COMPLETE GUIDE to E-Commerce

[Colorado Ron]

Discovering E-Commerce

The business being provided with a presence online can provide it with a boost, especially if there has been stagnancy in sales.

Entrepreneurs can face numerous questions with regard to building up a presence online, just as it happens in the case of any expansion or move related to the business. These are related to the manner in which online payments are expected to be made by customers, the likely requirements of security, the manner in which customers are supposed to shop online, the actions of competitors, the way in which the business’ market is likely to be affected by its presence online and all the measures that are required to be taken to establish such a presence, among others. An attempt has been made here towards providing assistance with the search for suitable answers.

In a completely unprecedented manner, as far as the period of their existence is concerned, the next stage in the progression towards conversion into locations of sale of their marketing sites is likely to be learnt about by small businesses, on the websites of which hardly any capabilities for e-commerce exist. Sales, images and customer bases of the businesses can then be expanded on that account in ways never used before. The markets that are presently out of reach can be accessed as a transformation takes place in the business, by making use of the internet, as business without an online presence earlier are likely to discover.

Reasons for Online Presence

An almost immediate impact on marketing and sales efforts is likely to be witnessed and that is among the remarkable aspects of e-commerce. Potential customers that are based not only within the country, but around the world, can be accessed by even a small business, when it establishes an online presence. Borders of nations do not restrict sales that are based on the internet.

By 2008, USD230bn is the size of the online retail market that has been projected for businesses in the United States, by a firm known to carry out analyses of statistics and trends online and known as Forrester Research.

Research that PayPal commissioned and that was carried out by IPSOS has shown that profitability is being driven by the internet, besides the potential customers being reached in larger numbers through it. The bottom lines of the businesses are being improved with the internet’s assistance, rather than the internet being a mere source of extra expenditure, as shown by the survey.

An increase in sales or revenues on account of the internet was reported by 64% respondents from small businesses with online presence. Within the US, an expansion in geographic reach was aided by the internet, according to 48% of them. Administrative costs were lowered on that account, according to 73% of the respondents. The conducting of business became simpler and payments were received faster, because of business being conducted online, according to the owners of small businesses who were part of the study, thus improving the cash flow, which is of vital importance especially to a business that is new.

Even with competitors that are much larger, the field of play tends to become more level, when an online presence is established by entrepreneurs. Without having a physical presence over a vast area, even the attractiveness of large retail chains can be matched closely by the smallest of retailers, through the internet. Rather than stores that are larger, smaller businesses are often perceived as being more unique by shoppers that prefer the ‘boutique’ quality of smaller businesses.

[Colorado Ron]

The Requirements of an Online Presence

The returns of their hard work can be harvested and the obstacles in the path of a new business can be overcome by entrepreneurs on account of two qualities. Optimism and passion are required for achieving sales online, just as these are necessary for running a shop successfully offline. When a career is made in an area of work that the entrepreneur enjoys, it is on account of a desire that is defined by passion. Competitors, peers and even banks can be a source of cynicism and focus can be retained in the face of that with the help of a way of thinking that is positive. When a business becomes accessible to customers online, its success can depend to a large extent upon the positive attitude of the entrepreneurs.

There is often not too much difficulty involved with the process of a business being moved online. The areas of significance that positive thinking and passion have to be applied to by entrepreneurs, for a business to be established online include the following:

- The process of planning. Before a site for e-commerce is started, a number of things have to be decided after due consideration and a lot has to be known before that.
- A strategy for marketing. This is all about developing and maintaining relationships with customers, besides reaching out to them with the offerings of the business.
- Technological requirements. This covers a number of tools and tricks that are required.

[Colorado Ron]

1. The Process of Planning

A plan that is well-prepared is required by owners of all small businesses, first of all. For any entrepreneur and his or her business, a plan has to be formulated for the optimum use of available resources and for that one can benefit from the experience of peers and collect available information to the best possible extent as well. The internet can be of a lot of help, in this direction.

There are a number of important questions that are required to be addressed by the plan. A critical look at the proposed online business’ every aspect has to form its basis.

There are certain businesses that provide a product or service that is largely intangible. It is difficult to comprehend a way of putting such a product or service up for sale online. However, a business can be transformed immensely through the World Wide Web. Therefore, ways may be found of utilizing it for promoting the business. A presence online is expected of even businesses offering intangible services nowadays, by customers. Presence on the internet can be used to allow customers to make online payments, help raise demand through games related to products or services of the business, post videos or images related to the business’ facilities or offer discounts or provide tickets for sale.

