12 Steps to Creating a Business Online

"E-commerce"

A word pervading our society, making headlines around theworld, and causing the stock market to rise and fall withstartling ease.

It seems every business news story centers on sometechnology company's "DOT-com" or "DOT-bomb"!

With all the positive and negative hoopla, business ownersof any size company can throw up their hands and feel the"E" world has left them behind.

Every business owner, salesperson, or professional asked oneof two questions in the past year, either "Am I using e-commerce correctly?" or "How do I effectively get involvedin e-commerce?"

You can buy hundreds of books and pay thousands inconsulting fees to analyze and debate the answer to thefirst question.

To answer to the second question just follow these 12 steps.

Step 1 - Buy a domain name (your own DOT-com). Go towww.NetworkSolutions.com and research names. Can a customereasily spell and remember it?

Step 2 - Write down your online goals and prepare a time andmoney budget.

How soon do you want your e-commerce site up and running?

How much will you spend?

How many hours will you devote to the site and when?

Step 3 - Surf the web to find other sites you like anddislike. Learn from others' successes and mistakes by takingthe best of what their sites offer and adapting it for yourown use.

Step 4 - Design your site on paper. Define elements, look,feel, colors etc.

Step 5 - Hire a professional to set up the graphics andnavigation, but with the intention of you or your staffmaintaining the site's day to day operations, communicationand updates.

Step 6 - Invest in a digital camera and web publishingsoftware such as Microsoft Front Page or Adobe Acrobat tokeep up with the site's maintenance.

Step 7 - Maintain, change, and update your site at leastonce a month. (The one exception to this rule are those one-page, sales letter websites. Once you have one of those thatperforms well and makes sales, don't change it!!)

Step 8 - Promote your site at every opportunity. Tell peopleabout it. Put your web address on your business cards and inall your ads. Some companies even advertise their webaddress when they put you on hold on the telephone.

Step 9 - Give people a self-serving reason to visit yoursite. Coupon savings, discounts, special incentives, freeinformation, and free newsletters represent excellententicements for attracting visitors to your site.

Step 10 - Concentrate on obtaining an email address fromevery customer and potential customer.

Obtain permission to send periodic, value-added malings toyour database.

Use a list server to organize and maintain your mailinglist.

Step 11 - Always look for and use the simplest solution oroption.

Whether adding a shopping cart, database or other option toyour e-commerce operation, seek out and use the simplestanswer for your needs.

Step 12 - Become educated and stay current in the world ofe-commerce.

Learn the marketing and sales techniques of the onlineworld.

About the Author:

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and theco-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how touse fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targetedvisitors to your website or affiliate links...

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