LAUNCHING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS

GETTING INTO E-COMMERCE

Almost any e-commerce initiative will require support activities and services, as well as plans for attracting visitors to a Web site

1. Developing a Web site

2. Hosting the Web site and selecting and registering a domain name

3. Developing, updating, and managing the content of a Web site

4. Designing a Web site for maximum usability

5. Providing support services

STARTING A NEW ONLINE BUSINESS

Steps:

1. Identify a consumer or business need in the marketplace

2. Investigate the opportunity

3. Determine the business owner’s ability to meet the need

ONLINE BUSINESS PLANNING

Business Plan

A written document that identifies a company’s goals and outlines how the company intends to achieve the goals and at what cost

Business Case

A document that justifies the investment of internal, organizational resources in a specific application or project

FUNDING A NEW ONLINE BUSINESS

1. Round of Initial Funding

· Angel Investor

A wealthy individual who contributes personal funds and possibly expertise at the earliest stage of business development

· Incubator

A company, university or non-profit organization that supports business in their initial stages of development

2. Round of Financing

· Venture Capital (VC)

Money invested in a business by an individual, a group of individuals (venture capitalists), or a funding company in exchange for equity in the business.

3. Additional Funding: A Large Partner

4. The Initial Public (IPO)

ADDING EC INITIATIVES TO AN EXISTING BUSINESS

1. A storefront

2. A portal

3. E-procurement

4. Auctions and reverse auctions

5. Other initiatives

CLASSIFICATION OF WEB SITES

1. Informational Web Site

A Web site that does little more than provide information about the business and its products and services

2. Interactive Web Site

A Web site that provides opportunities for the customers and the business to communicate and share information

3. Attractors

Web site features that attract and interact with visitors in the target stakeholder group

4. Transactional Web Site

A Web site that sells products and services

5. Collaborative Web Site

A site that allows business partners to collaborate

BUILDING A WEB SITE

Step 1—Select a Web host

Step 2—Register a domain name

Step 3—Create and manage content

Step 4—Design the Web site

Step 5—Construct the Web site and test

Step 6—Market and promote the Web site

WEB SITE HOSTING

Web Hosting Options

Store builder Service

A hosting service that provides disk space and services to help small and micro businesses build a Web site quickly and cheaply

ISP hosting service

A hosting service that provides an independent, stand-alone Web site for small and medium-sized businesses

Self-hosting

When a business acquires the hardware, software, staff, and dedicated telecommunications services necessary to set up and manage its own Web site

A Pure Hosting Service

Web hosting service

A dedicated Web site hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services and functionality to businesses of all sizes

Mirror Site

An exact duplicate of an original Web site that is physically located on a Web server on another continent

Co-location

A Web server owned and maintained by the business is placed in the hands of a Web hosting service that manages the server’s connection to the Internet

REGISTERING A DOMAIN NAME

Domain Name

A name-based address that identifies an Internet-connected server

Domain Name Registrar

A business that assists prospective Web site owners with finding and registering the domain name of their choice

Content

The text, images, sound, and video that make up a Web page

Dynamic Web Content

Content that is updated infrequently

Commodity Content

Information that is widely available and generally free to access on the Web

CONTENT CREATION AND ACQUISITION

Cross-Selling

Offering similar or related products and services to increase sales

Up-Selling

Offering an upgraded version of the product in order to boost sales and profit

· Promotion (e.g., coupon, rebate, discount)

· Comment (e.g., reviews, testimonials expert advice)

Creating Content:

Content is usually created by the site’s owners and developers

Buying Content:

Content that is acquired from outside sources should be supplemental content, not primary content

Buying from a Syndicator

Syndication:

The sale of the same good (e.g., digital content) to many customers, who then integrate it with other offerings and resell it or give it away free

Web Syndication

A form of syndication in which a section of a website is available for other sites to use

Really simple syndication

A family of web-feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content

The Syndication Supply Chain

CONTENT CREATION AND ACQUISITION

· Content Providers and Networks

· Representative Content-Related Vendors

· Delivering Content by E-Newsletter

· Writing Effective Content

Premium Content

Content not available elsewhere on the Web

Personalized Content

Web content that is prepared to match the needs and expectations of the individual visitor

E-Newsletter

A collection of short, informative articles sent at regular intervals by e-mail to individuals who have an interest in the newsletter’s topic

Writing Effective Content

Delivering effective content involves not only what is said, but how it is said

CONTENT MANAGEMENT

The process of adding, revising, and removing content from a Web site to keep content fresh, accurate, compelling, and credible

· Content Testing

· Measuring Content Quality

· Pitfalls of Content Management

· Content Removal

· Content Management Software

CATALOG CONTENT AND ITS MANAGEMENT

For buyers who aggregate suppliers’ catalogs on their own Web sites, content management begins with engaging suppliers and then collecting, standardizing, classifying, hosting, and continually updating their catalog data

TRANSLATION OF CONTENT TO OTHER LANGUAGES

The primary problems with language customization are cost and speed

CONTENT MAXIMIZATION AND STREAMING SERVICES

Many companies provide media-rich content, such as video clips, music, or Flash media, in an effort to reach their target audience with an appealing marketing message. These and other content providers are concerned about the download time from the user’s perspective

WEBSITE DESIGN

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

How the site and its Web pages are organized, labeled, and navigated to support browsing and searching throughout the Web site

DEEP LINKING

Entry into a Web site via the site’s interior pages, not the homepage, typically through search engines or external links

SITE NAVIGATION

Aids that help visitors find the information they need quickly and easily

FRAME

An HTML element that divides the browser window into two or more separate windows

LOOK AND FEEL

The elements, including layout, typeface, colors, graphics, and navigation aids, that visually distinguish a site from any other

Who Builds the Web Site?

1. Do It Yourself

2. Internal Web Site Development

· The process of building and/or maintaining the Web site with company staff

3. Outsource

4. External Web Site Development

· When the business hires another firm to build and/or maintain the Web site

CARD-NOT-PRESENT (CNP) TRANSACTION

A credit card transaction in which the merchant does not verify the customer’s signature

SIGNATURE FILE

A simple text message an e-mail program automatically adds to outgoing messages

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

The application of strategies intended to position a Web site at the top of Web search engines

OPTIONS FOR ACQUIRING STOREFRONTS

Selecting a Development Option

• Customers

• Merchandising

• Sales service

• Promotion

• Transaction processing

• Marketing data and analysis

• Branding