FREE ESSAY ON HOW TO START A WEB BUSINESS

HOW TO START A WEB BUSINESS

How To Start A Web Business
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How To Start A Web Business
One of the most popular Internet myths claim that building an online store is easy: All
the customer has to do is point, click, and buy. But in reality, successful e-commerce is
far more complex and unlike any other web site project you have tackled in the past.
Before that first cyber buck finds it's way into your bank account, you need to do
considerable research and planning.
To get started you can begin thinking about all the issues that need to be addressed
before you can even put together a successful online business plan. 
You can now imagine a real company that suddenly decides to regard the "welcome"
announcement of e-commerce. 
Say you're working for the Ford Motor Company, the nation's leading supplier of
heavy-duty trucks. Your CEO is catching up on the past several months of business
journals and when the spark plugs start firing. Those screaming headlines cannot be
ignored: "Consumer E-Commerce Will Jump To 26 Billion By 2002" and "U.S. Online Business
Trade Will Soar to 1.3 Trillion By 2003". Most importantly, Chevy has rumored to begin
its own e-business plan. So the big wig meets with the board of directors, and after an
agonizing long deliberation, you are told that they want www.ford.com open in six weeks.
Plenty of time they insist. After all there are millions of schmucks out there building
award winning web sites and making a plethora of cash to pay for college. 
Immediately go register the domain name ford.com for the company and then make your plan.
Planning ahead for the unexpected gotchas of e-commerce that can hit you unexpectedly.
Planning ahead will not only save you redevelopment time down the road, but it will also
help you make educated decisions as you choose the right e-business solution for your
company. 
The Many Choices of Beginning 
Before your can select the right setup for your e-business, you must determine exactly
what you need to be competitive online. Most likely you will need some software to help
you manage your products, your promotions, your customers, and their orders. You may also
need some additional programs to handle the tax, shipping, and payment processing of your
orders. 
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A number of off the shelf solutions have grown over the past few years that give you
these core features and allow you to plug-in other software modules to handle the
complexities of taxation, the varieties of shipping options, and all the popular forms of
payment. 
Solutions like Intershop's ePages, iCat's Lemonade Stand, or Yahoo's Stores provide
pre-fabricated storefronts that are ready. Just pick a design and fill in your products
and you are ready for business.
Other applications, like Intershop 3.0 and iCat Professional, allow you to change the
pre-made storefronts to your own personal look and feel. These programs also allow you to
extend the html setups to even more alter the features and behaviors of the storefront. 
The above solutions rely on other e-commerce software from CyberCash or OpenMarket for
payment processing, Taxware for tax calculations, and Tandata for up to date shipping
information. 
Building Your Plans
As soon as you are building your plans you should construct a requirements document. At
this point it is a good time to get the attention of all the corporate departments
involved. That way everyone's input is in at the beginning, instead of too late. All
ideas and potential conflicts are confronted early. 
It is hard to know which technology solution is good for you, until you have a detailed
list of requirements that you can compare the solutions against. Therefore, you can
choose an e-commerce platform that will deliver your goals to the online customers. You
should also take the chance to plan for where the company is going to be in 2, 5, and 10
years. If you set your solution up correctly now, when your company grows and expands its
range for service, you can simply add to the original foundation and not throw out your
work.
More specifically your plan should answer the questions of how the products will be
presented. The organization of how you would expect your customers to shop online, pretty
cautiously when looking to order an automobile. The cars may be searched for through
keywords or features. Prioritizing all the raw information to allow the most important
information to be readily accessible. 
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The first version of the project concentrates on building up the company's online
customer base from the promotion of the unique service. Then once a minimum monthly order
volume is sustained, the company will commit to putting resources toward automating the
back office and fulfillment systems. Until then the current employee's will just key in
the orders. 
Requirements Document
Displaying products: 
You will want the customers to tell us what kind of vehicle they are looking for and you
can tell them what you have to fit their needs. You will need a tool that can make
changes to the product you offer in real time. 
Order and transaction processing:
At this point the Internet is not reliable enough to take this high of priced orders
safely so consumers will only be able to compare features and make requests online. 
Attracting customers:
Banner ads, registering with search engines, and sending direct email to get qualified
customers to the site. Then you can figure out which tactic effectively brings the most
customers and invest in the one that makes the most sense.
Fulfillment and customer service 
Orders that arrive on the server need to be relayed to the fulfillment center quickly so
that you can pick, pack and ship the product before the fed ex truck leaves the dock at
5:00pm. Also let customers know the status of their orders so they don't need to call the
company.
Software and hosting:
A third party host may be a wise choice, as you don't want to stay with the orders around
the clock. 
Individuals trying to make an easy fortune on web business beware of the task at hand,
and do not start by patronizing the buy a plan sites already on the net.