So What's the Catch?
by Diane W. Collins
President - Marketingweb.com
dcollins@marketingweb.com
Archive

In the very near future you will see portal sites offering "free" hosting for your small e-business. Seems it has finally hit home that this $445 billion dollar a year IT market is worth some attention. There are a variety of reasons for this "loss leader" type of selling. Most of them have to do with the incredible market you and many others will represent under their roof.

Sometimes, however, offers seem too good to be true. It's usually because that's exactly what they are... too good to be true. Flying in the face of such "philanthropy", I would suggest you read the site agreements carefully before uploading any company information for which you hold a copyright or patent. Many an entrepreneur has regretted early contracts agreed to in the excitement of circumstances that appeared to be almost mentoring in nature.

Beware of any site agreements that require you to grant the hosting site a non-exclusive, non-revocable license to your copyrights and other intellectual property rights in all material and content displayed in your store. We found a clause like this while reviewing a popular host. It's launched us on an investigation to determine appropriate and ethical practices. More on this next week.

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