How to Start an eCommerce Store in Illinois (4 Steps)

Perform some preliminary market research about starting an ecommerce store in Illinois. Determine the probability of profitability for your online store by finding out what key terms typical web searchers use to find the products and services that you will be providing. Choose a name for the online business according to your findings after verifying that the name you will use has not been taken. Check the name by visiting most any web hosting or domain name registration service. You can also use the whois.net website, a lookup service for domain names, keyword searches and deleted domain names.
Research Illinois ecommerce web hosting companies. To do business online, it will be necessary to invest in the right kind of technology solution that includes an ecommerce component or shopping cart solution. Find a local partner that can help find the kind of ecommerce store solution that best suits your needs. Research reputable ecommerce hosting companies in Illinois by checking web hosting forums for remarks on companies you will consider. Check the Better Business Bureau for information on various hosting firms. Ensure that everything you will need to start your own ecommerce store online will be included in the hosting plan. This can all be very critical and may ultimately determine the success or failure of your online business. An ecommerce web hosting company that is based in or does business in Illinois may also have helpful resources concerning state requirements and particulars for doing business in Illinois.
Determine specific Illinois business requirements by checking with the State of Illinois Business Portal. Review the information assembled across the state government website and make a list of what is necessary to accomplish, such as registering a business name after determining how the business will operate. For example, a sole proprietorship will need to be registered with the local county clerk. Check with the online listing of county clerks at the State Board of Elections website for procedural details.
Develop an ecommerce business plan that includes registering the business. Use the links provided at the State of Illinois Business Portal website to find the necessary resources so that all of your responsibilities are met as a new online business owner. Submit questions as needed through the website, or call the Secretary of State's Department of Business Services at 217-782-6961. Also check with the Small Business Administration to ensure that you meet all of the legal requirements to start a business.
VPS Hosting

How to Outline your Project

Create a project plan. Your project plan should include what you want to accomplish with your website, the purpose of the website, how it should look, and any ideas you have governing the needs of the project.
Decide on a project budget. Know how much you want to spend on your web development project and how much you can spend.
Write out a project time line. This should involve how long you want the entire web development project to take and how long each part should take to get finished.
Search for resources. Depending on your needs, you may need to hire graphic companies, content develop companies, and possibly even professional web developers for advice or to build the different parts of your website.
Make a short list of the web hosting services that would be a good fit for the developing project. Using your hardware prospects and vision, find a hosting service that suits these constraints.
Define the tone and presentation of your site, commonly referred to as GUI, or Graphical User Interface. Determine what sort of graphical presentation you want, how the user will navigate the site, and how much wording or content will be included.
Detail each page that will appear on the site, including its GUI and purpose. This will help you eliminate redundancies and streamline your coding.
Resolve which operating systems and other hardware will be the most compatible with your requirements. Choose the web-development tools best suited for your site creation. FrontPage and Dreamweaver are two very user-friendly development tools.
VPS Hosting

How to Reserve Domain Names with No Hosting Service

First, find out if your domain name is available...
You can check if a domain name is available by doing a simple search of the term 'check domain availability' and several tools and sites will be listed. If the desired domain name is available you can move on to the next step. If it is not available you should do another search to on whois.net to find out when it will expire within your needed time frame. Repeat this step until you find a domain name that will work.
Next, Do a comparison of domain name pricing...
Do a comparison of companies that offer the option to purchase or reserve a domain name. By purchasing an available domain name you will reserve that address for a website at some point in time. If the domain name is not available and you would like to reserve it in case it expires you will have additional fees. Since you are not looking at a hosting service you do not need to compare features. In this step you are just comparing pricing to reserve or purchase a domain name.
Then, reserve the domain name but don't get a hosting service to save money...
After you choose a company make sure they have a domain name reservation option, so that you can just reserve or purchase the domain name. Unless you are ready to put up a website you do not need hosting with your domain name. A domain name with a hosting service will cost much more per year so save the money until you are ready to build a website.
Last, keep your domain name account current and active...
Domain names often expire without owners knowing. If you have hosting services you get constant reminders but as the owner of a domain name it is your responsibility to keep track of it. Consider signing up for recurring billing to ensure that you don't lose the domain name. Without an organized system or recurring billing you may lose the rights to a domain name you wanted to reserve. Continue to do this step so when you are ready to build your website the domain name will be good to go.
VPS Hosting

