Should you host your own Web sites internally or externally through an ISP? Typically, the primary considerations center around:

1. Expenditures for hardware and software;


2. Employee costs for IS Network/Server Administrator Support and WebMaster support;


3. Connectivity;


4. Domain name hosting;


5. Development time.

You may be tempted to let your Information Systems people make that decision... After all, isn't this just a technical decision?

Nope. As Marketers, here's one reason you may want to stop and think: is there a strategic advantage to where you place your Web Servers?

A top Marketing Goal is to get top-tier positioning in Search Engines for your Company's web sites.

Concern: with a limited staff and budget, the traditional approach of registering domain names and key-words with multiple Search Engines is time-consuming and costly.

Solution: Get an ISP who has Top Tier positioning on the back-bone of the Internet.

Reason: When Search Engine robots begin their journey, they start with the Web sites that reside on the back-bone of the Internet (known as "top tier") and then work their way downwards. Therefore, if you can position uour Web sites on the top tier rather than a T1 line off of a back-bone provider, your sites are indexed more frequently by the Search Engines. The more frequently your sites are indexed, then the greater the actuality of obtaining immediate search engine coverage each time you create an industry-specific or process-specific Web site or add to your current site.

One more strategic consideration to think about: If your Marketing Goal is to "be there - 24x7" for your customers, using a Top Tier ISP is one way that you'll ensure that you have direct multiple backbone connectivity that will ensure your Company's presence on the Internet 24x7...

Conclusion

Internal versus external hosting of your Web site does have to be weighed against the considerations of what is of strategic marketing value to your company.