Some initial issues to consider are services, audience, and image. The first decision to make is about services. The Internet makes available all sorts of information. This information is retrievable through a variety of access methods. The World Wide Web is a method of accessing information in a specific manner.
Gopher is another type of access method.
E-Mail is yet another tool. Traditionally, if you wanted access to all of these information retrieval tools, you needed to go to an independent Internet Service Provider. These companies generally just sell access to the Internet. The major online services, such as America Online and Prodigy did not offer Internet access. This situation has changed.