|
|
|
Finding Forums
The Value of Forums - Finding Forums There are literally thousands of online forums that cover a wide range of topics. Forums provide individuals, who share a common interest, with a meeting place for open discussion, and a great gathering spot for...
How to Search your PC with Google Desktop
In this era of Internet, most people are frequent users of computers. Many of us use computers through out the day, accumulating morasses of information in various formats, which include email, digital photo, word document, spreadsheet,...
Making The Decision To Automate Your Software Testing
Not every software testing project can or should be automated. Before your department accepts a new test automation project, you should establish a process by which projects are reviewed and either accepted or rejected. This can be done with a...
PhotoELF in Zoom
The fairy tale of the shoemaker and the elves tells us the story of a poor shoemaker and his wife, who didn’t have enough money to buy materials for their shoes. That was until the elves came into their lives and helped them make the fanciest and...
Privacy Heat Generates Little Light
Privacy and security are topics I've been following closely for over two years online and off. I know I've seen some rather vehement and heated opinions voiced on Privacy and I've watched otherwise very level-headed discussions turn rather boistrous...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seven Strategies for Building a Successful Internet Business
By 2004 Forrester Research, Inc. estimates that business-to-business commerce on the web will hit $2.7 trillion. It's true that the web can be a highly profitable venture, but without careful planning, your business may flounder before it ever makes money. Following these seven steps can help you plan a cohesive strategy before you sell your first product.
Identify Your Internet Business- Ask yourself why customers would come to your web site. Is it an extension of your bricks and mortar store? Or will it be a stand-alone operation? What can you provide that no one else can? Of what value is your site to customers? Even if you don't sell online, you need to answer these questions. Customers don't always come to a web site to buy products. Sometimes they come for information. Tell them about the products you sell, give them your store hours and phone number, provide a map so they can find your shop. Even though you haven't sold them anything, you've given them value. Customers will come back to your site if you provide value.
Create a well designed, easy-to-use, fast, and functional web site- Your web site should have a clean, straightforward design. Customers don't like busy, cluttered web sites. A customer should be able to find a product in two mouse clicks. Any more and they feel like they're being led through a maze. Or worse, they may lose interest and leave.
Keep the graphics and text simple and small. Animation and sound files can be interesting, but don't force customers to view these items in order to buy a product.
There are many options for managing orders. The most popular way to manage orders is through shopping cart technology. The customer goes through the site and picks items s/he wants to buy. At check out, s/he fills in billing details and purchases the items. Building a shopping cart requires programming knowledge or a software package that can manage the behind the scenes work.
Can customers pay online with a credit card? They increasingly like the convenience of this. The order is placed quickly and they receive an instant confirmation receipt. However, your store must be enabled to accept online credit card purchases. This requires both a merchant account that accepts online orders and an electronic gateway that facilitates the transaction.
Select the right domain name- A domain name is an extension of your store. It is the first thing people learn about the store, so the name should be relevant to the business. If you own a store or a brand name, this
should be the domain name as well. Many single words have been registered as domains already. New domain names can be up to 67 characters long, so choose a combination of words that describes your store.
Post your site to a trustworthy web-hosting provider- Your site is effective only when people can see it. If your web site is inaccessible, you can't do business. Use a web-hosting provider that guarantees a high level of service. They should have daily backups and redundant systems. A good provider gives you access to web statistics. Statistics can tell you where customers are coming from, what they look at and what lead them there in the first place. Because you are dealing with sensitive information, your provider should use state of the art security to protect your site from hackers.
Promote your web site- Promote your site every chance you get. Search engines are a great way to do this because they bring in a target market. Add relevant keywords and a description to the metatags and then register with the search engines. If you are unfamiliar with metatags, some software packages will help you add them and submit your site to search engines.
Put your web site on your business cards, print it on receipts, put a sign in your store window, tell people you've started a website. A link exchange is useful. Make sure your links are relevant and compliment your site.
Place ads in papers or trade journals targeting your audience. Write a column for a local newspaper. Offer a free web seminar at a library. Go where your customers go.
Stay informed about your web site- Provide a form or an email address so customers can include comments. What do they want from your web site? Are they complaining about the pages or images? Can they order the products they want? Can your server handle the web traffic?
Web statistics can provide important information. You may be getting a lot of visitors, but very few orders. Look at your site from a customer perspective and review the tips about web design.
Change your business based on the information you receive and know- Customer feedback is like a free business consultation, if you know how to use it. Even angry letters can serve a purpose. When customers take the time to give you feedback, the underlying message is "We want to order from you, here's how you can let us." Pay attention to their comments and give customers what they want.
About the Author
Amy Flynn
Go Daddy Software
aflynn@godaddy.com
480-824-1353
|
|
|
|
|
| Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
| Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
| www.tucows.com |
|
| Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
| Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
| www.download.com |
|
| Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
| Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
| www.shareware.com |
|
| Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
| Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
| www.jumbo.com |
|
| Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| IEEE Software |
| IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
| www.computer.org |
|
| Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
| ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
| downloads.zdnet.com |
|
| FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
| Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
| www.fsf.org |
|
| Apple - Software |
| Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
| www.apple.com |
|
| Open Directory - Computers: Software |
| In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
| About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
| freshmeat.net |
|
| Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
| Listing of the GNU software packages. |
| www.gnu.org |
|
| Sun Software |
| Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
| www.sun.com |
|
| Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
| SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
| www.internetrealestate.com |
|
| Joel on Software |
| A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
| www.joelonsoftware.com |
|
| Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
| Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| IBM Software - Home Page |
| IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
| www.ibm.com |
|
| Opera web browser: Homepage |
| Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
| www.opera.com |
|
| Google Directory - Computers > Software |
| Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
| www.google.com |
|
|