The question of FREE and Paid Items on the Net is one of the most discussed. Some people write against everything FREE so intensely that they create a crazy atmosphere in which some other people simply fear to use anything FREE. My experience shows that most of the paid items are scam or at least a robbery.

I don't understand the campaign against FREE. First, I think that it's the matter of each person to choose which way to go in the particular situation. Second, any opinion is only personal. And third, to state general, black-and-white statements is very daring and not very professional.

I myself don't think that it is necessary to pay for everything. On the other hand you cannot get everything for FREE. It is necessary to make an analysis based on what you want to achieve, how fast, how much time and effort you want to put into it and how much money you can afford to spend. Strictly, put into it only so much money that you can lose without threatening your existence.

Even if you can afford to pay any amount, don't. Learn how to save as well.

On the basis of your analysis, make a detailed plan of what you will need to achieve your goals within the period you want and research the market for the prices and the quality. When done right, you will see that you won't need big sums of money to get what you want within an acceptable time span.

There are basic principles necessary to follow to start and make things right just from the start and not to handicap yourself unnecessarily. It is always easier to do things right for the first time than to try and put them right later when damage is done.

A) What you have to buy when you start:

1) The basic is your own domain name. Once you seriously decide to establish your business on the Net, not for a month, not even for a year but long term, you should get your domain name. (However, get as many FREE names as you can as well but see and check where they are and use the best ones only.)

2) Hosting services: this one is the vital point. However, be very careful before you pick up a hosting company and pay. Some of the hosting companies are too aware that you depend on them and misuse the situation horrendously.

So many of them use their customers only to grow their own business with no regard to their customers' business, and such people should not be supported. I can say that I don't have the worst experience with scams but with hosting companies.

Basically: the best choice is a company that offers FREE and paid hosting and its primary orientation is technical rather than commercial:

- You can test their services for FREE and see how they treat their customers before you pay them money.

- They don't financially depend on selling obscure offers and advertising and are much stabler. This is essential.

- You can check and test their real services without relying on their promises.
- There's a huge difference between a company offering their hosting services because basically they are a group of computer professionals with advanced equipment, whose primary aim is to sell these services (= their commercial aim is secondary) and a group of people having nothing to sell and thinking that offering hosting services could be a great business, using the net of their customers as their billboards, trying to make money on advertisement (= they have no professional services to offer, their only aim is commercial).

Technically orientated companies tend to have better, advanced equipment, better and reliable services, better support, are more helpful to their customers treating them as customers.

Commercially orientated companies usually have equipment fulfilling minimal technical requirements only, have to buy additional technical services (= have unnecessary overhead, which makes them vulnerable), regard their customers more like their competition and treat them accordingly.

Companies offering FREE hosting only are not reliable because they will sooner or later run into financial difficulties and start to charge you crazy fees and/or close down.

Do not pay a company a year or two upfront. The reasons against are many. I state only the vitals:

a) you credit them for FREE. The money you pay them upfront can make you money if you invest it elsewhere. (And besides: Why should you? No one credits you for FREE.

b) a year on the Net is a much longer period than a year in the offline world. Most companies don't stay that long on the Net, and you will lose your money and stay without the services anyway and will have to move your sites and pay again. Most hosting companies are commercially orientated relying on selling advertisement and run now into difficulties even if they are on the Net more years, so a thorough testing is very important.

Do:

a) check where the servers of the hosting actually are and what they are like in reality. In many cases the reality is very different from what the company tells you if they are willing to say at all.

b) think about what they charge, about the reason behind it. If you don't 'like' (=in the sense of realistic charges) their charges, there are only two possibilities,

either: they are robbers

or: they have financial problems.

Beware of both - they are or will become unreliable long-term.

3) Books and software: There are several books and software you should have. It is beyond the scope of this tiny article to name them here.

B) What you have to buy when you know your ways:

Once you know what you want to sell and have checked, tested and tried the companies you picked up, you should pay for the upgrade in several - 2 or 3 programmes to make proper money on the reseller's sales. These sales can make a very good income on top of the sales of your own product or service. It is wise to have more streams of income and not to depend on one or two only.

Think about stability. It's not a pure coincidence that a chair has four legs. If one breaks, you can survive without even a bruise. If one or two of your streams of income stop, you will survive. And you are more reliable for your customers. If you are stable, your customers can depend on you. It's all about credibility as well.

The above are the bare necessities you should buy. There are other items you can consider buying, like advertisement but paid ads are not vital. You should use both: FREE Ads give you a wider scope for experimenting and getting experience, and be extremely careful about where you place your Paid Ads.

Remember it is easy to spend $10,000+ and make $100. Anyone can do this but it's much wiser and more difficult to spend a hundred and make $10,000+. Nothing is super easy if you want to do things right. Don't do anything just because someone says so. Much of the 'advice' you get from the so called gurus is published not to help you but to bring them traffic. So, think, test, research before you do something but first: know what you want.

Stick to a golden rule:

Build your business with the necessary and wise investment only and depend on reliable and honest partners.

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********************************************************** Irena Whitfield is the webmistress of http://www.thecassiopeia.com/ - Internet Business Consultants for 3rd Millennium helping people to achieve their goals on the Net. Subscribe to 'Pathway To Success' and get special FREE services: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/Subscription.html **********************************************************

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