Understanding the Internet

Succeeding at e-business is not a question of six figure marketing budget or technological wizardry. Rather it about understands how and why people use the Internet. There are four main reasons for people going on the Internet. These are;

To find information
To be entertained
To interact
To shop

If a website cannot satisfy any of the above criteria 9and many don’t), it is unlikely to become a cyber success. If, on the other hand, you design your e-business efforts from the perspective of the end user, you will be on the right track. This outside in approach is the key to every effective site, from Amazon to Yahoo. Even if your online activity is only intend to support or supplement your offline business, you must be able to offer something of real substance, be it information, entertainment, interaction or fantastic products. Furthermore, although the world’s population of e-shoppers is rapidly on the increase, online shopping is a completely different practice to shopping on the high street. For a start, nobody is going to just pass by your site and make a spur of the moment purchase. People how arrive at your site are there because they have sought you out, not because you have an attractive workplace or because you are conveniently located.

Businesses are now expected to inform and interact with their customers at a closer level than ever before. The old business cry of location has now been over shadowed by the voice of e-business ‘information’.

Another different is that you have a lot more competition. While a record shop in Cambridge many be the only seller of rare jazz albums in that area, on the Internet, there will be many other places people can visit to satisfy their jazz cravings. This means that simply laying out your wares isn’t enough. No mater how niche your business is, the chances are that there are other people out there doing something similar (for instance, there are over 100 websites out there selling nothing but hot chili sauce). The Internet many have made the world a smaller place, but it has made the market a whole lot larger. You therefore need to add value to your website, and to differentiate your e-business from its competition. This is the challenge this blog will help you rise to, by showing you how to tackle and work with the Internet on its own terms.