Perhaps you've worked for someone else long
enough and it's time for you to branch out on your own. The
Internet offers unlimited opportunities for doing business.
Although the debate continues to rage on the topic of Internet
commercialism–originally it was created for academic and
research use–the graphical environment of the Web seems to
be perfect for commerce. A would-be cyber vendor trying to
sell T-shirts online just a few years ago would have been
roundly "flamed" for even suggesting that the
Internet could be a potential market.
Today, the Internet community has expanded
to such a degree that the newest participants have come to
expect and even demand online business activity. This is
especially true with any computer hardware- or
software-related company. If you can't find a ready resource
for online support of a computer product, you should take that
as a signal that the company is less than fully committed to
customer service.
There has never been a better time to launch
a business. Web site than right now As a business
communication medium, a Web site has the capacity to encompass
the functions of marketing, advertising, research and
providing corporate information. Initially, your business
should focus on one or two of these key areas to determine how
to establish your presence on the Internet.
What Makes a Successful
Business Site?
For successful communication on the
Internet, you need to have customers come to you–and come
back to you–with an information exchange that leads to
increased revenue. The first thing you should do to be
successful on the Internet is target who will buy your
product. You need to find where these people go when they're
online. What do they do? What do they read? And can you reach
them regularly and at a low cost?
There's no point in trying to sell to a
particular group of consumers if you can't easily identify
them and reaching them is costly. If your market is so
specific that in order to reach just one customer you have to
advertise to thousands of people who would never buy what
you're selling, then the Internet may not be for you.
But if you choose e-commerce (doing business
on the Internet), you must give your customers what they want
and more. You must add value and linkage to other useful
information on the Web. And by all means, you must never
offend potential customers by giving them only what they need,
as opposed to what they want.
Creating a professional-looking site takes
some doing. Experience has shown that the design of a Web site
isn't as important as the words used. After all, it's the
words, not the graphics that sell products! The words download
almost instantly, while graphics take longer. The entire home
page should be on a customer's computer screen in less than 20
seconds.
The key to using the Internet successfully
is attracting people. If your site isn't user friendly, people
won't visit it, despite all the high-tech software you used to
design it. Your site should also be capable of being updated
immediately while incurring marginal costs, have a multimedia
combination of presentation technologies, and encourage and
promote cross-marketing.
The Internet's technology encourages
businesses to become linked electronically. By linking with
other Web sites, you'll gain access to even more people who
are online. Interactivity, at some level, is essential to the
success of your business Web site. Your business must solicit
and respond to those potential customers who are looking for
interactive communication. At a minimum, your Web site should
provide e-mail for customers and others to contact it. You can
also accomplish interaction by providing opportunities for
guest books, monthly surveys, registration for free items,
requests for more information about your business and your
products, requests for samples, files transfers of documents,
and accepting orders.
Lastly, your business' domain name can be as
important as its business name. The name you choose should be
easy to remember so customers can go directly to your Web
site. If your company conducts business using a registered
trademark, you should be able to obtain that name for use as
your domain name, although there are no guarantees that it's
not already in use by a different type of business.
Online Security
Since so many people have access to
information on the Web, it became necessary to find a way to
secure private information such as credit card numbers. Each
Web server and browser have built-in encryption, or the
manipulation of data in order to prevent any but the intended
recipient from reading that data, which allows a secure link
between the user and the company owning the Web page. This
allows a user to order an item using his or her credit card
without it falling into the wrong hands.
This is done by using a Security
Certificate, a chunk of information, stored as a text file,
that’s used to establish a secure connection. It may contain
information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a
unique serial number or other unique identification, and valid
dates. In order for a secure connection to be created, both
the server and browser must have a valid Security Certificate.
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