Easy Steps!

Written by Derek Vaughan


Want to start an Internet business? Great! Let’s get started quickly by looking at five simple and necessary steps to getting your Internet business offrepparttar ground.

1. Select Your Domain Name - It is very important to selectrepparttar 138511 proper domain name for your business. Why? It’s how customers will find you online. A couple of simple pointers: shorter is usually better, I’d stick with a .com name - not one ofrepparttar 138512 other top level domains. It can also help search engines to list you higher if your domain name contains some ofrepparttar 138513 keywords you want to be found for.

Believe it or not, there are still a huge number of domain names that have never been registered. Sure,repparttar 138514 so-called ‘dictionary’ and common single word domains have all be registered long ago, but there are strategies to circumvent this issue.

Why not simply add a modifier to a word in order to create a compelling domain name? For example: let’s say that you sell bicycles and bicycle parts online - here are some domain names that come to mind that are almost certainly taken:

bike.com bikes.com bicycle.com bicycles.com bikeparts.com bicycleparts.com

So how can we modify these common names to create names that are available? Let’s try adding some simple descriptive terms either before, or afterrepparttar 138515 main word. For example:

Deluxe Premium Best Superior Cheap Discount Online Universal

I’m sure you can think of many others that apply to your products and business. If you simply add this short list of modifiers in front ofrepparttar 138516 original short names, you can create multiple new names that are available right now!

You can search to see if your domain name is available here: www.dotster.com.

2. Hire a Web Designer - Ask around to locate a great designer that someone else has used. The design of your site can make you look professional, or like an amateur - it’s clear which way you will want to look.

An alternative that can be very cost effective when compared to a custom designed web site is to use pre-formatted templates - either put together by another company, or filled in with data yourself. For example, Affinity Internet, Inc. offers a professional web design product through it’s ValueWeb brand that is billed out at a low flat monthly fee. According torepparttar 138517 ValueWeb websiterepparttar 138518 ReadyWeb product offersrepparttar 138519 following advantages: “A professional web designer will set up a consultation with you to better understand your business and online goals to ensure your web site is not only impressive but successful.Our web site professionals will make updates to your website on a monthly basis as needed. ReadyWeb includes two hours of maintenance and updates each month at no additional charge.” You can learn more aboutrepparttar 138520 ReadyWeb product at: www.valueweb.com/readyweb/readyweb_learn_more.htm.

Alternatively there are do-it-yourself templates available at sites such as www.templatemonster.com.

3. Choose Your Web Hosting - Every small business that sets up a web site online will need to host it somewhere. According to industry expert Tamara Field, President of Apollo Hosting (www.apollohosting.com) these arerepparttar 138521 top three things to consider when selecting your web hosting company.

* REAL Live Support - Call their tech support number NOT their sales number, and see if you can talk directly to a technician. Or go on their live chat and see if you are able to talk to a technician. How long did it take for you to get someone onrepparttar 138522 phone or live chat? That's very important. Just because they say they offer live support, doesn't mean they really have people there when you need them.

* Guarantees - Money back guarantee, price freeze, uptime, and a guarantee of a refund on unused portions. There are so many hosting companies that don't offer money back on unused months if you cancel early! If you sign up for 1 year, believe it or not, many hosting companies won't give you ANY money back if you cancel 3 months later. A money back guarantee is important as is a prize freeze guarantee. But these days, look forrepparttar 138523 refund on unused hosting. Many companies don't mention it because they don't offer it.

The Six Sigma Method and Design of Experiments

Written by By Peter Peterka (www.6sigma.us)


Six Sigma is becoming a proven approach for businesses and organizations to improve their performance. The spectrum of companies actively engaging in Six Sigma today is wide from industrials like Celanese, Caterpillar, GE, Honeywell, and 3M to service/retail organizations like Starwood Hotels, Sears, and Home Depot. Six Sigma has even started inrepparttar financial industry with Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase initiating major deployments inrepparttar 138510 past two years. Probablyrepparttar 138511 most exciting area is inrepparttar 138512 public and healthcare sectors with success stories emerging from city government and John Hopkins Medical. So what is all this excitement about? Haven’t these quality tools been around for years? Is it justrepparttar 138513 fact that people have strange names like Champion, Green Belt, Black Belt and for repparttar 138514 chosen few, Master Black Belt? Okay, if it is notrepparttar 138515 names then what? Six Sigma’s success revolves aroundrepparttar 138516 fundamental elements needed for any successful organization. Six Sigma starts with a vision of delivering products and services to customers with no defects fromrepparttar 138517 eyes ofrepparttar 138518 customers. For companies it is vital to deliver these products and services at a profit. Oncerepparttar 138519 organization has created their own vision of Six Sigma,repparttar 138520 business leaders need to define their organization’s objectives in numerical terms. These “high-level metrics,” often called big Y’s in Six Sigma, arerepparttar 138521 foundation for identifying project y’s that Six Sigma Belts will execute projects on. With big Y’s in hand, business leaders called Six Sigma “Champions” breakdown these organizational level Y’s into smaller y’s a project leader called a Green Belt or Black Belt can work from. So what’s next, do business leaders take a hands-off management by objectives (MBO) approach of, “I don’t care how you do it as long as you get results!”? For Six Sigma organizationsrepparttar 138522 answer is a loud “NO.” Champions do care how projects are executed and have appointed highly trained Master Black Belts to assist and mentor project leaders in applyingrepparttar 138523 Six Sigma method to manage their projects. I believe this isrepparttar 138524 key to Six Sigma’s success. In a past life I participated in a high-level meeting with executives fromrepparttar 138525 world leader inrepparttar 138526 production of a product we all know. The purpose ofrepparttar 138527 meeting and visit was to evaluate a critical new product design. All ofrepparttar 138528 high-tech executives were dressed in dark Italian business suits complemented with gold and diamonds. I listened closely to each question these executives asked. I never once heard “how much?”, “when?” or even “why?” – every question was “by what method?.” Methodology is what Six Sigma is about. Six Sigma Methods There have evolved two key methods for carrying out Six Sigma projects. The first method isrepparttar 138529 most well-defined and works best if you have a problem with an unknown solution in existing products, processes or services. This method is called DMAIC or Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. The newest method, which is inrepparttar 138530 developing stages, is called Design for Six Sigma or DFSS. The goal of DFSS is to develop a new product, process or service that is defect-free inrepparttar 138531 eyes ofrepparttar 138532 customer. A number of consulting

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