Integrity Tech City is proud to offer domain sites as part of it's "Web-Estate" packages. But before we get into that, let's look at exactly what a Domain Site is and how it is different from a Web Site.

WHAT IS A WEB SITE? When you buy Web Page(s) you are purchasing the equivalent of shop or store on a city Street. The building (or web structure) is there already. All that needs to be done for you to set up "shop" is for you submit the data and graphics that you wish to include in your Web Site Pages and a Web Site Author sets up everything for you. Your web site address will look something like this: http://DomainServer.com/YourBiz.html

*Note: Some Web sites are not connected to anything, save the hidden structure behind them. This type of web site means that you will have to do all the advertising and promotion of the site on your own. Web Sites that are built in "malls" or in Integrity Tech City has an advantage in that malls or Cities do extensive advertising to increase traffic. Plus neighboring web sites owners advertise too which also increases the traffic flow more. According to the statistics web sites located in Malls or Cities will have 47% more sales than isolated web sites.

WHAT IS A DOMAIN SITE?
When you buy a Domain Site it is much like buying a raw piece of land. It has very little or nothing on it and you must build all the structures on it yourself. What you are actually doing is RENTING a specified amount of space on a T1 or T3 dedicated Internet server computer. Plus you buy (separately) a name and a frequency band address that can only be used by you. Your address will look something like: http://YourBizName .com.

WILL I NEED OTHER EQUIPMENT TO RUN A DOMAIN SITE?
Yes, you will need a computer, some kind of Web Authoring Software and a basic understanding of FTP, HTML, JAVA, Script writing, CC++, mail service, and other structures that make up the web environment that you will be working in.

ARE THERE OTHER EXPENSES INVOLVED IN DOMAINS?
Yes, before you purchase a Domain you are required to select and register a business name and domain address with Internic. This fee is between $29.00 & $100.00 for 2 years use of your Domain address/frequency band. After the two year period the fee is between $29.00 & $50.00 a year. This fee goes directly to Internic and is separate from any fees in your Domain Package. There also may be other fees via your Domain Server or Internet Provider for secure order lines and other special services.

WHAT IS WEB SITE OR DOMAIN SITE HOSTING?
This means that someone else (called a Host) does all the setup and running work for your Web or Domain site. This set up can be done with as many or as few options as you wish. Some are set up so completely that the buyer need not even have a computer to receive orders. Of course, the bigger and more traffic on a site the higher the hosting fee. A host basically handles all the technical things on your domain site so that you can consentrate on growing your business and processing orders.

ARE ALL DOMAIN RENTAL SITES THE SAME?
No. These days there are many ads for domains that advertise things like, "Get your own domain for 10.00 a month, or $29.95 a YEAR." When you find one of these go their agreements page or contracts page and read the fine print carefully. You might want to print it out and read it over several times. The language can be tricky.

Look for things like, "For best quality our software is recommended,"this might mean's unless BUY their software for $5,000.00 your site will look like it's sitting in a fog bank! Look for restrictions, for usage, some even have specific times when you cannot upload pages...like 9 to 5! Look for space allowances, is it only space for 10 pages? What happens if your server storage space over shoots that? Are you charged $5.00 a meg there after? What about user traffic? Will it allow your site to accomidate a million hits a day? Will you crash the server if that happens? Will they charge you mega bucks EXTRA for that?

Other things to look for are restrictions. If you are wanting to build a "web-cam" site, many domain servers will not support that. Look for tools you get behind the scenes, does the server support JAVA? Does it support C++? Does it support music? Video streaming? Does it support autoresponders, web e-mail and counters? Does it come with a fully operational stats software so you can track where your site visitors are going, how long, they are staying, which pages are the most popular? This will be critical data to you when your are tracking ads, and traffic. These foundation tool will become more and more critical as you move through constructing and promoting your site. I have seen some with as little as 7 tools, just enough foundation to support a couple of web building softwares...and not one thing more.

Finally how is their support system? If you get stuck somewhere are you going to have to fight your way through a string of voice mail boxes and answering machines? How long does this company take to answer a simple e-mail PERSONALLY? Autoresponders don't count. Anything over 24 hours can be a nightmare for your business. Also you want to look at the server speed, traffic load and down time. If your pages download like a lumbering dinosaur it's gonna loose you sales. If the traffic on your domain area (Geo-domains) is really heavy it could take a client DAYS to get into it...more lost sales. And if the dedicated server is down more than up again you loose sales. It's a lot to think about.

WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Before we set up Integrity Tech City 6 years ago we looked at domain server prices and perks for 6 months. We looked at HUNDREDS of domain offers and read the fine print on all of them. The server that you are currently reading on won. After 6 years we are very pleased with our choice. These domains have it all, large spaces, support software, hit tracking, shopping cart, over 100 script support goodies, wonderful support, fast reply and in 6 years their down time is about 30 minutes a YEAR. To take a look at these web and domain packages click on the links below.