Search Engines

Search engines convert online chaos into relative order. Without them, online research would be virtually impossible. You can use search engines to find information on practically anything to do with your e-business. The main search sites you should check out are listed below.

Google : www.google.com
Yahoo: www.yahoo.com
Alta Vista: www.altavista.com
Ask Jeeves: www.ask.com
Lycos: www.lycos.com

To find information on who your competitors are and what they are doing, when at the web site of one of these search engines, type the words you think people would use to get to a site like yours. Use as many different search engines as possible, because each will bring up different results. Also search on related industry portals and forums as well as visit your competitors sites to see what they are offering on their sites to see how big your online market is and how to fight with your competitors. You must always try to offer something unique that your competitors don’t offer. That will work as a value added service to your site. Look at the strengths and weakness of your rivals and how their sites are designed specially on the navigation system, are they easy to use?

Other things that you need to consider by visiting your competitors sites are Advertising, newsletters, interactivity, objectives, and traffic. Advertising means that are they allow others to place adds on their site. If there are advertisements then you have to try to contact them and get the details of their advertising rates. You must do this without let them knowing that you are a competitor; otherwise they will not give you the correct details. After this you can see what price you must set on your site for prospective adverts.

If there are a newsletter offering, then you must sign for their newsletter. In this case you can keep in touch about their new arrivals and pricing. Try to not to give your default email address because that could be a problem if they are not genuine.

Interactivity is that is there are enough details to contact them and is there a form to send your feedbacks to them. If there is a form try to send a feed back and see how quickly they respond.

Try to understand the site’s objectives, are they sells products online or just it is support for their offline business.

If there is a hit counter that list the number of visitors, see how it performs. But you can not entirely trust these hit counters because the site administrator can manually reset the counter to a higher level even there are no visitors are all. So just keep this as a number only but do not depend so much on this to make your decisions.

The other important factor is bookmark all interesting site you think you might want to visit regularly. You can do this using your web browser. This will help you to keep track of what your competitors doing, how often they upgrade their website and so on.

Market research

Before you setup online, you will need to conduct market research to help formulate your objectives. Online research will enable you to keep track of your competitors, potential customers and any other factors that could influence your e-business.

The Internet is the perfect source than any other, because it gives you more and up-to-date information and it is very easy to carry out the research. You will also able to read articles about other successful e-businesses from their owners and there are organizations that gives you advices on how to do business online and what products sell well on the Internet. Specially you must go to www.ebay.com because that is the largest selling place in the Internet. There are lots of research reports that about the products selling during the year. You can see what is the demand for your product and what time in the year they sell well on the Internet. What you have to do next is Google the net for your topic and objectives.

Plan your objectives

Before embarking upon going online, you need to be completely clear of your objectives. Take time out to think about what you want to achieve online. You may run a business selling cosmetics, but that doesn’t mean your site only objective is to sell more make-up products. When thinking about what your site should achieve, you need to step back and look at the situation from customer’s perspective, because on the Internet the customer is definitely in control.

Here are some general objectives that may apply to your online site. You may want your web site to:
Increase sales
Build trust
Generate brand awareness
Offer improves customer service
Provide relevant and up-to-date information
Expand your business overseas
Provide a point of contact for your existing customers

When you have put together your objectives, you will then be able to clarify hoe you are targeting your prospective customers and how much money you should spend opening the site.

Seeking investment

If you are starting an e-business from scratch, you might need to seek investment. Here is a brief overview of the different sources of investment funding potentially, at least, available to internet start-ups:

Friends and family – This refers not only to your network of friends, family and colleagues, but also to their friends and family as well. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezoz kick-started his company with a hefty six-figure investment from his parents in the mid 1990s. they now own 6 per cent of the company.

Angel investors – angel investors invest in new but well researched e-business ideas. They take an advisory role without making demands. They will be prepared to invest at an earlier stage than venture capitalists. To attract angel investors, you will need to have drawn up a very strong business plan and done a lot of research. Attend e-business networking events and have a look at services such as Garage (www.garage.com) that specialize in matching investors to start-ups.