In order to be able to survive, the competition has to be understood by the entrepreneurs seeking to operate online, which is the same as in the case of brick-and-mortar businesses. So, the mode of operation of other companies has to be understood. For online businesses to be differentiated from the competition and promoted, there is requirement for information and that can be obtained by the owners of online businesses by carrying competitive analyses.

The offerings of competitors operating online have also to be found out about, in addition to those of the competitors operating from the same geographical region as the business itself, by the entrepreneurs. This is something that has to be achieved besides building up an online presence. In order to search online for the most prominent competitors, searches may be run on leading shopping portals as well as search engines. The ones that appear consistently with high ranks on the lists are the ones to be studied carefully. Their target customers, product selections, promotional offers and pricing structures have to be looked at. In order for the business and its offerings to be distinctive, this should prove to be very helpful.

Rather than money, it is time that has to be spent on research of this kind, which can prove to be of immense value, even as it tends to consume a lot of time. The returns can be substantial for the time invested in this manner.

Providing the business with a certain degree of distinctiveness is significant, if there already are other businesses that provide products or services of a similar kind. A niche market may be catered to by the products or services of the business or an advantage in terms of technology or customer service may be possessed by it.

The business requires resources of various kinds and these have to be looked at. An online business has to function around the clock. In order to build loyalty from customers, to attract and retain them, orders have to be fulfilled in the way promised and the business has to be operated 24x7. So the amount of assistance that would be required to achieve that has to be assessed realistically by entrepreneurs.

The business being run encompasses a number of challenges and chores that owners of online businesses can find themselves overloaded with, generally. In order to co-ordinate the routine tasks of the business, professionals known as web experts are often sought help from. The possibilities that should be considered, while looking to hire web professionals that are trained well include the following:

- If permitted by the business’ size and nature, dedicated employees should be hired for web management.

- When new ventures have to be launched or online capabilities have to be expanded or the site requires changes, temporary employees can be hired periodically, as can be done while the business is being set up.

- For growth management and updating of the website, an outside organization may be hired and the hosting, design and development outsourced to it.

Technical support, customer discount coupons, options for making payments online that are secure, software for assistance with obtaining product listings on websites for shopping and online auction, customized pages for products and online catalogs are part of products that aid the establishment of e-commerce websites. Online locations for items that are intended to be purchased to be placed electronically by customers, also known as virtual shopping carts, are provided by such products to online stores. A monthly fee is generally charged by such products.

In order to connect the businesses to the target customers, the marketing and communications effort has to be customized, in keeping with the uniqueness of the audience. Some services or products have to be targeted at the people living in a specific geographic area, like those aimed at snow-bound areas, for instance. Others may be targeted at a particular age-group, like those meant for use by school-going children, for example. The manner in which the prospective customers are to be approached can depend upon considerations such as those related to socio-economic, demographic and geographic factors, whenever a new market is to be accessed. So, the target customer group has to be determined first of all.

It is as if the business has checkout stations and display windows around the world, when it has a presence online and that has to be taken note of by the entrepreneurs from the very outset. They might have to accept payments through a variety of credit cards and in terms of different currencies from all over the globe. So, the reach of the business can actually span all the areas where the internet is accessible.

Customers who use a different language to communicate than the one used on the website, the conversion of foreign currencies and the handling of shipping to various locations are among the matters that have to be decided upon while the ways in which customers from foreign countries are to be worked with are being determined by an online business. It is more than possible that the opportunities for sales overseas are better than those available domestically, even as the company could tell prospective customers that shipping would only be done within a certain geographical area and that only a particular currency would be accepted.

[Colorado Ron]

The purchases can be helped with the required conversions of currency by credit cards in the United States, since purchases from other countries are accepted by the leading ones among these. Australian dollars, US dollars, Japanese Yen, Canadian dollars, Pounds Sterling and Euros are among the currencies in which payments can be received through PayPal. So, the products of businesses in the United States can be sold with the help of services that accept payment on their behalf from visitors from various countries. So, even though it may not appear simple to cater to, a keen market should not be excluded by online businesses, as far as possible.

Charges for shipping can often lead to break downs in the case of online shopping, which underscore the importance of these charges. When prospective customers come across a product online that they would like to purchase, for various reasons, including the price, they might follow the process of ordering online, but only up to the point where they find out about the charges for shipping, if these charges happen to be too high, especially in relation to the price. They might then move on to another website selling similar products.

