The Net in 2015: 50x Bigger

What will the Internet be like 2015–if the world does not end in 2012? A heck of a lot bigger, that’s for sure. And, much more technically capable.

According to John Furrier, a Silicon Valley technology blogger,  the American Internet of 2015, alone, will be at least 50 times larger than it was in 2006. This bodes well for anyone wanting to start an online business. So, if you think it is too late to get your piece of the online business equity, think again.

 The Internet started in 1969 by linking together 1,000 scientists, who exchanged data and information. Then, in the middle of the 1990s,  the Web took off and began delivering data and information to millions of consumers through e-mail and browsers.

Now, the third phase is on its way with the addition of multimedia. Video is streaming from the online business world into the homes and offices of people worldwide, providing entrepreneurs like yourself great opportunities. Video has already transformed the way people are learning and acquiring new information online.  Consumers are calling for more “how tos” and “step-by-step lessons.” These can be a natural part of your online business whether you have a service or product.

You can use this third online business phase for both services and products, either commercial or nonprofit, in scores of different ways.  The world radically changed with the arrival of the television sets in the 1950s. Now the same thing is happening with the use of Internet videos.

Online Business Idea: Community Newspaper

The saying goes, when you are given lemons, make lemonade. Well, the local traditional newspapers are getting more and more sour all the time. Every month more newspapers disappear. Those that are still alive, realize that they must have an online presence.

Just because the newspapers are folding does not mean that people no longer want to read local news about their community. It just means that the papers cannot survive, because they are losing their advertising money. Readers still want to wake up and read about the local crimes, weddings, news and obituaries. They’ll soon be getting used to doing it online or with their e-reader.

If you are a writer or have the ability of bringing together a team of writers and marketing people, you can start an online newspaper for your hometown. Then, expand into the next town, and the next, just like the print papers did.

You can begin with a blog and either charge a subscription price or get paid advertisements. They will be easier to get than offline, and you do not have to raise as much, since you overhead will be much lower. Then make sure that the most important beats are covered and that you give people a chance to send in an editorial. For very little money, you can build up a sizable online business.

Small Business Assessment Tool

Is starting an Online Business for You?

Here’s the test from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help determine whether you are ready to start a business. To have the SBA automatically tally your score, visit http://web.sba.gov/sbtn/sbat/index.cfm?Tool=4. This interactive tool will review your answers and make suggestions as to how to turn your answers from “No” to “Yes.”

 Answer “Yes” or “No” to the following questions:

 General

• Do you think you are ready to start a business?
• Have you ever worked in a business similar to what you are planning to start?
• Would people who know you say you are well suited to be self-employed?
• Do you have support for your business from family and friends?
• Have you ever taken a course or seminar designed to teach you how to start and manage a small business?
• Have you discussed your business idea, business plan, or proposed business with a business coach or counselor, such as a faculty advisor, SCORE counselor, Small Business Development Center counselor, or other economic development advisor?
• Do you have a family member or relative who owns a business?

Personal Characteristics

• Do you consider yourself to be a leader and a self-starter?
• Would other people consider you to be a leader?
• Are you willing to invest a significant portion of your savings or net worth to get your business started if you need to purchase inventory and equipment?
• Do you have enough confidence in yourself and your abilities to sustain yourself in business, if or when things get tough?
• Do you like to make your own decisions?
• Are you prepared, if needed, to temporarily lower your standard of living until your business is firmly established?
• Do others turn to you for help in making decisions?
• Are you willing to commit long hours to making your business work?
• Would others consider you a team player?

Skills, Experience, and Training

• Do you have a business plan for the business you are planning to start?
• Do you know and understand the components of a business plan?
• Do you know what form of legal ownership (sole proprietor, partnership, or corporation) is best for your business?
• Do you know why some consider business planning to be the most important factor in determining your business success?
• Do you know whether your business will require a special license or permit and how to obtain it?
• Do you know where to find demographic data and information about your customers?
• Do you know how to compute the financial break-even point for your business?
• Do you know how to compute the start-up costs for your business?
• Do you know about the various loan programs that are available from banks in your area and the SBA if you need money to get your business started?
• Do you understand how a business loan can impact your credit?
• Do you know how to prepare and/or interpret a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement?
• Do you know why small business loans are considered more risky than loans made to large businesses?
• Are you sure your planned business fills a specific market need?
• Do you know your target market?
• Do you understand the tax requirements associated with your business?
• Do you know how to prepare a marketing strategy for your business?
• Do you know how to learn about your business competitors?
• Do you understand marketing trends in your business industry?
• Do you feel comfortable using a computer or other technology to improve business operations?
• Do you have a payroll process planned for your business?
• Do you have a customer service strategy in mind or in place?
• Do you know how to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your business?
• Do you know whether your business should have some form of intellectual property protection?
• Do you know where to obtain information about regulations and compliance requirements that impact your business?

Yahoo! Merchant Solutions/Many E-Store Services

When you decide to set up your new Web site, you have many different choices on design. You can work with an independent web designer and start from scratch. You can also find many ready-made templates just by googling “web site templates.”