Venture capitalists – usually these are big money firms that invest a substantial amount of money in an internet based business, then work closely with that business to make sure things happen. Venture capital will provide your e-business with the heist amount of finance, but in return you would probably have to give investors a 20 to 40 per cent share ant a lot of decision making power. To find out more about venture capital funding, visit the First Tuesday site (www.firsttuesday.co.uk), which is full of advice and information of future networking events.

Advice on all aspects of e-business investments can be found at www.3i.com site.

Selecting a domain name

If you already have a business in the real world and are looking to spread your wings in cyberspace, it is best to stick with the same name. therefore, if your business is called Robert Records, you should try to purchase the same name on the Internet (www.robertrecords.com).

You can, however pay for more than one domain name for the same site. It may be useful to think of a keyword potential site visitors might type into a search engine and use this as a domain name. if Robert Records mainly sells Jazz CDs, for instance, it may be worthwhile registering www.jazzcds.com as well.

If you cant get the name you originally wanted, use your imagination. If the names Jazz CDs, Jazz and Robert Records are taken, you could go for JazzJazzJazz or even AlltheJazz and so on.

A domain suffix
A domain suffix is the part that follows your company name. The most popular domain suffix by far remains ‘.com’ , which was originally intended to denote a commercial or company website. If a person known your company name but is unaware of your website address, they will probably type into their computer: www.yourcompanyname.com

I would advise, therefore, that whichever domain suffix you prefer, you should also purchase the ‘.com’ version of your address if it is available.

If you have a business based in the UK, it will also be worthwhile obtaining the ‘co.uk’ suffix. Other country specific suffix includes;

Fr – France
Au – Australia

The other main suffixes you should be aware of are ‘.net’, ‘.org’ (for organizations) and ‘.edu’ (for educational organizations). The implication of these suffixes has, in recent years, started to diminish as more and more firms, including not-for-profit organizations, opt for ‘.com’ addresses.

New formulations are, however, being proposed that are intended to be more specific. These include;

.shop for online shops
.travel for travel agency
.sex for adult sites
.web for web based business
.store for an online store

So, as well as your ‘.com’ or ‘.net’, you may be able to add one of these to your shopping list.

Your own domain name

If you want to be taken seriously you will need to have your own domain name. If you setup a site with a free online service such as AOL, Geocities or CompuServe, you will have to incorporate their names into your address. An example might be:

www.members.aol.com/mycompany or even www.geocities.com/mexicocity/23423/mycompany.html

These names are referred to as subdomains. It looks far more professional to purchase your own domain name. then your address might be www.mycompany.com. As well as looking better, it is important to get your own domain name for the following reasons:

Its shorter – a short name is always going to be easier to remember than a long name.

Search engines – many search engines most natably Yahoo! Discriminate against sub-domains.

Its permanent – if and when you change your ISP, you will not have to change your domain name if you own it. This is not the case with sub-domains.

Email – when you have a domain name you will also be able to have an email account at that domain name, which means you will be able to setup straightforward email addresses such as sales@yourdomainname.com and so on.

Of course, getting your own domain name costs money. You have to pay a web hosting service to register it. However, with prices starting around $1.99, getting your own domain name is cost effective investment that will benefit your company in the long term. To find the right company for you, just Google as Domain Names or Web Hosting.

Think about the sort of website you will have before deciding on a web hosting company. For instance, if you plan to sell products online, you should ask the company if they have a secure server (one that keeps customers information, such as credit card details, safe) and if they have shopping cart software available, and at what cost.

An Email Account

Email is a very important part of internet business as you use it to communicate with your customers, suppliers, investors, and media and so on. In fact, it is likely that you will spend more time on email programs than any other are of the Internet. You will therefore need an email account that is reliable (sending and receiving messages on time) and convenient use.

