DEMO: Web Development Theme

The development and expansion of the Internet has made business opportunities, once only available to the wealthy, available to nearly everyone. In the past, opening a business was a huge commitment in terms of finances and risk. Traditional business owners had to quit the their current jobs, obtain bank financing, and sign leases before they even made a penny. It’s easy to see why 95% of them failed within five years. Today, business opportunities are available to anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn about the world of e-commerce. Best of all, you can start an e-commerce business with minimal funds and very little risk. This guide will take you though the steps necessary to start your own e-commerce business.

Find Your Niche

The first step to creating your own e-commerce business is to find you niche. Examine your hobbies and interests for potential business ideas. If you love soccer, consider selling soccer supplies or team uniforms online. You may also consider opening a business that is similar to your current job. For example, as a nurse you may know a lot about medical supplies and how hospitals obtain them. You could start a medical supply business. Your contacts and industry knowledge could give you an advantage over a competitor who does not know the inner-workings of hospitals the way you do.

Have you heard of ‘Babel Fish’?

It’s a service provided by Alta Vista search engine people to translate every page you put ‘Babel Fish’ code, and up comes a a new language.

Your page may be written in English, but people across Spain and Latin America can translate your web page into Spanish. Likewise if your web page is written in Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, people can have an instant translation into English, or another language they are comfortable with.

I have put ‘Babel Fish’ code onto every page on my site at:- http://www.ebook-sales.com and I can see from the stats on the server that people are clicking on ‘Babel Fish’ to have a translation. This I feel, widens my audience out there in cyberspace. The ‘hit counter’ has substantially risen, I have people bookmarking my site, because I see they don’t all come in the ‘front door’ to the site, they come in to certain pages that interests them.

Every new page I put on my site, and I update fairly often, I make sure the ‘Babel Fish’ code is at the top of the html on that page.

For years now I’ve been looking to start my own business, but my highest priority has always been to spend less time working, and more time with my family, while still giving them everything they need (and most of what they want). It’s a common dream, right? No boss to answer to, less stress, more vacation, more quality family time… I wanted to get away from the 9 to 5 and the traffic. (I bet you do, too.)

So, I started to research various business opportunities. I looked into franchises of all sorts, but the money I had to invest upfront was way too much (thousands of dollars, at a minimum), which made the idea too risky - I couldn’t risk my family’s financial well-being on a dream of mine. I was even close to falling for various MLM schemes. Luckily I never made it that far. When the Internet became more and more prominent in, well, society in general, it just became something I couldn’t ignore anymore. So I did some more research, this time on creating a website. I began to like the idea, for many reasons:

1. I could start it with little $ invested (so, hardly any risk)

Q. Hey, Cathy: I’m just setting up a website. What should I do?

A. First, don’t call the web designer yet! Write out a detailed summary of your ideal client, if you haven’t already done so. Get very clear on what benefits you will offer and how you will stand out from the crowd. Before you spend days and weeks refining your copy, test your ideas on real people — as close to your ideal client as possible. Study your competition to see what works — and to avoid creating a “me-too” site that gets lost in the crowd.

Most important, get some confirmation that a market exists for your product. Do people actually use this product or service? Do they pay or expect freebies? Do they have a low-price mindset? Do they mind on the web? If you can’t answer yes to all these questions, identify resources who can help.

If you are starting a brand-new business with a website, start small. Very small. Don’t put a lot of money into your first website. If you want create a professional image, hire a designer, but keep costs down by setting up only a few pages. Your needs will change as your business grows.

Have you ever thought about the real stories behind all the websites on the Internet? There are over 10 million sites out there and a human being with some hope or dream driving the process constructed each one. Too much of our modern world is presented to us in a barrage of superficial pictures that only show a very external glimpse of the true reality beneath the surface. Wouldn’t you like to know about the people who live behind this wall of technology? Humanity is the force behind all the websites, and for that matter, all technology that we use without a second thought everyday. Behind every advance in technology is a human being who wanted to get something done, then did it.

Why do you have a website? Is it your dream to share your ideas with the world? Do you feel you have a product or service that can help society run more smoothly? Do you feel lonely and feel that the Internet is finally a place to connect with others? Do you just want to express yourself to the world and if no one checks it out its O.K, because it has helped you to know yourself better? Each and every website on the Internet is a human being attempting to move forward on their life’s path. What drove you to make the move? Has it helped you, or have unforeseen problems arisen because of your venture? It is a risk you know, and I’m sure for every success story out there, there’s also a story of how the Web affected someone’s world in a contrary fashion.

1. As the first step, “Hire a web designer.”

First create a storyboard of your website, based on your strategy.

2. Focus on graphics, typefaces and colors.

Focus on potential clients and customers.

3. Avoid anything that has to do with “strategy.”

Spend more time on strategy than on website design.

4. Rely on your web designer for all the updates.

Only if your designer is also your significant other! You may need to make changes as often as once a day. Even if you have infinite financial resources, your designer may not have infinite time for you.

5. Avoid learning HTML.

You need a smattering of HTML even if you use a package. If something goes wrong, you’ll save time if you can take a quick peek at the source code.

6. Take a course in web design after your site has gone public.

You may not need a course. Begin with a practice website, using a free package like Netscape’s Composer, or PageMill, which has been bundled with iMacs. Most ISP’s offer free websites for personal use. Don’t use the “quick design” option: Write your own code and practice uploading!

It may seem simple yet it is often times overlooked. When it comes to choosing the right Internet hosting provider for their websites, the majority of business owners or companies know very little about making the best Internet/web hosting decisions.

• What makes a good Internet/web hoster for a business website? What makes a bad one?
• How can the wrong Internet/web hoster help/harm your business?
• What are the different types of Internet/web hosting services? Which ones are best for which industries?

Here are some tips to help you make the right decisions:

1. Understand the distinctions between shared, collocated, unmanaged dedicated & managed dedicated hosting so you choose the one that is right for your business.

It is crucial to understand the difference between the types of hosting offered. As the hosting industry has matured, hosting offers have split into a couple of distinct categories, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Business to business e-commerce is on the rise! Worldwide B2B e-commerce revenues are estimated to reach around US$ 2 trillion in 2004. This is a significant leap from last year’s US$ 1.4 trillion. However, according to a recent survey, although, more than 70% of companies have already used Internet as a purchasing channel, a mere ten percent of their overall spending is directed via the Internet! Contrary to popular believe, this means, B2B e-commerce has still large potential to grow.

Internet has the capacity of changing the conventional way of doing business. Today, you can not only buy and sell your products and services on the Internet, you can, virtually, shift all your business processes to online solutions as well. If you take advantages of new Internet based technologies, the outcome would be tremendously beneficial to your business. How to do this without spending a fortune and not putting a huge pressure on scarce corporate resources? The possible answer could be B2B exchanges!

A B2B exchange is an online marketplace, where buyers, sellers and intermediaries form communities, exchange views, offer products and services, and conduct business transactions.

1. Splash pages

Most of the time splash pages are uncalled for. There are only a handful of reasons why you may ever need to use a splash page on your website but these reasons don’t seem to apply to most of the splash pages you can see on the Internet. The worst example of a splash page is when a company creates a page and adds their logo with no content. They may also add a ‘click here to enter’ button link when there is no reason to have not entered already.

If a website was a printed brochure then it may be fine to put a company logo on the front cover with no text to accompany it - however on the Internet it is a bit of a no-no. Print and web are different mediums and as such require different approaches.

I say get to the point and get to the point fast, as you only have about 8 seconds to impress the typical visitor so you don’t want to throw obstacles like splash pages in their way.

2. Create large file size Flash Intros

Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in cyber-space. How many of them do you go to and just think this is boring, bland, or hard to use? It seems like too many to mention. So what makes a good website? I reckon it’s about interaction. You’ve got to make the visitor interested. You’ve got to grab their attention. Many sites use plenty of bright and shiny gimmicks to attract you, but once you make it through to the content of the site it’s just not worthy. A good site uses easy navigation, relevant content, and interactive media like comments and message boards. If you’re fortunate, whoever builds your site may even have a few tricks up their sleeves to make it really fun with sound, video, and other interactive fun stuff.