Web site Basics – A Primer for Hispanic Small Businesses

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Web site Basics A Primer for Hispanic Small
Businesses
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Content

• What is a Web site?
• Why do I Need a Web site?
• Hispanic Business Web site Examples
• Web site Basics
• What to Include in your site
• Domain Name / Web Hosting
• Options for Setting up a Web site
• Traditional Web site
• Design it Yourself
• Hire someone to do it for you
• Selling online
• Auctions (eBay)
• Online Storefronts
• Experimenting with Free Web Pages

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What is a Web site?

• A Web site is a communication tool that allows
  people to share information.
• For your business, it can serve as an electronic
  brochure that is available 24 hours a day 7 days
  a week!

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Why do I need a Web site? What are the benefits?

• The main benefit of having a Web site is that
  your business can be found by anyone on the
  internet.
• More people today search for businesses on the
  Internet than use the Yellow Pages!

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Why do I need a Web site?

• The Internet is THE place where todays customers
  go to look for information.
• A Web site gives your businesses visibility and
  credibility.
• Some Web sites can even be set up to take orders
  while your store is closed!

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Why do I need a Web site?

• Regardless of your business, you want to be able
  to provide enhanced customer service that will
  give you a competitive edge in the market place.
• A Web site can give you that competitive edge!

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Why do I need a Web site?

• Cost Savings For You
• Companies that provide services (catering to
  individuals/businesses) can benefit greatly by
  having their own web-site.
• Provide information about what you do.
• Provide information about your experience.
• Save time answering questions!
• A Web site is one of the most cost-effective
  forms of advertising.

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Why do I need a Web site?

• Reduction of printing costs can be realized in
  many situations
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Customer information sheets
• Hand outs
• Many of these items are given to customers - but
  end up in a file or in the garbage!
• Directing a customer to a link on your Web site
  saves time, money and can be eco-friendly.

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What can a Web site do for ME?

• A Web site can lead to
• More customers
• Increased awareness of your business
• Both inside and outside of the local community!
• More credibility
• For todays younger generation, having a Web site
  means a business is legitimate.
• A reduction in marketing / advertising costs

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What type of information goeson a Web site?

• Contact Information (phone number, email)
• Business hours
• Background information about your business
• Product / Service Information
• Any information that may be valuable to your
  customer
• This enhances your image by helping your clients
  to better understand your business and to allow
  potential customers to make a more informed
  decision.

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Hispanic business Web site examples

• Nuño Bros is a market in Santa Ana, CA that
  specializes in beef products, tortillas and
  specialty tacos.
• Their Web site shows lots of examples of their
  meat and produce, and also provides a map of
  their location.

http//www.nunobros.com/spanish/spnhome.htm
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Hispanic business Web site examples

• Casa Ramirez is an art gallery in Texas that
  caters to clients who are interested in
  purchasing art.
• They specialize in the Latino culture.
• They also cater to artists who would like to
  display their work in their gallery.

http//cr.bjakub.com/index.html
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Why is having a Web site important for a Hispanic
small business?

• As of February 2007, the Hispanic online market
  was BIG 16.3 million.
• The Hispanic online market has sustained strong
  growth more than 1.6 million new users between
  February 2006 and February 2007.
• It has been classified as an upscale, mass
  market Online Hispanics are
• More affluent
• More educated
• More acculturated than the aggregate Hispanic
  population
• This may indicate online Hispanics are more prone
  to shop because they are economically well-off.

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Web sites are often the 1st point of contact for
your business

• What kind of a first impression do you want to
  give?
• Often Web sites
• have poor navigation
• overpower the actual message that is trying to be
  delivered
• look as though they were created by an amateur.
• A bad Web site will make potential customers
  question your business.

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What makes a poor first impression?

• Traditional advertising
• Forms that are photocopied to the point of
  un-readability
• Brochures that were obviously quickly created in
  black and white and copied many times on standard
  copy paper
• Business cards that have perforations around the
  edges
• Web sites
• Poor quality pictures
• Links that dont work
• Difficult to find information
• This is not the image you want to give to your
  customers.

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How the Web works

• The address you type in to get a Web page is
  known as the URL (Uniform Resource Locator).
• http//www.hispanicbusiness.com/magazine/
• The URL is composed of 3 parts
• The Protocol
• http//
• The Domain Name
• www.hispanicbusiness.com
• The Pathname
• /magazine

A Web page is written in a special code called
HTML (hyper-text markup language)
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Web site Basics

• 3 things you need
• An idea of what you want to include on the site
• A domain name
• A Web host
• The Key Ingredient
• Someone who knows how to pull all of these
  together!

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What to include in your site

• Home page
• Basic overview of your business
• About us (background information)
• Product/service Information
• Contact information/maps
• Pictures!