While many ISPs provide effective email services, the email programs that come with online services (companies such as AOL and CompuServe) are generally not very powerful, as they aimed at consumers, not businesses. It will probably be worth your while looking at independent email programs, as they offer some of the most comprehensive services. Here are some of them:

Thunder Bird – This email program is freely distributed from google and moszila corporations. This is a great email program with lots of important options and other features.

Eudora – This is another well known independent email program on the market. As well as making sure your email messages are sent and received on time, Eudora also offers mail filters, enabling you to setup different mail boxes for different mail addresses, a spellchecker and automatic response tools. There is a free, stripped-down version of the program called Eudora Light that can be downloaded from the Eudora site.

Outlook Express – This is the Microsoft’s email program and is, unsurprisingly, one of the most successful out there. The main advantage of this program is that it fits very well with other Microsoft software such as Word, Office and Internet Explorer.

Powermail – Powermail is one of the few email programs aimed solely at Mac users. It provides a comprehensive and powerful service.

Choosing an ISP

To connect to the internet, you will need to choose an ISP. As ISP acts as a ‘middle man’, providing you with the software needed for your modem to dial and connect to the Internet. There are literally thousands of ISPs out there and choosing the right one can be a nightmare. However, it is important that you think long and hard before making a decision.
An ISP has the power to boost or damage your business reputation as it is ultimately responsible for how your site is presented. Before choosing an ISP, you will need to know how reliable they are, how quick their download times are (the time it takes for the web site to appear on your customer’s browser) and how effective their email services are. If visitors to your website are frustrated with the service of your ISP, it reflects on your business.

When choosing an ISP, you need to consider the following points:

Reliability: Ask if the company has a minimum downtime for repaired and maintenance. If they don’t, be worry.

Access: you will need to make sure the ISP you use has good access via the phone network (no busy signals or slow transmission)

Help: most ISPs offer a helpline service. Make sure the person you deal with on the phone understands and is interested in your business requirements. Check the helpline by phoning up with some questions. If the line is difficult to get through to or the representative is impatient or impossible to understand, take your custom elsewhere.

ISDN: if you use an ISDN line make sure the ISP you choose offers ISDN access.

Newsgroups: it is important to make sure that the ISP you choose carries all the newsgroups in Usenet.

What you will need to setup your electronic store?

One of the ways in which the Internet is said to have revolutionized the world of business is that it has lowered the barriers of entry. In cyberspace you can open up a shop without paying rent for premises. You can put your company’s name in front of a global audience without spending a penny on advertising. You can even like with other businesses to create, in effect, a worldwide sales team at no extra cost. However, while property, advertising and sales staff may be optional extras, there are some things you really can not be without in the e-business era. First and foremost, you will need a computer.

A computer
Although the Internet is now available via mobile phones and the TV as well as the desktop computer, a computer is still essential if you plan to do business online. The Mac/PC debate is not really that important any more. It used to be the case that if you bought a Mac, it would mean that you could not use a lot of useful business-related software. Now days, most major software packages are Mac compatible, so this is less of a problem. Personally, I use an iMac, but this decision was based on aesthetics as much as anything else.

The main issue you need to consider is that of the computer’s power. You will need a speedy computer with a lot of memory or, more specifically, random access memory (RAM). The more RAM a computer has, the better, as it will mean your computer will be able to work more quickly, support more software and crash less often than one with less RAM. Ideally, you should have a computer with at least 1GB of RAM.

A modem
You will need a modem to connect your computer to a phone line, and therefore the Internet. Increasingly, computers come equipped with internet modems, although you can still buy external ones. Essentially, most modems do the same job – the only way to tell them apart is in terms of transfer speed. This is how quickly data can be transferred into audio (analog) files and other formats. This speed is measured in kilobytes of information per second (Kbps). For business purposes, your modem should run at a minimum of 56 Kbps.

The word ‘modem’ comes from combining modulation/demodulation, which means the technical process of connection to the Internet.

