Small Business Websites That Work

By Sean McManus
Published by Prentice Hall (Pearson)

• Buy 'Small Business Websites That Work'
• Book website homepage
• Read the introduction in full
• Free chapter: Planning your website and creating the content
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• About the author

Getting to know the internet

You can't imagine how your visitors will want to use your site if you haven't experienced the best, and the worst, of other websites

At a glance:

• Chapter summary
• Further reading

Chapter summary

You need to be familiar with the internet so that you can judge how your own site measures up. Visiting other sites is also the best way to come up with new ideas for your site.

The internet is changing how small businesses market themselves and changing the nature of competition. Companies must focus on differentiating themselves on quality and must encourage their customers to interact with them outside of normal business.

It only takes an hour to teach yourself to read webpages and surf the web and if you're not already using the internet this could be the best small investment you make in your career. The suggested sites give a good insight into some of what the internet is capable of, and what many of your visitors will already have seen when they arrive at your website.

These are the subheadings in this chapter:

• Introduction
• What is the internet?
• 9 important effects of the internet on business
• How people access the internet
• 14 websites you must see
• Summary

Further reading

• Is there anybody out there? - Article exploring Seti@home and how the internet community has united to build the world's biggest supercomputer.
• As you like it - Article exploring mass customisation including sites like Iprint.com