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What else to include in your site

• What will your customers want to see?
• Check out other sites on similar topics!
• What do they have that you like?
• What can you offer that they dont?
• Specials
• Coupons
• Testimonials

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Domain Name / Web Host

• The 2 things you will need to buy
• A DOMAIN NAME gets you the www.mybusiness.com
  name
• Ex www.toyota.com
• This is what people type in to find your Web
  site!
• A WEB HOST gets you storage space to put up your
  pictures/text describing your business.

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Domain Name / Web Host

• Most sources today offer BOTH domain names and
  Web Hosting
• www.godaddy.com
• www.register.com
• www.networksolutions.com
• There are LOTS of resources on the Internet,
  check around
• www.webhostingratings.com (over 200 to choose
  from)
• Compare cost, data storage, visit some of their
  sites
• These sources will tell you which domain names
  are / arent available
• This is important! Put some thought into your
  domain name.

3 popular options
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Domain Name / Web Host

• COSTS
• Domain names 10 - 35 / yr
• Most companies offer the same thing, very little
  difference in service
• Web hosting 50 - 200 / yr
• Offer different levels of service based on
  storage size / data transfer
• For most small businesses, the basic package is
  sufficient

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www.networksolutions.com/
Examples of Web Host Pricing
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Web Host Examples
www.register.com
www.godaddy.com
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Options for setting up a Web site

• Traditional Web site
• Design it yourself
• Microsoft Word / PowerPoint / Other software
• Online Templates
• Have someone design it for you
• Selling online
• Auction Sites (Ebay)
• Online Storefronts (just selling items, no
  information about company)

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Some sites offer packages for ALL different
options

• Web sites like www.netsol.com offer packages that
  allow freedom on how you build your Web site.
• Do It Yourself Web Site 9.95 per month with an
  annual purchase
• Do It For Me Web Site 11.95 per month with a
  499 design fee (they will design, copywrite and
  update your Web site)
• E-Commerce Web Site 49.95 per month with a 49
  set up fee (Sell online with no transaction fees.
  Integration with PayPal for financial
  transactions included).

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Traditional Web site

• Design the site yourself
• Need to be familiar with the computer
• Need to purchase domain name
• Need to purchase Web host
• How do you design a Web site?
• Microsoft Word (or PowerPoint, Publisher)
• online Templates
• Dont need too much computer knowledge for this
  option
• Other software (Dreamweaver, Sharepoint)
• Takes a while to learn

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• Put in text, pictures, etc.
• File -gt Save as-gt Web page (Word basically
  converts to html)
• Save several pages and link them together

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• Make sure you save your Home page as
  index.htm
• This ensures that this page opens when someone
  browses to your site

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• Make a few pages (Home, Background, Products) and
  save as Web pages
• Link them together
• Highlight words
• Insert Hyperlink (A hyperlink is a section of
  content that is clickable and brings you to
  another place, or performs some action, when you
  click it)
• Can also link to other web pages

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• STILL REQUIRES purchasing a domain name and Web
  host in order to upload
• Uploading instructions will be sent by Web host
• Typically involve logging onto your account and
  selecting which files are involved
• Most sites use FTP File Transfer Protocol
• Similar to Windows Explorer Click Drag which
  files you want to upload

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• Uploading Files Example
• File Transfer Protocol as part of GoDaddy.com

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Building a Web site with Microsoft Word

• Some helpful hints
• Keep all files used (pictures, pages, any logos)
  in the SAME FOLDER
• This will save a lot of time when you upload
  your files to the Web host

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Online Templates

• Most sources offer templates so that you can
  design your Web site with very little computer
  knowledge.
• No need to know HTML or even Microsoft just
  choose and type what you want to be on your site

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Online Template Examples
www.godaddy.com

• Choose a theme
• Choose the type of layout you want
• Choose your fonts
• Choose your images

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Online Template Examples
www.smallbusiness.yahoo.com

• Choose a design
• Choose the type of layout you want
• Personalize
• Choose your pages / enter text

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Do-It-Yourself Web site Development Tools

• Graphics Clip ArtCreate a banner, logo or button
  with free or fee online graphics generators
• 3DTextMaker.com
• CoolText.com
• QuickBanner.com

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Dedicated Software Packages

• Most professional Web sites will be built with
  fancier software packages
• Microsoft Sharepoint Designer (150)
• Adobe Dreamweaver (420)
• These give much more control to the designer and
  allow for more complex designs / features

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Cost Summary for a Traditional Web site

• Design it yourself
• Domain Name 10-35/yr
• Web Host 50-200/yr
• Template Free-200
• Dedicated Software 150- 450
• What about having someone else build a site for
  you?

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Having Someone Else Build Your Site

• Most people are NOT Web site designers
• Putting together a Web site that reflects highly
  on your business requires a significant amount of
  time and money
• Lots of businesses pay others to design Web sites
  for them
• Can look at several different layouts / styles
• Review the Web site before it goes live
• They are probably more artistic than you!
• Costs
• Can be all over the place!
• Some ballpark estimates 300 for a home page,
  100 for each additional page

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Having Someone Else Build Your Site

• Who are you hiring?
• Evaluate sites theyve worked on
• Speak to clients and see how they were to work
  with
• Is it worth it to hire your nephew, cousin, etc.?
  They can probably do the job fairly cheaply, but
  will they be around when you need to update the
  site TODAY?
• A good Web developer can save you time and money
  and headaches!