A browser
A browser is the most essential piece of internet software as it allows you to browse thorough internet pages and download useful information. Without it, your computer will not be able to display web pages.

In addition, browsers include significant extras, such as email and newsreader programs. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Moszila Firefox are the most popular browsers available, and you get them free with your operating system or you can download the free.

A high-speed connection
A fast internet connection is essential if you are going to set your e-business efforts off on the right track. The arrival en masse of broadband and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology now means that speedy and powerful internet access has become affordable for even the smallest of business. Here are the two main high-speed options:

ISDN: Standing for Integrated Service Digital Network, ISDN is available from BT and most other telephone companies around the world. ISDN is, in effect, an extra powerful phone line that can be used for faster internet access. It also means you can make a phone call and surf the web simultaneously, using the same line.

ADSL: Like ISDN, ADSL uses an upgraded phone line. However, ADSL appeared much more recently than ISDN and is potentially much more powerful. This is because an ADSL line is asymmetric, which means it focus more on data received by your computer (downloading) than data you send (uploading). This uneven upload/download balance means that downloaded images appear much more quicker and also that audio-visual elements received are of much a much better quality. As net users both home and the office trend to download more than they upload, the deliberately asymmetric nature of ADSL means there are fewer problems (more information on ADSL connection can be found at the ADSL forum on the web at www.adsl.com).

The future of business

Within less than a decade, the Internet has grown from being an obscure technology used by government officials and academics to what many have heralded as the future of business. With phenomenal and unprecedented growth in the number of users, as well as the amount information that can be accessed, the Internet has become the faster growing medium in history.

Because the rise in Internet usage has been so fast, it is real business impact has often been hard to access. At the close of last millennium, it seemed that the new breed of slick and shiny internet start-up would be the real winners of the online era. Traditional bricks and mortar business were confined to the sidelines as the real world and cyberspace seems completely incompatible.

The success of both large and small real world business on the Internet, however, has brought about a radical rethinking of the significance of e-business. Many more companies are reaping real and substantial rewards via their online efforts. There are the big US names of web profitability (AOL, Yahoo, eBay and so on), but there are also thousands of small companies around the world that have figured out how to make profit. Equally, more established companies of the web to expand their business to offer customers better service.

While the Internet is now universally recognized as being an important business medium, many business owners and managers remain unclear about what it can do for them. To gain this understanding, it is important to comprehend why, when and how people use the net. It is also necessary to be aware of the wide business use it can be put to (as we have seen, this extends far beyond use sales increase).

Getting started your e-business

Although the Internet is a fast moving medium, the preparation involved in setting up and e-business should not be rushed. This blog will not only looks at the equipments and software you will need, but also at the activities that need to be carried you before you are ready for take off. These activities include choosing and Internet Service provider (ISP), selecting a domain name, seeking investment and conducting market research.

The information super-highway

One of the most persistent claims for the Internet is that it will give people easy access to vast amount of information. There is also a widely held view that economic success in the future is going to depend on so-called ‘information workers’ (people whose jobs are primarily concerned with manipulating information) and that access to communication infrastructures is critical for such people. Such beliefs have led to a considerable drive in many countries to develop the internet and to ensure that schools, universities, and businesses are connected.

There are problems with this view if the Internet and its importance, which are often not considered. One major problem is that there is no guarantee of the quality of the information available. There is no editor to ensure that the contents of web pages are correct or clearly expressed, for example. Nothing prevents someone setting up web pages which are completely inaccurate or misleading. Of course, the case of propagating information on the Internet has also been used for more sinister motives, such as distributing child pornography and even information on how to make bombs.

Moreover, the case with which online information can be accessed and copied means that many people are reluctant to publish on the Internet. Doing so is likely to result in loss of royalty if the material they have developed is copied. It is true that many papers and magazines have web pages, but these are usually samples of their publications rather than complete copies. Indeed the current situation is probably somewhat misleading – if internet access becomes very common, and they are not able to find a way of charging for access, many of these sites reduce the information they make available.

