Using the internet effectively for business

Using the Internet
Effectively for Business

Mouni Sharon

Business/Commerce
 The buying and selling of goods, especially on a large scale, as
between cities or nations.

E-Commerce
 Commerce that is transacted electronically, as over the Internet.

The Internet as Your Avenue
 How can you make it work for you?

 Where would you begin?

 What is important in using the internet for business?

Step #1 -- Identify Your Objectives

 Where do you fit in?

 What are your objectives ?

Step #2 -- Work with experienced
Ecommerce specialists
 Once you have identified your Ecommerce
business model, you need to find specialists

 Three most important Ecommerce vendors you will
work with are:
 your Web developer
 your Web hosting provider
 your Web site promotion or media agency.

Sometimes you may be able to get a full service organization in
one-stop but more often than not, you will want to assemble
your own team.

Step #3 -- Create A Budget
 Creating a budget, and measuring its effectiveness, is one of
the most important steps in developing a successful
Ecommerce site.

 How much will your Ecommerce site cost? And how will you
know it was worth the investment?

Step #4 -- Identify your online
prospects and customers
 Look realistically at your market and determine who your online
buyers will be!

Step #5 -- Promoting Your Site
 Direct potential users to your Ecommerce site through your
current marketing materials. Feature your website address
prominently on your letterhead, business cards, catalogs,
brochures, advertising, etc.

 There are many other things to think about when promoting
your site!

E-Commerce
 To win in e-commerce you must promote. Your visitors won't
hear about you unless you tell them about you.

 Test as many promotion methods as you can.

E-Commerce: Seven
Promotion Methods

Seven of the best ways of promotion
for small to medium sites:

Public Relations
 PR is about getting magazines, newspapers, and e-zines to
tell their readers about your site, and it’s not always easy!

 REMEMBER: The editors demand interesting stories. To get
ink, you need a twist.

 If you think you might make a good read, work hard on the
PR. Ink is gold.

 What are some ways of getting PR?

 Good vs. Bad PR; does it matter?

Referrals
 If you have a great site, your visitors will want to tell their
friends about it.

 Make it easy for them and provide incentives to do so.

 Make it easy for them to send email to invite their friends to
your site.

Print Ads
 Your potential customer reads magazines, so utilize them!

 Run small ads in publications carefully targeted at your
customer.

 Keep the message minimal - just tell us what you sell and list
your URL.

Banner Ads
 Create a nice banner, then watch the orders roll in. Simple,
right?

 Not always!!

 Find out if banners work for you.

What You Need!
 Create or purchase high quality banners.

 Run the banners on several well-targeted sites!

 How can you target the sites to run your banners on?

Affiliate Programs
 You should get other sites to send their visitors to your site. But
how?

 Give them something.

 Provide a reciprocal link or give them a cut of the revenues
generated from their referrals.

Contests
 Hold a drawing!

 You need a compelling prize, a recurring
drawing, a database, and most importantly, a
well-crafted email campaign as an adjunct to
the contest.

 Manufacturers of unique and interesting items
have the best chance of winning with a contest
promotion, but it can work well for many
different types of businesses!

Search Engines
 All web businesses must implement an effective search
engine strategy.

 Follow the basics –
 submit to search engines
 insert meta tags
 use well-crafted titles
 don't obsess.

Very few businesses thrive
from search engine traffic
alone!

It is only one of the seven
promotional methods you should try.

Step #6 -- Creating a well-designed
Ecommerce site

 Hire a professional if you can

 if you’re doing it yourself concentrate on:
 BRAND
 Effective navigation
 Fulfillment
 Design
 Up-to-date technology
 Seals of approval from security-guaranteeing firms such as
VeriSign, BBB Online, TRUSTe and other Web-based
encryption and security providers.

Step #7 -- Take The Order
And Collect Payment

 Implement a secure, efficient payment
processing system.

 Payment Options
 The types of payment options that are most suitable
for your business depend on a number of facts such
as:
 The type of product or service you're selling
 How your product is delivered
 The security needs of your customers
 The size of your business and your payment processing
capabilities.

Common Types of
Payment Options Offered

 Offline - The consumer views your product online, but
orders by phone, fax or mail.

 Online secure - The consumer orders online, and you
process their credit card information using a secure
server

 Online secure with real-time processing - When the
consumer orders online through your secure server,
you can offer online confirmations and credit card
approvals within 10 to 15 seconds

Step # 8 -- Deliver The Order
 Fulfillment - the industry term for "delivering the
order" - can mean the difference between success
and failure for any Ecommerce site.

 Consumers today, who are accustomed to
receiving catalog orders by Fedx and UPS or 2nd
day mail, expect similar turnarounds for their online
orders.

Step # 9 -- Provide Responsive Customer
Service

 According to a study by Harvard Business Review, 68% of
customers defect to other online providers due to poor service,
but only 12% left due to an inferior product.

Step #10 -- Keep Evaluating & Improving
Your Site

 Your Ecommerce site will be a continual "work
in progress."

 You will need to keep evaluating it to make
sure
 that your customers find it convenient and easy to use
 that you're making the most of your selling opportunities
 and whether you're encouraging customer loyalty
 you will also need to keep up with the latest technology and
what other sites are doing.

As your Ecommerce
business expands, you
will need to fine-tune or
even completely
redesign your site!

Evaluation Questions
Use:
A. Strongly agree
B. Agree
C. Disagree
D. Strongly disagree
E. Don’t know

1. I found the presentation of material easy to
understand.
2. This Advantage session increased my
knowledge on the subject presented.
3. I will be able to use some of the information
from this Advantage session in the future.
4. The presenter was well prepared for this
Advantage session.
5. This presentation should be repeated in future
semesters.

Using the internet effectively for business

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Editor's Notes