Shipping is offered for free by some companies that actually include it in the listed price. Shipping charges are absorbed by some other companies. On the basis of location and weight, any item’s shipping charges can be calculated by merchants through the websites of leading postal carriers

Instead of a margin being gained, the sale is likely to be lost by online businesses that attempt to earn a profit on charges for shipping. So, pricing and efficiency in shipping can either provide a huge advantage in terms of competitiveness or cause loss of business, depending on the way these are managed.

For inquiries related to customer service, a telephone number or email address should be provided by online businesses. Ordering-related problems, special requests or other questions may necessitate such contact on the part of customers. The image, service or product may require improvements and that can be gauged from the feedback received from customers, as can be the positive impact created by the business and its products. It can be of assistance for building up loyalty amongst customers. Elements such as these form important considerations for framing a policy for customer service.

It is important that businesses keep customers well-informed regarding issues of their concern, if customers are to be retained on the website. Having to wait for ever for a response to an email sent to an address provided on the website can lead to a sense of frustration on the part of customers. Consistency is necessary regarding the time within which queries from customers are responded to. Any period of time that is stated for the purpose should be adhered to as strictly as possible, in order to inspire confidence among customers. Therefore, the time limit has to be set realistically. The time taken for a complaint or inquiry via email or telephone to be responded to is one of customer service’s significant aspects.

A simple and easy to use design is important for the creation of a good website. The navigation of the interior pages should be easy and the homepage content should be able to catch the attention of consumers on the basis of its content and graphic design. Instead of the language used within the company, the kind of language that is likely to be used by customers should be utilized for the communication of information.

When considering navigation through the website for customers and the look of the website, it can be helpful to keep the following in mind:

- The company’s business should become clear to the visitors almost immediately

- Within a couple of clicks, the information required by users should become available to them

- At all times, their location within the website should be known to visitors. For this purpose, the website’s structure, leading to the current page from the homepage, should be clearly visible. The business’ name should be included in links and/or headers, preferably.

- Answers to any of their questions should be easily available to visitors.

- Users who are physically challenged should also be able to access content and this can be achieved by including audio descriptions wherever possible, besides images and fonts those are sufficiently large in size.

- The text should not only be correctly spelt, but also well-written. The information’s quality should be paid attention to.

- As far as possible, catchphrase use should be restricted to a minimum.

- The users should be able to reach the homepage in a single click from any of the website’s pages, through a link provided for the purpose.

- Instead of distracting or flashy visuals, useful ones should be developed. Maps along with directions, graphics depicting product categories, product photographs or illustrations are among the kind of visuals that could prove useful.

- Suitable technologies have to be selected carefully, in order to prevent technology overload. For instance, users that access the internet through a dial-up connection may find it difficult to access a page designed using graphics and animation of a complex kind built with the help of, say, Macromedia Flash.

[Colorado Ron]

2. A Strategy for Marketing

Since it is not possible for those who shop online to examine a product by picking it up, they like to see the way it looks, by means of photographs. So, the inclusion of a number of photographs is significant for the online sale of a product and is among the leading ways of doing that. In order to give the viewers an idea of the size, another object may be placed next to the product, while taking a photograph. The products may also be photographed from a variety of angles.

The following should be considered while a strategy for marketing of the product is being formulated.

The company’s website should not over-sell or over-describe its offerings. In a tone that is conversational, the service or the product’s positive benefits should be brought out through information that can prove useful to the shoppers.

A business’ offerings may be bolstered by the offer of partnerships or complementary products. Complementary items may be offered through partnerships with other businesses, by those whose product variety does not happen to be too broad.

Getting Fresh Customers via Internet

Among the ways in which online marketers attract visitors to a website, communications through email and the search results of search engines are the leading choices.

Search Engines

A goal that is sought after for its great significance in terms of online marketing is achieving a listing of the website in the first one or two pages of the results of a search engine. On the online search engines, there are several hundred thousand websites listed. So, getting a website to be among the leading ones is a challenge. ‘Paid search’ and ‘natural search’ are among the approaches for ensuring that the website’s link appears at a high position among the results.

The keywords that are likely to be used by consumers to search for products like those offered by the business should be incorporated in the website’s content, so that it gets a high rank in natural searches. The links from other sites to the company’s website should also include the keywords. For instance, if the company has an online pet food store, then the website should be reachable when the customer runs a search on “pet food”.