How to Recover Deleted Web Pages

Gather all of the information pertaining to your website, such as your domain name, as well as the information for the administrative contact person who is over the administration of the website.
Contact the company that is hosting your website. Provide it with your domain name and administrative contact information.
Advise the company you deleted a Web page and would like to recover the deleted file. Most Web hosting companies back up all of their website pages. The company will be able to look up the file you deleted on the backup server and restore it into your file directory. It is best to contact your Web hosting company as soon as possible after deleting the Web page to increase your chances of getting the page restored.
Use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to look up your deleted Web page if you do not want to go through your Web hosting company. By going to Internet Archive Wayback Machine, you can type in the domain name for your website. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine will then pull up all website pages that have been associated with the website, no matter how old they are. This is great if you would like to go back and see a Web page that was deleted many years or months ago.
Click on the page of your website that you would like to recover through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Click on the 'View' option from the menu bar of your Internet browser. Select the 'Page Source' option. Copy all of the HTML coding associated with your deleted Web page from the page source.
Paste the copied HTML code from the page source into the HTML editor of your website. Save your work. You should now be able to view your Web page. Some of the graphics might not be in place anymore, but all of the textual aspects of the Web page should still be in tact. You will have to upload new graphics.
VPS Hosting

How to Become a Webmaster in 14 Days (6 Steps)

Learn about basic HTML. If you know how to create a few basic codes, you will be able to customize your website to suit your needs. You don't have to become a programmer, but you do need to know how basic HTML works so that you can correct any problems.
Find a host for your website. Being a webmaster means controlling an independent website. That requires hosting. Look for a hosting plan that delivers exactly the options you need rather than simply looking at the price of the plan. Most hosting companies give price breaks for long-term hosting.
Set up the website. The website will need content, graphics and anything interactive that you want to add. You can outsource that work to a Web writer or a graphic designer, or you can do the work yourself. Set up a timetable so that your completed site is finished as fast as it should be. If you want to create a 10-page site, allow perhaps half a day to develop each of those pages.
Test the site to make sure all of its functions work. You might spend a day or two trying to access the site from different locations and from different browsers. Also contact friends and family to tell you if they have any problems using the site. Make any corrections that need to be made.
Publish the website. Once the website becomes live, it will be available all over the world.
Handle problems that users encounter. Moderate comments and answer questions to keep the website going. Make sure to handle problems fast enough to keep users coming back.
VPS Hosting

How to Register a Domain Name With an IP Address

Contact your Internet service provider and request a static IP address. Static IP addresses may cost extra, but some providers do include it in their service. Consult your provider to configure your computer with the new static IP address.
Shop for a domain name registrar. Compare pricing among companies to save money. Two places to find registrars are the websites for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and InterNIC (see the Resource section).
Register your domain name online with the company you chose. Specify the static IP address on the web form that should be associated with the domain name. Call the customer service department if the form doesn't have space for the IP address. If you have a previously registered domain name, contact the company used to register it and request your static IP address be assigned to your domain.
VPS Hosting