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Options for setting up a Web site

• Traditional Web site
• Design it yourself ?
• Microsoft Word / PowerPoint / Other software
• Online Templates
• Have someone design it for you?
• Selling online
• Auction Sites (eBay)
• Online Storefronts (comprehensive Web site /
  e-commerce solution)

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Auction Sites

• If you are only selling 5-10 items, auctions are
  a good choice!
• Participants bid for products and services over
  the Internet.
• eBay, the world's largest online auction site, is
  a great example of online auctioning.
• Allows you to place your item up for bid
• You provide pictures / description (need a
  digital camera!)
• People from all over the world can bid
• When it sells, you ship it and pay a small fee to
  eBay (4-5)

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Online Auctions Mexican Spanish Art eBay
Stores
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Online AuctionsMexican Antiques on eBay
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Selling Items on eBay

• What does it cost to sell on eBay?
• eBay charges fees to list and sell your item on
  their site. The cost depends on total of fees
  calculated based on
• Starting price
• Selling price
• Selling format
• Optional listing upgrades
• Items can be listed for as little as 0.20
• eBay will keep between 1.5 and 5.25 of the
  final price

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Selling Items on eBay

• How do you get paid?
• Most people use PayPal
• Lets you accept credit cards, bank transfers,
  debit cards from customers
• No monthly, startup, or cancellation fees
• No need for your customers to have a PayPal
  account
• PayPals commission is 4.9 0.30
• Deposited immediately to your PayPal account
• Easy to withdraw / transfer
• Item can then be shipped
• Sign-up takes only 5 minutes!

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Benefits of Online Auctions

• No time constraints
• Bids can be placed at any time of the day and any
  day of the year
• No geographical constraints
• Sellers/bidders can participate from anywhere
  that has Internet access
• Intensity of social interactions
• The social interactions involved in the bidding
  process are very similar to gambling. The bidders
  wait in anticipation of "winning"
• Large number of bidders large number of sellers
  
• The probability of someone seeing your product
  and wanting to buy the product is high.
  Competition is vital, this will allow customers
  to see that you have good affordable prices.

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Online Storefronts

• Everything you need in one place
• Yahoo! Small Business Ecommerce
• Design a store
• Add products
• Set up payment methods
• Set up shipping / sales tax

http//smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce
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Online Storefronts

• Another example
• Prostores
• e-commerce solution by eBay
• Design a store
• Add Products
• Add Payment Methods
• Set up shipping

http//prostores.com/online_store.html
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Online Storefront Example

• Almacenonline.com uses an online storefront and
  PayPal
• Most online shoppers recognize PayPal as a secure
  way to pay

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Benefits of Online Storefronts

• Easy to design an online store using pre-designed
  templates
• No need to learn code (html) or a new software
  (Dreamweaver)
• No need to hire someone to design a site for you
• Allows for easy online payment
• Private financial information never handled by
  your business
• Anyone can pay with credit card / debit card and
  payment goes directly to your account
• Easy to keep track of orders / shipments
• Most provide daily / weekly reports on this type
  of information

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Packaging?

• Check out the Web use a search engine!
• eBay has entire forums on this topic
• Tips galore about saving paper bags, asking local
  retailers for boxes
• Bubble wrap / packing peanuts / other?
• Opportunity for brand awareness!
• Logos attract attention
• Include a thank-you note

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Experimenting With Free Web pages

• Sites that let you build simple Web sites and
  experiment with different templates (free!)
• Weebly.com
• Switch designs
• Add pages
• Drag and drop interface
• www.weebly.com
• Google Pages
• Easy to build a webpage
• No cost to host the site
• http//pages.google.com/
• Yahoo! Geocities
• Pagebuilder drag and drop editor
• www.geocities.com

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Free services have limitations

• Warning
• Free sites like Weebly, Google Pages, or
  Geocities do NOT give you a distinct domain name
• Instead, your site will be located at
  www.geocities.com/yourusername
• Doesnt look quite as professional!
• Paying for a domain name and Web host gives a
  more credible appearance

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Summary

• Web sites are important for Hispanic businesses
• Lots of Hispanic businesses are taking advantage
  of them!
• There are many options to get started
• You dont have to be a computer expert!
• Can even sell products online relatively easily
• Web sites are not very expensive
• Can be less than 100/yr

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Interested in more information?

• We have a lot more help available!
• Detailed information on setting up a Web site
• How to market to Hispanic consumers
• How to sell items on your Web site!
• Contact Information
• Contact your local
• County Extension Educator

Brian Whitacre [phone] brian.whitacre_at_oksta
te.edu
Or