For improving a website’s natural search rank, a number of strategies may be adopted. For ensuring that websites are marketed honestly, search engines have certain rules and regulations in place. However, not all vendors follow these and use legitimate strategies. So, it should be helpful to find other businesses that they have worked for, so that references can be checked, in case the strategy for natural-search is to be implemented through a third-party service provider. Their policies regarding the implementation of search engine service agreements should also be looked at carefully.

The companies that wish to have their websites listed at or near the top of the search results of search engines have to pay money, in the case of paid search. A description may be created and keywords related to its services or products may be suggested by a business, for that purpose. Companies may even select geographic areas that they wish to target the marketing campaign at. Every time the listing of the company is clicked upon by a customer, a certain fee is charged. Google, Yahoo and Lycos are among the leading search engines that may be used for such marketing efforts.

On the basis of keywords, a pricing plan related to cost-per-click is offered by Google. Clicks and attention are attracted by the sponsored links, as the business listings on Google are known as, which are to be seen alongside search results that are related to the subject.

In order to find out the program that could be most suitable for their business, companies should look at a number of search engines.

Marketing through Email

The process of sales can become more personal and relationships with customers can be deepened through email marketing, if it is done properly.

For businesses that operate online, an excellent tool for marketing can be represented by newsletters sent through email to customers who subscribe to these. News and/or information related to the business line of the company can be provided through email newsletters, as against product-and-price flyers that are hard-hitting. A business might, for example, send information regarding activities where its products are likely to be utilized, through the newsletter. Along with that, discounts or other incentives for purchasing its products through its website may be offered by the business to its customers, in this manner.

Subscribers are often reached out to with discounts or special offers by businesses, through such newsletters. Those that subscribe to the newsletter have already evinced interest in the company and the products that it sells and so are likely to be a receptive audience. Therefore, this can prove to be a low-cost option for promotion. As against publications that use paper, this holds an advantage since innumerable copies can be sent without having to worry about the charges for printing a large number of copies.

[Colorado Ron]

3. Technological Requirements

A location and a name are the first things that are required for starting an online business, just as these are required for an offline business. These are required for building the business, once a strategy and a plan are in place for the business. Quite often, the location and the name can be two aspects of the same thing, in the case of an online business. A Uniform Resource Locator or URL is used to express the online business’ address. An organization’s address is a name ending in dot org, whereas a commercial website’s address is a name ending in dot com, generally. A close reflection of the name of the company or the name itself can be used as the address, if it has not already been registered by some other entity.


Getting a URL

For a small fee that has to be paid annually, a URL can be claimed and registered by a business. Among the leading websites that are used for the purpose are www.networksolutions.com and www.register.com. The address simply defines a property that the entrepreneur will subsequently require to develop.

The website or at least all the electronic files that comprise it reside in space acquired especially for that purpose on a computer. For a nominal fee, annual or monthly, space is rented on servers, which are computers with a large amount of storage space, by ISPs or Internet Service Providers that provide services related to hosting of online content on a commercial basis. Accessibility has to be ensured 24x7 and the hardware as well as software required to maintain the website has to be taken care of by the large or mid-sized companies that decide to have their own servers to host their websites. The time that is taken for web pages to be downloaded by those who shop online can also be speeded up by the ISPs.

Carts for Shopping Online

Shopping carts of the virtual kind are needed for operation of online stores in an efficient way. In the process of fulfillment, the first step is constituted by these order forms of the electronic type.

These are meant to help accomplish the following in a secure manner.

1. Let shoppers pick items that they wish to purchase, after they have browsed through a number of items and chosen a few out of those.

2. Show a summary of the chosen items.

3. Make links to the product’s description, policy for return and other such information available to the shoppers, before they complete the purchase.

4. Before the shopper checks out, let the shopper remove any of the items ordered or to alter the quantities ordered.

5. Let the customers go back to select additional items or to navigate the process for checkout, whichever they might prefer.

From the websites, multiple product orders can be accepted by the sellers, through software for shopping carts. Charges for shipping, tax and the order placed by the customer are totaled and calculated automatically by it. In order to smoothen the process of shipping and acceptance of orders, the US Postal Service’s capabilities for fulfillment are also integrated into some of the virtual shopping carts.

Secure technology for online shopping carts is offered by a number of services. The merchant members of the services offered by PayPal are provided with a shopping cart program for free. Automatic rolling out of the process takes place when shoppers select PayPal for making payments at the time of checkout. Regular updates and security are ensured, when a third party website is used for keeping the shopping cart at, by other ASP (Application Service Provider) companies. In return for an annual or monthly fee, such a service is provided by websites like GoMerchant.com and Securenetshop.com. QuickStore and Miva Merchant are among the software that can be purchased for the purpose.

