It's 1996, do you know where your clients are? - includes related articles on Web marketing, using CD-ROMs and reader service card management - Technology Information - Cover Story

Home Office Computing, March, 1996 by Sarah Stambler, Abby McLean

Creating your own Web page can cost anywhere from almost nothing to tens of thousands of dollars. Some Internet service providers (ISPs) include space for your Web page as part of their basic packages. Many ISPs, including some well-established ones like the Turnpike, offer Web page storage for fees as low as $10 or $15 a month. But most of these inexpensive deals are not intended for commercial use, and therefore don't always include such important features as mail-back forms or account statistics for traffic on your page. Some ISPs offer 800-number fulfillment and provisions for secured digital transactions, so be sure to consider all the options if you get serious about starting your site.

Although basic Web page creation requires no special software and is fully documented online, you'll probably want to get professional design help (unless you're a professional designer yourself). Ballpark figures from various Web page design services show the going rate to be about $50 a page, or about $250 for the average five-page site based on the text and graphics you provide to the designers. Page updates for the average site also run from $50 per page to around $200 per site.

Distributing Press Releases

THE OLD WAY: Buy a list with the names of 2,000 editors across the country. Shell out $640 for first-class stamps. Write up a press release, make 2,000 copies, and stuff, stamp, and seal the envelopes. Wait for the postman to deliver the releases while your tongue heals--and your news grows cold. THE NEW WAY: Sign up for a wire-release program such as the one offered by Twin Peaks Press. For $795, the company will prepare a 400-word press release for you and transmit it via wire service to more than 2,300 editors, producers, and news directors nationwide. Pay no additional costs for paper, mailing lists, or fulfillment. Or if you're happy writing your own releases, you can send them out electronically on PRNewswire's US1 for $465 for the first 400 words. Another such service is BusinessWire; shop around for the one that best fits your needs.

Most electronic releases go directly to editorial computers, are preferred by editors over print media, and receive more immediate attention than direct mail or faxes. What's more, an electronic release lives on in the database for years. For example, releases stored in Lexis/Nexis go back to 1980, so your electronic release may continue to generate calls long after the initial transmission.

Servicing Your Customers

THE OLD WAY: When business is booming, let your callers get busy signals. Or leave them on hold until they hang up. Outside business hours, or when you're away from the office, leave customers no way to reach you. Hey, there's only one of you--you can't please everyone.

THE NEW WAY: Set up a phone system that lets you differentiate among incoming calls, gives callers useful information when they're on hold, enables them to request faxed information or place orders 24 hours a day, invoices them automatically, and notifies you of important calls via pager when you're out of the office.