It's been awhile, but the Internet is fun again.

Oh, no... Wait... It's more than just fun.  It is usable and accessible in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.  If you wrote off the Internet after the dot-com bust, then a lot has changed while you were away.  Let me bring you up to speed:

Who can forget the tech boom of the late '90s... What heady salad days those were.  If you weren't on-line you might as well have packed up and moved to Antarctica... Except it turns out even Antarctica was wired!  The money flowed like crazy as web start-up after web-start up managed to score millions of dollars in venture capital for ideas that any biz school flunky would have scratched their head at.  But it didn't matter.  Somehow we all thought it would sort out in the end.  The same people who now say "Oh, of course it was a bubble... It was obvious" were the same ones habitually hitting the refresh key to see their Ameritrade portfolios increase exponentially.  Hey, I was one of them.  If you say you weren't one of those folks, then welcome to the website, Mr. Greenspan.

If you were in business then, you were probably scrambling to catch the wave.  Get a domain name, get a website, hire a webmaster... Cost be damned, FULL SPEED AHEAD!  WE CAN'T BE LEFT BEHIND!

The beginning of the end came on Jan 14, 2000, when the Dow Jones closed at a record high of 11722.98, then began a slow and steady decline the next day.  We all know what happened, and a lot of us felt the effects first hand, with lost jobs, greatly reduced retirement funds, and worthless stock.  The word "correction" still doesn't do it all justice.

I survived the bust working at a very small software shop with a handful of employees and lots of big ideas.  We survived with luck and pluck.  It wasn't without anxiety, and many weeks I caught myself wondering if it would be our last.  A few times, it almost was.

Eventually, it all pretty much sorted itself out, but the image of the web and high-tech took quite a hit.  As companies dusted things off, they came to realize their webmasters were flipping burgers somewhere, or had been outsourced to India... And that's assuming they could be found at all.  Businesses were still being charged outrageous pre-bust rates for web hosting.  Lots of companies realized the so-called quick and easy money of the boom had quietly come with considerable overhead costs.  They were still paying the outrageous bills for highly specialized web and database solutions that had since died on the vine.  The Internet wasn't much fun anymore.

Fast forward to today:  A funny thing has happened.  Web hosting has never been cheaper... And even though cheaper, it has never been more powerful.  Hosting packages that once cost hundreds of dollars PER MONTH can now be had for less than fifty dollars PER YEAR! And these are not fly-by-night operations with shabby equipment.  Never has state-of-the-art web technology been more affordable.  Quietly, it's the Internet's second revolution.

So what does this mean for you, the little guy?  It means for the first time ever you can have  the kind of web presence that used to be reserved only for the big boys with deep pockets.  Small companies have big dreams too, and in the Internet world there has never been a more level playing field.  You want to have people be able to sign up for your self-maintaining electronic newsletter?  No problem.  You want your customers to be able to track the status of their orders on-line in real time?  Sure.  You want to set up your own auction site to sell widgets  C'mon... challenge me sometime... Make the web work for you.  It's easier than you think.  Dynamic and data driven sites that function as more than just electronic billboards are at your fingertips.

WebZealot was founded on the notion that a fabulous website shouldn't just be for the fabulously technical, the fabulously geeky, or the fabulously wealthy.  The Internet can be daunting, so if all you need is a hand to hold while you claim a domain, or you're worried you might break the World Wide Web, then WebZealot is here and happy to help.

The Internet is fun again!  Give me a chance and let me show you how to feel the zeal...