Myths and Facts About E-Commerce on the Web
The Internet has enjoyed an explosion in growth and popularity rivaled by nothing
else in recent history. If you are like many other people, you are probably trying
to make sense out of how the World Wide Web will affect your business. Alternatively,
maybe you are thinking of starting a business and see the Internet as a easy way
to get going.
Whatever your reason, this section of our E-Commerce Planning Guide will help
you to separate fact from fiction
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Myth: All I Have to Do is Create A Web site, People will Come to My
Web site, Buy My Goods or Services, and I Can Sit Back and Collect the Money.
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Fact: If it were only that easy! There is nothing magical about an Internet
Business, no special formulas. The fact is, most of the same factors that make
a successful On-line business are the same factors that lead to successful with
traditional businesses.
- A good business plan and marketing strategy
- Excellent Customer Service
- Understanding the unique demographic and psycho-graphic factors that are in
your market place (in this case, the market place is the Internet).
- Offer a reason for people to buy from you rather than your competition.
This does not imply that there are no advantages to an Internet business. More
often than not, it is easier to get an Internet business up and running with less
startup costs and operating expenses. In addition, the Web can allow you to grow
your traditional business by taking advantage of the Internet's unique features.
From Browser's To Buyers explores the
Internet's unique features and how to use them to grow your business.
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Myth: Doing Business on the Internet Is a Waste of Time. No one is really
making money or growing their business.
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Fact: Many businesses and organizations, both large and small are benefiting
from the Internet. The fact is, that e-commerce is currently enjoying a growth
rate of over 145% with sales topping 36 billion dollars (source: cyberatlas.com).The
Internet offers several unique opportunities for businesses:
- Instant Access to Information About Your Company's Goods and Services.
- Better Customer Feedback though response forms, on-line discussion and focus
groups.
- A Business that is highly adaptable to your customer's needs.
- Services that are not possible with traditional businesses. such as customer
reviews of products and services, or computer generated suggestions of products
based on customer preferences.
- Sell Your Product 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the comfort of the customer's
living room or bedroom.
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Myth: Taking Credit Cards Over the Internet is Next to Impossible for
A Small Start Up Business.
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Fact: Actually, unless you have bad credit, getting a Merchant Account
in order to take Mastercard, Visa and American Express is not that difficult.
It can, however, be daunting trying to find someone who can offer you a merchant
account. Most banks and financial institutions do offer their small business customers
merchant accounts, and if you bank offers this service, in the long run, this
will probably be the best way to go. Beware of third party merchant providers
that lure you in but offering easy to setup internet "gateways' but offer
you outragous fees for this service.
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Myth (Version 1): If I Put a Web Site on the Information Super Highway,
I will have Instant Access to Millions of Potential Customers.
Myth (Version 2): I Put Up a Web Site On the Net and Nobody Come. Only
Huge Web Sites with Big Budgets Enjoy a Large Volume of Traffic.
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Fact: "Build it and they will come" may work in the movie Field
of Dreams, but not on the Web. Building a web site and putting it on the World
Wide Web is analogous to putting up a billboard on a highway covered with billboards
as far as the eye can see. On the other hand, version 2 of the Myth is also false.
True, many people do spend a lot of time building their web site only to find
that no one is looking at it.
But the fact is, that with some work, you can drive a moderate amount of traffic
to your web site.The unfortunate fact is that many web sites that enjoy little
or no traffic. There are also web sites that enjoy over a million hits a month.
What makes the difference is having a good marketing strategy and having compelling
content so that you can drive traffic to your site and keep them interested.
There are many ways to drive traffic to your web site. Some are traditional and
some are unique to the Internet If you are trying to expand your traditional business
on the net, one method is to promote your web site in your traditional advertising.
Alternatively, you can use Internet based methods. The most expensive is Banner
Advertising (typically $20 to $40 per thousand page views with an average click
through rate of 0.5% to 2%). Less expensive methods include reciprocal links with
other companies offering complementary services and of course, optimizing your
web site to increase your search engine rankings.
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