Advice You - Business

Today we want to talk about how you build your website and upload it to your host. (I’m sure you realize we can’t cover every detail of the process in these articles. My goal is just to get you started. To make it all work, you will need to get help from your local FE college or your t

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

echie as we have discussed in earlier articles. This is just an outline.)

Building your website

To build a website you need some software called either a ‘webpage builder’ or an ‘HTML editor’ (these both mean the same thing). There are three types:

The simpl

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

st and hardest to use requires you to write everything directly in HTML. I would forget about this one for now (if you’re interested, you can actually build your entire webpage using just Windows Notepad. You’re not really interested, are you?).

The one in the middle

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

allows you to enter text and format it – more or less the way you do when working in Microsoft Word. You can also add images, format background colours and borders. These are sometimes referred to as ‘WYSIWYG’ – pronounced ‘wizzywig’ -editors (what you see i

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

what you get: a really, really old – 1992 or so – computing term).

The easiest to use and least flexible is something we might call a ‘template’ or series of templates. These are often included as part of a complete package you might buy to get

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

ou started in the business. With templates, you ‘fill in the blanks’ then make selections for font, background colour and the like. Software packages that include a number of templates are available at reasonable cost.

I suggest you think about a WYSIWYG editor. They range i

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

price from about ?750 for a top-shelf package to about ?20 for something really basic. As a general rule, the more you pay, the more flexibility you have. The downside of this is that sometimes the more powerful, more flexible software is somewhat more difficult to use.

For a simple

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

ebpage, the ?20 package will probably do the job. Although you have less flexibility with the lower cost package, it is also easier to learn to use. You can always buy a more powerful package later. To make the best choice for your needs, ask your techie. If you have Microsoft FrontPag

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

on your PC this will do fine to start.

Next you need to choose a domain name.

In a perfect world, since you are in the business of direct marketing, you would choose a domain name like www.marketing.com or www.directmarketer.co.uk because these are the search terms people looking fo

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

you and your products might enter in search engines. Unfortunately, all these short, tidy domain names were claimed long ago.

Plan B: Go to the website www.whois.co.uk. There you will be able to enter your choice and see if it is av

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

ilable. You want to try to choose a domain name that reflects what you are selling or your speciality. Look for something like www.direct-marketing.co.uk or if, say, your expertise is in copywriting, go for something like www.greatcopywriting.com or www.thesalesletterpro.co.uk.

Stay a

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

way from cutesy names like www.here-be-copy.com or www.the-best-there-is.co.uk because nobody is searching for these, and they tell searchers absolutely nothing about your business. Search engines ignore hyphens, so a search for 'direct marketing' will return both www.directmarketing.c

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

m and www.direct-marketing.com. Sometimes simply adding a hyphen will allow you register the domain name of your choice.

Spend some time looking at the gurus’ domain names to get some ideas, then brainstorm your own. Registration of domain names costs very little – from about ?5 to ?1

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

per year – so you can register several without too much damage to your budget.

Next you need to find a host. Hosting is available at prices that range from about ?10 to ?30 per month depending on the service. Most include a range of services such as several email accounts, autorespon

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ers, webpage builders, reports on visitor statistics, SPAM filters and the like. Do a search and compare features. Ask your techie or your mentor. It’s fairly easy to switch to another host if you get a better offer.

So, you’ve registered your domain name, signed up with a host and bu

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

lt your website (your first website may consist of one page or several pages. From now on we shall refer to it as your ‘website’ or your ‘pages’). There is only one thing left to do, and it won’t hurt too much, I promise.

You need to upload your pages to your host’s server. For this y

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

u need some FTP software. Many hosts offer this as part of their packages. If not, you can buy one for under ?20. FTP software enables you to connect to your host and copy your pages from your page builder across to their server. It’s a simple process much like moving files from one di

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ectory to another by clicking and dragging.

Once you’ve uploaded your pages, go onto the Internet and type in www.yourdomainname.co.uk. Voila! (yes, French people actually say this), there is your website, up and running! Proof read it carefully – I always have at least one mistake in

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

mine, then check that all your links work properly.

If you find a typo or a broken link, go back into your page builder and make the corrections. Then upload the revised pages to your server (you simply copy over the existing pages, again, just like saving an edited Word document).

N

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

w all that’s left is to fine-tune it so it starts making you a pile of money. :-)

That’s all for this time. See you soon.

Next time we shall talk about selling from your website.

Thanks for listening :-)

Copyright © 2006 Mary Rice-Johnston & Golden Goose Direct. All rights reserved

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/30722/adviceyou-Notes-for-Newbies--Part-Sixteen--Building-Your-Website.html">Notes for Newbies - Part Sixteen - Building Your Website</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/30722/adviceyou-Notes-for-Newbies--Part-Sixteen--Building-Your-Website.html]Notes for Newbies - Part Sixteen - Building Your Website[/url]

How much do paralegals earn? How does that amount compare to secretaries' wages? Is more education required? This article compares earning potential for paralegals and secretaries.

Mystery shoppers visit businesses “disguised as normal customers,” and do the things other customers do—ask questions, make a purchase, make a return—but with a twist. These undercover customers evaluate the businesses get paid to shop in their favorite stores, eat in their favorite restaurants and more.

This article touches on ten specific ways that professional speakers can use their previous and potential contacts to boost their business.

Tags

Links

Advice You - Notes for Newbies - Part Sixteen - Building Your Website

Related Articles: