Setting Up A Profitable Web Site.

With the astonishing growth of the Inter net, businesses are beginning to find new ways to expand their opportunities. It seems everyone has a web site these days. And yet, the task of setting up a web site is often not as simple as it seems. In fact, I would venture to say that most business sites lack focus and functionality. Others simply fail to take advantage of their full potential.

The Internet is proving to be the great equalizer, allowing the smallest of businesses to access markets and present a presence that allows them to compete against the giants in the industry. So exactly how does a small business compete?

Given the numerous questions we field every day and the many options available to businesses, I thought it would be beneficial to lay out a brief outline of how a business should go about establishing an online presence.

Do you need a web site?

This should be the first question asked. A business should think about what they intend to accomplish by establishing a web site. Once answered, this will also guide you through some of the options available.

There are three main reasons why businesses establish web sites.

* Marketing

* Support

* Sales

Most current sites on the web are merely a marketing presence and this may be your only goal. Determining the purpose of your site will set a framework for your design.

Many companies have found that the Internet is a wonderful resource to offer customer service, provide product specifications and furnish on-line answers to the numerous questions they receive and deal with every day. If this goal is also part of your web site, then you have to make it easy for your customers to find the information they are after.

Many sites are set up to go beyond general marketing and to actually generate an order, often unassisted by any human interface. The simplest version of this might include instructions to print a page, fill in order details and fax it to a given number. More sophisticated sites have an easy-to-maneuver ordering process with proper order calculations done, including shipping and sales tax. The most advanced sites allow an option of accepting and approving the credit card information while the customer is on-line.

Budget

Setting up and running a business web site will cost money. Having determined your reasons for creating your site, you should be better able to consider the costs. The difficulty here is that the costs can vary substantially. This is new technology, with numerous options available. It would behoove a business owner to do a little research in each area where dollars are to be spent.

With these simple questions, you can see how vast your options are.

Some companies have spent millions "developing" their web sites and yet many others have put up a sub-stantial site for next to nothing.

Setup and Design

In this article, I have assumed that you are a small business wanting to "get your feet wet" with a site and keep your expenditures to a minimum.

There is no shortage of experts who will help you design and put up a site. Site size and complexity can vary immensely. Many computer-literate individuals have chosen not to go to consultants at all. With the excellent web design development tools available today, such as

Microsoft FrontPage, many are able to get a web site designed with only a few days' work. If you do the work yourself, check it on both Netscape and Microsoft browsers and design for a 15-inch monitor. Also, avoid the temptation to over-design. Adding large graphics, animation and music may be impressive to the designer, but most users don't have the plug-ins to hear the sound and won't wait for your fancy graphics to load on their 28,800 (or worse) Internet connection.

Consider establishing your own domain name if you are serious about your site. You can apply directly to InterNIC (http://www.internic.net) to get an address such as www."your_company".com which will be perceived as more credible than an obviously hosted site. The small fee to InterNIC is well worth it.

Of course you will have to find an ISP (Internet Service Provider), usually local, and make arrangements to either host your site or server or provide appropriate connections. Call and discuss the options and then shop around.

Attracting Customers

There is an endless stream of information available on the Internet about how best to market your site. Suffice it to say that registering your site with a few search engines is the minimum. Because this information is so plentiful, I intentionally skip over it here. However, it should be noted that the net is an ever-changing environment and marketing should be considered more than a one-time effort at the time you create your site.

Moving from Marketing to Selling

So you have your web site up and your products listed, if not pictured. Your phone number is available so viewers can call and order your product. If you've done your job well, some will call and you can start generating orders. But why not make it easier than that? Why not allow your customer the additional option of ordering directly on-line with a credit card while he or she is viewing your site? Here's what you need to consider.

You Need a "Merchant Account"

Merchant Account is an industry term meaning a banking relationship which allows a business to accept credit cards. Most existing businesses will already have established such a relationship and you certainly need this capability to accept credit card orders on the net.