Online information gives rise to a more insidious problem: the ease of accessing it leads people to ignore other sources of data. It is, of course, far more work to go and look for information in libraries, but these nevertheless represent more reliable sources. What is available on the Internet is rather arbitrary and certainly issues of copyright and the vast difficulty of digitizing older documents or data means that it presents a distorted picture in many areas.

The Internet and the real world

Although to a certain extent the Internet can se seen as separate to the bricks and mortar real world, the dividing line is becoming increasingly blurred. For a start, the internet is no longer confined to the desktop. Owing to technological advances, it can now be accessed virtually anywhere, via TV, mobile phones, passport photo booths and car stereos. It is ever more difficult to ascertain where the real world ends and cyberspace begins.

Whether your business originated offline or online, it is now necessary to take a fully integrated clicks and bricks approach.

More than the Web

When people think of the Internet, they tend to think of the World Wide Web. In part, this may be explained by the fact that the media’s coverage of the Internet tends to center on the web sites. Te fact remains, however, that the email, no the Web, is the most widly used internet application. The most people who log on to the net do so either to send or to receive email messages. In fact, it is possible to do e-business without using the web at all. Emails can be used to improve communications both within and outside your business.

The main advantage of email include cost, speed and convenience:

Cost: You can send email messages across the globe at minimal cost.

Speed: Messages can be sent and received within a few seconds, which is probably why email advocates refer to the postal service as ‘snail mail’.

Convenience: Email allows you to send as many messages to as many people as you want to, when and where it is convenient. You can also choose to receive and respond to messages as and when you want to.

Despite its obvious advantages, many business views email as a mixed blessing. Because of its convenience, many companies suffer from email overload, with mailboxes overburdened with messages sent to different people and department simultaneously, as well as annoying spam (junk emails ) messages. The other criticism often made of email is that is all too easy for email messages to get into the wrong hands. By empowering everyone with an organization with the ability to contact anyone else (either inside or out side the company) from a business email address, it has the potential to damage a company’s reputation.

While there may be some truth to this criticism, the advantages of email clearly outweigh the disadvantages. Its cheap, convenient and can be powerfully effective. Furthermore, it does not replace or jeopardize other communication tools such as the phone or fax. As Guy Fieldign, a communication specialist at Oxford University, point out, ‘Email is not destructive or other forms of communication. In fact, it probably has the opposite effect. It has more of an impact on how the other channels are used, not on whether they are used’.

This means that email increases the value of other communications, as well as being an effective means of communication itself.

Net benefits

The time when the Internet was the preserve of desktop computers is now over as it can be accessed via mobile phones, TV sets, even passport photo booths. As the dividing line between cyberspace and the real world becomes blurred, the Internet is increasingly seen as significant for business that have traditional remained offline.

Although the Internet has the potential to make your business environment more competitive, it should not be seen as a threat. It is, instead, an opportunity to consolidate and build on your business achievements.

The benefits of the Internet for real world business are clear. It can help in all following areas:

Saving money: The Internet can help your business save in the administration costs of taking orders by automating the process. Email can help you save on stationery costs, and online marketing often proves a lot more cost effective than marketing offline.

Improving customer service: By increasing the possibilities for communication between your business and its customers, you can offer an improved level of service to your existing customers.

Keeping records of your activities: Because the Internet enables you to store information, you can keep track of all business correspondence very easily.

Attractive new staff: The World Wide Web id now one of the most important resources for job seekers. According to a survey conducted by the UK organization Jobtrack, 79 per cent of college and university students say that the quality of a potential employer’s web site id an important factor when deciding whether or not to apply for a job there.

Preserving your market share: The Internet is not only a means of expanding your business, it is also a way to protect and hold on the market you have already established. Real world business risk losing out to slick start ups if they don’t embrace the Internet with open arms.

Making money: The Internet offers business new ways of making additional revenue. As well as providing a new platform which to sell your products, you can also make money from affiliate programs, selling advertising space, securing sponsorship and various other methods.

