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Up close and personal

With computers linking everything to everything else, it’s safe to assume that a lot of your personal information is out there somewhere, floating in cyberspace.

With computers linking everything to everything else, it’s safe to assume that a lot of your personal information is out there somewhere, floating in cyberspace. If you’ve ever purchased something online, chances are that information is being traded back and forth for various ends.

The marketers call it Customer Relationship Management. CRM is the practice of identifying suckers – I mean potential customers – by attempting to profile you and your demographic through your interactions with the Web, and anticipating your needs-slash-tolerance for sales pitches.

The only way to avoid this trap is to pay cash for everything and live under an assumed name in the deep woods.

Since that is not an option, and because many of us do appreciate the opportunities the Web offers, the only thing to do is to get used to the idea that your information is out there, protect your vital information as much as possible, and get used to the idea that you’re being tracked for marketing research. And if you’re going to be on the Web anyway, you might as well make sure they get the story right.

Thousands of Web users out there are hosting their own personal Web sites these days.

For some people it’s an opportunity to show off their writing, photography, art, music, pets and share their lives with friends, family and the world at large. For others, it’s an online resume, an opportunity to demonstrate your technical savvy while including more information than you could possibly fit in a resume and cover letter. For still others it’s an opportunity to meet people with similar interests and hobbies, whether it’s the music of KISS or HO scale model trains.

It’s not as hard as you might think to put yourself online. There are freeware programs available right now that can get you started on a basic site, as well as free domains that will host them for you.

Getting started

The first thing you want to decide is where you want the site to go. If you want a domain name that’s original, you generally have to apply for that name and pay a fee to own it. See what’s available at www.internic.com or www.internic.net and follow their procedures.

If you go the dot-com route, you’re going to have to find a Web server to host your site. While you can set up your own server at home, it’s generally less of a headache to find a third party to host your Web presence.

There are a number of free hosting services out there, but you’re probably not going to be able to get a personalized Web address. One of the most popular free hosts is Tripod (www.lycos.tripod.com) which includes an introduction to Web site construction, plus some tools you’re going to need. Another popular host is Geocities ( http://geocities.yahoo.com ). Both of these sites are user friendly for beginners and free for basic services. Both offer more advanced services, including more disk space, e-mail accounts, customized domain names, and more for monthly fees.

If neither of these hosts meets your needs, do a Web search on free Web domain hosting and take your pick – there are dozens of sites to choose from, but read the small print because sometimes there’s a catch.

Making Web content

Once you have decided the where and learned what your limitations are, it’s time to decide the what. Is it a resume site, or a site dedicated to pictures of you and your buddies doing keg stands? You might not want to mix the two – your friends don’t want to read your resume!

The Learn The Web guide on building Web sites (www.learntheweb.com/english/section/webpub1.html) recommends putting together a blueprint for your site, deciding what sections you need and what goes on each section. You can always add later. They also recommend you understand a bit of copyright law before you add graphics and content to your site.

A good idea is to find a site layout you like and study it. Where are the links? The images? What happens when you click on the links? How do you navigate from place to place?

Learn The Web also includes an overview of the hypertext markup language (HTML) you’ll need to add content to your site, and the tools available to help you with that.

You can find free HTML software at most free Web hosting sites. Another good source is CompletelyFreeSoftware.com ( www.completelyfreesoftware.com) . Follow the links to Internet, Graphics and WebAuthors for more advanced tools. C/Net at www.downloads.com or www.freeware.com also offers a wide selection of free or trial software that can help you design your site and upload it to the proper location.

Maintaining and promoting your site

Once you are up and running, you’re going to want to bring people to your site and then give them a reason to come back again. Updating the content means doing the backup copy of your site on your computer, making the changes, then uploading them to replace the existing pages.

Promoting your site is somewhat more difficult.

If it’s a resume site, include the URL on your resume or job applications. If it’s for friends only, send everyone an e-mail to let them know you’re up and running. A good idea might be to print business cards with your Web address and hand them out to everyone you want to know about it.

If you want to invite the world in, things are going to get a little more difficult. While all search engines look for different things, generally the more popular searches tend to come up first.

The first thing to do is to visit all the major sites, such as Yahoo! ( www.yahoo.com) , Google ( www.google.com) , and Lycos ( www.lycos.com) . Seek out a button or a link to "add site" or "submit site," and follow their directions to have your site placed in the directory.

The more times you access you site, the more popularity it will seem to have so talk your family and friends into setting your site as their default page in their Web browsers.

You’ll be surprised how easy it is to put yourself into cyberspace. Getting yourself out of it is a little bit trickier.