This goes without saying, but many small businesses have not yet established the banking relationships necessary to accept credit cards.

This is really a first step. There are many consultants advertising on the web who can assist a business, even a new startup, to get set up for accepting credit cards. You may or may not need to buy processing software or hardware depending on how you plan to clear your transactions. The cost for setting up an account varies but can easily run to $300 or more.

To accept credit card orders on the net, you will need a secure server." There is a lot of concern about security on the net. Most of this concem is due to misinformation and the Internet continues to prove itself as a safe medium for transactions. It is important to follow established conventions in Internet security however, which means utilizing a secure server for credit card transactions.

A secure server is one running software capable of establishing a secure" connection with your customer's Internet browser using SSL (secure sockets layer) technology which encrypts all transmitted information. Most net buyers insist on this connection before entering credit card information. You can usually find a secure server to host your site. You don't need a secure server if you outsource your order processing as discussed below.

You Will Need An Order Form

This sounds simple enough. However, this can be a very complicated piece of software. You have to be able to present all your products, prices and options (sizes, colors etc.). Before you can request credit card information, you need to be able to automatically subtotal the order, add shipping and handling and calculate sales tax if appropriate, based on the buyer's location. Writing this capability into your web pages requires a lot more than some HTML knowledge. You can purchase software to do this and try and integrate it into your site, or you can outsource this function by subscribing to a service such as Anacom's.

On-Line Clearing

You also have the option of considering clearing (or authorization) of the credit card, while your customer is on-line. This feature may be imperative if you are delivering information or allowing a download of purchased software from your site. Even if you are shipping a product after the fact, this may prove to be a great convenience to you. If your business is solely Internet based, this option would allow you to avoid the expense of purchasing processing equipment or software which can be quite expensive. Unfortunately, designing on-line clearing capability is extremely complex and thus, this option is best undertaken through an outsourcing solution. Unlike general web site design, there are not many consultants available with expertise in this area.

Accounting

You need a methodology of tracking your orders. These can include, e-mail notification, electronic receipts, on-line reports, internal database tracking, on-line query search capability, conversion programs, etc. It is easy logo overboard on some of these things and a lot of money can be spent trying to integrate online ordering with existing business functions. We always recommend that businesses starting on the web not try to be too sophisticated in this area up front. If you get your orders and have a paper trail as a minimum, you can always upgrade in this area later. If you use an outside service, you may have a lot of backup information available to you to help.

Technical Challenges

A simple web site thus may not be so simple if it is to be effective. A functional site contemplating online ordering requires expertise in four different areas.

1) HTML (hypertext markup language - standard for the Internet) basic page design.

2) OGI scripting (or programming equivalent) for order form functionality.

3) ODBC (Open database connectivity) interface commands for data tracking.

4) Special programs for online clearing option.

If any part of this puzzle is not available to you in-house, there is a world of consultants. The other alternative is outsourcing.

Outsourcing - A Cost-Effective Alternative

Outsourcing is the utilization of a third-party service company to provide you with those pieces of the puzzle that complete the total functionality of the business process.

In E-Commerce, the most cost-effective way to meet your goals is often to outsource that portion of your needs that you don't have the expertise for in-house. This can allow you to get up and running much faster and concentrate on your business rather than getting mired down in technical matters.

Penelope Clarke is a Website Design consultant.

Though nothing is easy, getting a web site up and running is well within the capabilities of a determined entrepreneur of small business. There are many success stories of business operating on the web and many of them are not even using all the tools discussed here. If the product is right for selling on the net, with a little marketing effort you, too, could find yourself overwhelmed with business orders.

Questions to Ask When Setting Up a Web Site

1. Will I own/run my own server? Do I'need to?

2. How will my site/server be connected to the Internet?

3. Who will design my site?

4. Who will maintain my site, and how extensive of a process is this?

5. Do I want to accept orders on-line?

6. Will I need to or want to interface my web page with existing databases, order systems or accounting systems.