Going worldwide: Your web site can help you reach a worldwide market as geographical limitations are all but eliminated.

Being in constant contact: The Internet transform your 9 to 5 business into a 24hrs operation. Your web site works while you are asleep.

Knowing your market: as the Internet is interactive you can receive constant feedback from your audience.

The Internet can therefore help you take market research to a whole new level.

Doing Business from the Outside In

E-Business experts generally agree that the secret to online success is doing business from the outside in. Essentially this means that instead of starting with what you do and how you do it, you start with what the customer wants. The Internet is a ‘pull’ not ‘pull’ medium. Users pull the data they need towards them – in cyberspave there is not successful way of pushing your business message on to people who haven’t asked for it. ‘Spamming’ (the act of sending junk email) is, after all, the ultimate breach of online etiquette.

As the Internet is a two-way medium, it enables a great deal of customer feedback. Companies can interact with customers and discover what they really think about their service.

Five web watch words

To succeed on the Internet, it is important to realize that what works well in the real world may not work online, and vice versa.

The Internet is not just a new form of media – it brings with is a whole set of ground rules. These rules are centered on five web watch words: speed, intimacy, communication, information and interactivity.


Speed: the Internet is said to move at seven times the speed of normal time. Its expected that email messaged are responded to on the same day, web sites are continually being updated and online markets evolve within a matter of weeks.

Intimacy: Although the Internet is often viewed as cold and inhuman, it actually allows business to get closer to their customers then ever before. As Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, says, ‘people open up and share how they feel on the Net- something they just don’t do in more classical research formats such as focus groups’.

Communication: The Internet aids communication both between a business and its customers, and within the business. The convenience of email and the accessibility of web sites mean that employers and customers are less likely to be kept in the dark.

Information: The Web is the world’s largest and most up-to-date research library. You can find out more information about your competitors, your customers and your industry then ever before. At the same time, people will also be able to find out more about you. On the Internet – as in the X Files – the truth is always out there.

Interactivity: unlike traditional media, the Internet is highly interactive. One of the consequences of this is that people pull information towards them. This means that on the Net more effort is sometimes needed to differentiate your business from its competition. The Net’s interactivity makes it possible for users to tailor information according to their own particular requirements. It therefore allows a business to communicate on a one-to-one level with all its customers simultaneously. Instead of broadcasting your message to the world in general, the Net enables you to narrow cast and communicate with individuals on their own terms.

About future posts of this blog

This blog is intended to provide you with the knowledge needed to make a success of your e-business activity. Whether you are a net novice or veteran, you should be able to find information that will help you harness the power of the Internet and use it to your advantage. Among other things, this blog will help you;

Realize what you can achieve from e-business
Clarify your e-business objectives
Integrate your online and offline business efforts
Decide how to develop your website
Strengthen relations with your existing customers
Conduct e-business research
Make money online
Market your website for free

The main aim of this blog, however, is to increase your understanding of how e-business differs from business practice in the real world. The unique characteristics of the Internet will be introduced, along with various ways to capitalize on them. This blog alos seeks to undermine the myth that the Internet complicates and destabilizes traditional business. The Internet can add value to any business, old or new – all that’s require is an open mind.

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.

The internet and business

When the internet began to be used for commercial purposes back in the mid 1991s, no one could have predicted the effect it would have on the business world. We sites were viewed as optional extras that looked impressive but didn’t actually do very much. Email was treated with suspicion and considered by many as either an impersonal or an impractical way of communicating. Now, however things are different. As millions of peoples around the world now use internet on regular basis, and many people used email to communicate with each other in business matters or personnel.

Broadband internet access and low cost and rise of the mobile internet have increases the number of peoples using the internet more than ever. The main factor though is the internet itself a vast network of information and resources that also allows peoples to interact with each other from anywhere in the world. However it is not enough to recognize the significance of the internet without understanding what it means for your business. We therefore need to take a closer look at how the internet is used.