Help! You Need Somebody!

Entrepreneur,  May, 2000  by Melissa Campanelli

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"I knew that I'd be growing at a quick rate, and I wanted to know what I[degrees]Works' capacity was," says White. When she found I[degrees]Works had corporations like Xerox as clients she decided o sign on the dotted line.

WHAT YOU NEED?

Some pundits insist the software and services available today are so easy for small-business owners to use, that you really don't need to pay for the design services of a Web consultant or a Web hosting company. Jason Kelly, author of The Neatest Little Guide to Making Money Online (Plume), says you can use a Web hosting company's basic monthly hosting fees and a $300 Web site design program such a s Macromedia's Dreamweaver (www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver), Adobe's GoLive (www.adobe.com/products/golive/main.html) or NetObjects' Fusion (www.netobjects.com/products/html/nf5.html) to set up a professional Web site. It's also possible to sell products through an online store such as icat.com or store.yahoo.com with minimal set-up.

"It's not that hard to put together a Web site today," Kelly says. "Basically, if you can write in a word processor, you can create a Web page." To clarify, Kelly is referring to very small companies, selling a few items each month. If you're building the next Amazon.com, however, Kelly says you probably will need the help of a consultant.

So what's the consensus of most experts? That the best and most professional Web sites are the ones that have been built, designed and maintained by professionals. These same probfessionals will also provide you with the best benefits. According to Meredith Whalen, a program manager at IDC, "Outsourcing allows for rapid deployment, the ability to focus on what is core to a small-business owner's business, and the ability to have a flexible cash flow."

Melissa Campanelli is a technology writer in Brooklyn, New York, who has covered technology for Mobile Computing & Communications and Sales & Marketing Management magazines.

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