[Colorado Ron]

Conversion of Shoppers to Purchasers

Those who shop online can be very fastidious. During the entire experience of shopping, they can tend to be rather wary, especially when the easy returns or short delivery times provided by online shopping have not been experienced by them before on account of not having shopped online before. The shopper should be provided with flexibility, clarity and ease during the process of checkout by a shopping cart that is secure and well-planned.

Concerns related to handling, service, shipping or delivery can cause more than half of all shoppers to quit a transaction in the middle of it, while shopping at some of the stores based online, as has been discovered through research. On certain e-commerce websites, the instances of shopping carts being abandoned like that have been estimated at 60-90%. Insufficient information being made available to the shoppers, the process having caused frustration and/or confusion on the part of the shoppers have been cited among the leading reasons. The cart is simply used for collecting the items under consideration by some shoppers, who do not purchase anything, ultimately.

The following should be considered, when a business sets up a shopping cart online.

- Even before the registration process ends, the buyer may end the process on account of its complexity and issues related to privacy. Voluminous forms having to be filled in by the shoppers, passwords having to be created by them and the logging in process being too lengthy are potential pitfalls and should be avoided.

- The structure for shipping fees, the policy for returns, guarantees for delivery, warranties and other such policies for customer service should be detailed on a page and a link to that should be provided.

- If customers have any questions or problems with respect to checkout, they should have available a toll-free telephone number to call with their queries. A page with the FAQs (frequently asked questions) and tips for ‘help’ should also be available.

- That the process of online transmission is secure and encryption has been used to protect the information related to credit cards should be assured.

- The pages containing information about the products should be linked to the checkout page, so that without leaving the page, information regarding the items under consideration for purchase can be accessed by the customers.

- When they are at the checkout page, the purchasers should be able to choose from various product styles and models, alter quantities and remove or add items, without much difficulty.

- Besides being able to make changes in steps gone through earlier by returning to these, the current step should also be displayed clearly to the purchasers, besides the total number of steps being made known to them, at any point in the process of checkout.

- At the checkout process’ front end, the costs of shipping should be displayed. The quantity to be purchased and the decision of purchase itself can be based on that for a number of products.

- As against other links or buttons, greater prominence should be given to link or button for navigating to the next step in the checkout process.

- Online services for payment, checks, credit cards and other such options should be among the several options made available to purchasers.

In the early stages of a company, its very existence can be dependent upon cash flows. So, along with the options to make payments through money orders or checks, the option to pay through credit card is also made available to purchasers by the businesses. Whichever method is preferred by the purchasers is chosen by them and that improves the opportunities for the business to receive payments through modes of payment preferred by the purchasers.

Since the amount reaches the account almost at once, the cash flow and revenues are improved through the online acceptance of payments. Worldwide, the number of consumer credit cards runs into billions. As against the purchasers who pay through personal checks, those paying through credit cards are more likely to purchase on an impulse. Also, when there are sufficient funds in the consumers’ accounts, payments through credit cards are not returned.

Among the ways of accepting payments online through an e-commerce function are the following alternatives:

- Using a merchant account to process payments. Before looking for a way for transaction processing, a merchant account has to be applied for with a bank by the owner of a small business, in order to be able to accept online credit card payments. A card reader is used for swiping a card through, to process the transaction in an offline business. A merchant account processor verifies the information related to a credit card, when it is keyed in by the purchaser, for processing to be completed in the case of online businesses.

The preferred payment method is enquired about from shoppers during the flow of online checkout. In order to put in the information related to a credit card, a secure page is where the shopper is redirected to, in case the mode of payment is selected as a credit card. The information is passed on to the merchant account after it is submitted by the shoppers and is denied or accepted after verification there by the service provider for the merchant account.

However, owners of small businesses may encounter some drawbacks while using merchant accounts. Fees for each transaction, in addition to monthly and set-up fees, are charged by most banks. If, in order to receive payments online, the owner of a business wishes to convert an existing account into one appropriate for that purpose, additional fees may have to be paid. Besides, labeling them as operations involving a high degree of risk, banks may decide to not approve merchant accounts for online businesses that are small.

Owners of businesses may find it difficult to integrate merchant accounts on their own into the operations. The process of approval may take up to a month. All that is required to receive online payments, including a merchant account, may be obtained through merchant service bureaus that have sprouted into an industry of late, as the sales taking place online have increased steadily.

