Frequently Asked Questions
.. the World Wide Web

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Western  Web  Directories

How many people use the World Wide Web?

Estimates of the number of people using the Web vary, but the figure is certainly into tens of millions. The rate of growth has been estimated at up to 10 per cent per month. If that estimate is correct, the number of people using the Web will double in the next eight months!

How many people will visit my pages? How can I tell?

The number of accesses a Web site attracts varies greatly. Some sites might attract just a few inquiries per day, while a very busy site might attract thousands per day. It depends on how well your site is publicized, and on how many people are interested to hear your message. Although it is impossible to predict the success of any Web site, we do collect statistics from our web server. These statistics are available to you either on a Web page you can view online, as an email message we send to your e-mail address, or we can even fax the numbers to you monthly.

How can I attract people to visit my site?

There are three main ways that people are led to view any particular page on the World Wide Web. The most common way is when they select a link from another Web page. Therefor, it is important to seek out Web pages that are related to the subject of your pages, and try to persuade the owners of those pages to add a link from their site to yours. Another important source of visitors is having your site listed in the many Web searching databases. This is done by submitting the address and description of the site to the administrators of the database. Exactly how to do this varies from database to database. This is a service we can offer. Finally, many people are attracted to Web pages when they are mentioned in newsgroups. It is very important to be careful to follow newsgroup etiquette when advertising Web pages (or anything at all) in this way. Most newsgroups will not allow any advertising at all, and those that do may have restrictions on what you can advertise. Don't forget that you can quickly offend millions of people with a badly placed, or off-topic newsgroup message. Again, we can offer advice and help you publicize your site using the newsgroups.

How can I get feedback from visitors to my Web site?

You can get feedback from viewers of your Web pages by having a "mailto:" link on your pages that allows them to send e-mail to you. If they select that link, and their Web browser software can send e-mail (almost all can), they will be able to send a message to you immediately. We recommend that in addition to having a mailto: link on each page, you also use fill-in forms to solicit viewer feedback. Fill-in forms can ask viewers of your pages almost any question. They can be a simple "guest book" form, or a complete order form for ordering your product or requesting information. When the form is filled out and submitted, the contents of the form are processed, then e-mailed to your e-mail address. Alternately, you can arrange to have us fax your orders to you.

Can I directly receive orders from my Web site?

Yes, you certainly can! What you need is to have a fill-out form on your site that allows people to enter their order information. If you have a fill-out form on our server, the orders will be sent to you by e-mail. Optionally, you can have us send your order form responses to you by fax.

If I decide to have a Web site created for me, what must I do to prepare?

The answer is simple: do as little or as much as is practical. If you simply know that a site would benefit you .. but don't care to work on the concept, layout or copy writing of the pages, we can do it all. If you have a good idea of what pages you need, and what they should say, you can design the pages on paper, even provide them to us on computer disk or by modem. You should consider what graphics you want to use on your pages, and provide them to us in whatever way is practical. We can work from computer graphics files, "hard" camera-ready copy, or from sketches. If you are not sure what you need, we will look at your present marketing materials, interview you, and design a comprehensive site customized to your requirements. Keep in mind though, that no-one knows your product, service or message as well as you do, so the more you prepare for your site, the more successful your site can be.

This site is maintained by Western Web Directories. (Last Modified Feb 10/96) For information about our services email the webmaster