How to Start an E

Get funding for your e-commerce business if necessary. Consider taking a private loan from an individual you know in order to avoid high interest charges, or take out a bank loan. You can seek an angel investor, which is a rich individual who will provide you with funding. Alternatively, you can apply for grants from various businesses and the government to start your business.
Find an e-commerce website host, which is a company that will host your website on its servers. Most hosting companies offer several different hosting packages at different price rates, such as 'Basic' and 'Business.' You should choose a hosting package specifically for e-commerce websites; it will be tailored to a company's needs and bandwidth requirements, and may include perks, such as e-commerce tools.
Create your website if you have Web design programming and knowledge, otherwise hire a Web programmer and designer to do the work for you. Create a detailed website plan that lays out what you need and expect, and areas where you're open to input. Pay the programmer and designer in stages, and have all the details, including deadlines and payment info, laid out in a contract, which both you and the designers and programmers must sign.
Set up business bank accounts at your local bank, which is necessary to keep your personal and business finances separate from each other. Consider registering your business as a Limited Liability Company to reduce your financial risk.
Hire employees if necessary. For example, if your e-commerce business involves shipping packages all day long, consider hiring someone to do the packaging and shipping so that you can concentrate on customer service.
Hire an accountant to take care of your finances. It is important to keep accurate books and a detailed list of expenses so that your taxes at the year's end are accurate. You may be required to pay estimated taxes every quarter. An accountant will be able to advise you on all aspects of your finances, help you find deductions and pay your taxes on time.
VPS Hosting

How to Set Up Your Own Web Site (5 Steps)

Register a domain name with an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-licensed domain registrar. NetworkSolutions.com, Domain.com and BuyDomains.com are three top domain registrars. Choose a domain name that contains keyword phrases related to the topic of your web site to help the search engines accurately index and categorize your web site.
Buy a web site hosting account. Choose from among reputable web hosting companies. Lunarpages.com, Rackspace.com and FireHost.com are three such companies. They offer affordable web hosting packages with many powerful features.
Assign your Domain Name Servers or DNS to your domain name. Your web host will provide primary and secondary DNS addresses. Take these to your domain registrar and assign your domain name to these DNS addresses. This will point your domain name to your web host, so your visitors will be able to see your content. Each domain registrar has a different interface, so follow your chosen domain registrar's specific instructions for defining your Domain Name Servers.
Create your web site layout. You can use Cascading Style Sheets or CSS to define the colors, fonts and layout of your site. CSS is a bit technical but is a powerful and versatile layout technology. Another option is to use pre-made templates. Most web hosting companies provide a collection of templates for your use. A blog platform like WordPress is another powerful way to organize and display your content. WordPress is included in most web hosting packages. It's easy to install and offers a wide variety of themes.
Create your content. The purpose of any website is to present visitors with quality, interesting content. Write your content and use the interface provided by your web host to upload your content to your site. Consider adding images and video to your site, as well.
VPS Hosting

How to Set Up a Wiki Site

Set up an account with a wiki-compatible Web host. Not all site hosting accounts are capable of running wiki technology. The server must support Apache, PHP 5+ and MySQL 4+ in order to set up a wiki site. While such hosts are typically pricier than standard hosting, budget hosts such as Fat Cow and Blue Host (see Resources) offer discount hosting that meets the technical requirements of most wiki software.
Download free or paid wiki software. While various companies offer wiki software for personal and public use, WikiMedia's free software (see Resources) is one of the most widely used and has the most comprehensive features because it was originally developed to operate sites such as Wikipedia.
Double-click the file you downloaded in Step 2 to decompress the installation package. A new folder will appear containing all of the wiki software's installation files.
Launch your FTP software and connect to your personal server. Your login information is typically your domain name and the password you chose when registering a hosting account. If you can't remember your login details, refer to the registration documents provided to you when you set up your account with a Web host.
Upload the decompressed installation folder from Step 3 to your hosting server by dragging the folder to your FTP software window. Wait for the FTP program to complete the transfer. Depending on your Internet connection, this may take several minutes.
Open your Web browser. Navigate to the following address: http://yourdomain.com/mediawiki/config/index.php. Replace 'yourdomain.com' with the domain name you registered in Step 1. WikiMedia's installation page will appear.
Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the wiki site setup. You will need to provide specific configuration options, such as the name you wish to use for your wiki and the name of your MySQL database (provided by your Web host).
Click the 'Install MediaWiki' button at the bottom of the page. Your wiki site is now set up and you may begin editing or creating pages from within the wiki interface.
VPS Hosting