The integration of a service for online payment. PayPal is among the services for online payment that may be utilized if the fees for a merchant account appear to be too high or the business finds it difficult to access such an account for some other reason. In a convenient and safe way, payments and transactions made through credit-cards can be accepted by businesses through PayPal. A bank account can be used for directly sending payments, through the use of PayPal.

In order for the transaction to be completed, a PayPal account may be signed up for or signed into by a purchaser, when, during checkout, the preference for making the payment through PayPal is indicated by him or her.

PayPal provides some benefits for the merchants as well. Gateway fees, setup charges, minimum charges or monthly charges do not have to be paid. In addition to a per transaction charge of 30 cents, a 1.9-2.9% transaction fee is charged per transaction by PayPal. For online sellers, chargebacks are also actively contested by PayPal. Any chargeback by a customer is not likely to affect the seller, if the PayPal Seller Protection Policy’s requirements are met by the transaction.

[Colorado Ron]

Security for Transactions

A shopping experience that is safe should be offered by websites and entrepreneurs should try to achieve that as far as possible. The measures that are required to be adopted by small businesses operating online have been developed by those adept at technical matters and ensuring security does not require the entrepreneurs to be experts at security in terms of information technology.
All the measures for security that are required to be in place for a small business are brought together by some of the services that are available. Without looking at or storing its customers’ account numbers, credit cards can be accepted on a website, with the help of PayPal. Since financial or personal information is not required to be shared online by purchasers, their sense of safety is enhanced. Secure handling of payments through electronic check or credit card can also be achieved through Chase Paymentech Solutions, CyberSource or Authorizenet.com, among other gateway services.

A Policy to Ensure Privacy

For businesses that operate online, it is essential to have a privacy policy because consumers may get aggravated due to spam or fear theft of identity. Shopping carts as well as catalog pages are expected to be linked to the privacy policy by the customers who like it to be displayed prominently on websites.

The uses for and the manner of collection of the financial and personal contact details of the customers and other such data should be described in a privacy policy. Receipt of communications from the company, such as newsletters sent through email, should be optional for the customers, as should be distribution or sale of their personal information.

It is important that the privacy policy must be stuck to by the online businesses as well its being posted on the websites. That the information is likely to be used responsibly and the privacy of customers taken seriously by the business is demonstrated by such a policy.

TRUSTe is a company through which the privacy policies of businesses can receive a ‘seal of approval’. The websites for e-commerce that comply with its processes for resolution of disputes and for verification and adhere to its principles for ensuring privacy are allowed to use its seal in return for an annual fee, by this organization that is based at California. In order to aid with the process, a ‘wizard’ for writing a privacy policy is offered, along with models that can be adapted by those businesses that are yet to develop a privacy policy of their own.

It has probably never been easier to start an online business, even though the challenges involved can often seem to be quite overwhelming. Automation and standardization have come into play for many processes that have to be completed for a business to be moved online. When online customers’ trust is gained and the new markets are optimized by the owners of the businesses, during the online store’s establishment, they often tend to discover new meanings in their business lives.

Any one whose personality happens to be entrepreneurial is likely to find the internet to work well for him or her. Entrepreneurs can find a lot of opportunities for adopting a line of business that is in accordance with their interests. A large number of services and products have a marketplace available globally through the internet and the opportunity presented by this to entrepreneurs is rather low-cost and easy to avail of. With a very small amount of effort involved on the part of the customers, online businesses can do rather well and that is quite remarkable

[Colorado Ron]

Stages of a Business’ Move Online

The following stages can be followed for a business to be moved online.

- A review of the competition. A way has to be found for differentiating the business from the competition and the online competitors have to be looked at for that purpose.

- A domain name has to be registered.

- The navigation and design of the website has to be determined after purchasing software for web development or hiring some one for developing the website.

- An internet service provider has to be found for outsourcing or a server has to be purchased for the website.

- A payment service and shopping cart have to be part of the solution for online ordering that has to be secure as well.

- Anti-virus software has to be used to protect the computers and the website against viruses.

- Policies for customer service have to be determined and published, as part of a plan for marketing that also has to be developed.

- Public relations or marketing firms, product suppliers, web technicians, search engine optimizers, shippers and fulfillment services are among the crucial partners with whom alliances have to be established.

- Listings of products or catalogs have to be created online.

- For the customers’ benefit, the listings, catalogs and inventory have to be updated with the latest information, from time to time.