SNAC time : Small Business Branding with your web Server

Part 2 of 5, SNAC time for your brand-Server

A website is essential today and the 4 SNAC components mentioned earlier are the stepping stones to getting your small business branded site up and running.

If you have a site now then understanding each component can save you cash and improve the effectiveness of your brand online.

A web server is simply a networked computer that stores and sends your website content to a web browser on demand.

There a several types of servers available

  • Social Media Servers-FaceBook, LinkedIN, WordPress.org…
  • Shared Servers-Many accounts sharing networked resources
  • Dedicated Servers-An exclusive computer with its own network access and custom built services

Social Media

Many social media servers permit companies to publish to the Internet for free. For example FaceBook users create an account and share text, images and opinions on the Internet. It is free and simple to use. In exchange for space on their servers FaceBook inserts ads and applies their own brand to everything you publish. Most major brands have a FaceBook page and would consider it essential to be available there. Those same small business brands also maintain a web server to house their brand where they can publish their content to their own standards without compromise.

Shared Servers

A shared server contains hundreds of websites served from a single computer. The economies of scale make this approach very inexpensive as well as easy to use. For a few dollars a month you can create a totally unique web presence to support your brand. The trade off is performance and missing capabilities like e-commerce. Not having to set up and maintain a computer means you can just add your files and your site is up and running. Most will also offer some form of web template that you can fill-in with your information to get you started.

Some links that list Web Server packages:

  • http://www.consumer-rankings.com/hosting-reviews/
  • http://www.thetop10webhosting.ca/
  • http://www.prchecker.info/top-10-web-hosting.php

Dedicated Servers

A dedicated server is a physical machine set up to your exact specifications and installed at a network data center. For this powerful and privileged access to the Internet you can expect to pay hundreds of dollars per month. A popular brand with slow page performance means visitors will go elsewhere. High traffic sites need to respond to thousands of page requests every second which can be very demanding on the network feed and the hardware. Dedicated servers don’t have to share those valuable resources and can be built to offer any service the brand requires!

There are many variations of these server packages but for our purposes your choice will be one of the three in some form or another. Other considerations including email, operating system and virus protection will be options.

Your Brand (+ Their Brand) Online for free

FaceBook with public WiFi access

SNAC Component Example $/Monthly $/Annually
Server FaceBook.com Social Media Account
Name FaceBook.com/CompanyPage
Access Public WiFi
Content Manager FaceBook
 Total  –

Trade-offs

Your brand is secondary. Limitations on type information you can share. Loss of control over your data. Public WiFi is not secure so be cautious with passwords and sensitive information.

Your Brand Online nearly free

WordPress with public WiFi access

SNAC Component Example $/Monthly $/Annually
Server WordPress.org Social Media Account
Name YourBrand.com* $18
Access Public WiFi
Content Manager WordPress Themes
 Total  – $18

WordPress.org offers free website accounts and the ability to created a website with your branded content as you prefer. The site will attach advertising but otherwise leave the look and feel of your site up to you.
*Domain name customization is an up-charge on the free account.

Your brand, your way

Example: GoDaddy with Bell Fibe Internet Access

SNAC Component Example $/Monthly $/Annually
Server GoDaddy Business Shared Server Package $5 $60
Name YourBrand.com* $16
Access Bell Fibe Internet 25/10 $43 $516
Content Manager Business Theme Templates*
 Total  $48 $592

Your site can look and behave just the way you want.
*Domain name initially part of GoDaddy account but has separate fees, templates are free with server account.

Next we will look at SNAC: Your brands web name.

 

 

 

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