An important area for online businesses is understanding your online viewers. Many online businesses neglect to understand WHO is visiting their site, what they are viewing, how did they get there (What was the site referral ) and how long did they stay. These are keys to improve the customer site experience and of course make more money. The way in which this is done is to understand the underlying log files of the site. Underlying WHAT, you ask? The host account you use has a record of all the transactions that take place within your website. These are called LOG FILES and they are the key to understanding all of, and more of, the questions posed above. Unless you are an expert programmer, making any sense out of these logs is fruitless.

Free URL Shrink Service:

Disguise your Affiliate URLs and protect your links

Your selection of business tools should be as careful as the selection of business you are about to start. There are essential tools and non essential tools to start up a business. For example, you do need a computer but do you need a flat screen monitor? The answer is no you don't. You do however need a broadband connection, if only to reduce the amount of time you spend behind the desk each day. Any type of online business will require some uploading of information to a host or another repository of your specific data. Uploading times are substantially decreased with the use of high speed broadband versus dial up. Most everyone today has broadband available to them and the price has decreased substantially.

Knowing what you will need when you first start out can be confusing and a bit intimidating. On the following pages we have selected some of the most important tools for home business or small business. If you are just starting up or you have been online for any length of time you will find this selection of software and services of value.