Thousands of successful merchants have decided to go another route–getting their web site through Yahoo! Merchant Services.  Yahoo! has an all-one e-commerce package that is up and running in days. This is not to say that there is no learning curve–there is. You need to learn some basic RXML (instead of HTML) language and you will need to make a number of different decisions on how you want to tailor the Yahoo! store templates.

Yahoo! actually does everything for you.  They host your e-commerce store on their Web servers and give you full access to their fully featured shopping cart solution. They will also give you basic design support on your new Web site. This is only $39.95 a month for the starter package, plus a 1.5 percent fee off your gross sales.

Some merchants would rather place the look of their store in the hands of an experienced Yahoo! web designer. Ventura Web Design, for example, has a whole range of services for putting up a Yahoo! store.

If you want some more information about how to get a Yahoo! store up and running, just click on the book and get going: 

The benefits of Yahoo! Include
Tools and templates  for storefront design

Search engine optimized shopping cart

Credit card and payment processing

Web hosting for the store

Many different additional features and add ons

The Yahoo! brand on your Web site to reinforce security

Round-the-clock technical support

Powerful analytics to keep on improving your site

How to Sell International: It’s In Your Grasp

“International e-commerce is within reach of every online retailer, even those without a global brand,” says an E-Commerce News article by Colleen Francis. But, it takes being careful of such factors as language and currency differences, shipping costs, fulfillment time and customer support.

Bill Gates says a business has to have an e-commerce presence to survive, so now’s the time to think about adding a virtual component to your brick-and-mortar. You can even expand globally without taking on significant overhead or structural changes.

Here are some other tips the article had for going global:

Simple Does It.  Because Internet capabilities vary considerably across the world, stay away from fancy bells and whistles for purchasing processes.

Watch Out for Fraud.  Research says global fraud has grown 67 percent over the past four years.

Also Be Careful of Hidden Shipping Costs. If you haven’t shipped internationally before, you may be surprised by the extra fees. Before setting a fee for shipping, make sure all costs are added on.

Promise Quick Turnaround.  Just because your customer is in another country does not mean that there should be a delay for delivery. Let your customers know when their orders will be coming and stick to that date.

Add Global to Your Marketing Mix. Some of the marketing you are presently doing will draw international as well as national visitors. You may have to prepare special marketing pieces for target global populations, such as e-zines in two languages.

This year, eMarketer forecasts 136 million Europeans online in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK. Advertisers will spend $7.5 billion to reach all Western Europeans, up 25 percent from $6.0 billion in 2008.

Get on the global bandwagon. 

10 Benefits Of an Online Business

Should you start an online business? That’s a question that you seriously need to ask yourself .  An e-store or e-service offers many benefits compared to the conventional job.

Here are ten benefits:

1) You are your own boss, manager, and supervisor. You only answer to yourself. You decide your hours and the goals you want to reach. You can work out of a home office or rent an office in another building.

2)  Your store is always open, so you decide your best hours.  Get up real early in the morning before the household wakes up or work at night when everyone is asleep. Or, put in the traditional 9-to-5 hours.

3) You have to put in considerable work, but the rewards are all yours. You do not share the income with anyone or only get so much out of each sale made — with the exception of Uncle Sam, that is.

4) No more commuting back and forth —  or waiting in long hours of traffic. You cannot take off every day, but when something special comes up,  you can rearrange your schedule.

5) You can take your time building the business. An online business is not something you must achieve overnight. Start working part-time while still in your regular day job. When your income grows enough to meet your expenses, then leave your full-time position.

6) You do not need a huge investment.  Your overhead is the cost of equipment you probably already have, as well as your marketing.  You do not even need inventory if you drop ship.

7)  The business never closes. Even when you are sleeping, the business is up and running around the world. Just let the auto responders, e-mail systems, and automated credit card businesses run your store. This is one of the most attractive aspects of owning an Internet business. It takes over for you when you are offline.

8 ) You are selling worldwide. There are millions of people looking for products or services online, and they live almost everywhere in the world. Who knows who wants your gadget? Someone from Peru perhaps?

9) E-commerce grows even in economic down times.  This year online sales do not have as much growth as earlier years, but there’s growth nonetheless.  And all studies show that e-commerce will continue this trend for another decade.

10) Information at a click of a link. The Internet is bursting with experts who have free or low-cost advice on how they became successful. If you spend time with others in the field on forums, blogs, e-zines, and e-books, you can get valuable help with your business.

Online Customers’ Future Needs

Today’s online shopper is Web-savvy, which means online businesses must continually raise the bar and second-guess what customers will expect in the future. In the coming years, online consumers will want:

 –Enhanced Web site accessibility and usability due to ever-expanding new technologies.

–Greater multi-channel commerce choices, such as mobile devices, allowing Web stores to focus on personal relationships.

–More user-friendly and social e-commerce sites that expand community involvement and user input.

–Further reliance on retail Web sites that sell through catalogs.

–Increased use of Analytics, allowing retailers to offer top-level customized service and competitiveness.

–Expanded ability of digital downloads that rely on newly developed software.

–More integration between virtual and brick-and-mortar shops, such as at-store product pickup.

–A larger number of global Web sites offering a variety of safe and secure payment options.

–Expanded marketing budgets for online promotions.

–Greater dependence on long-tail options, such as cataloging, allowing a smaller group or niche of customers to find small quantity or customized items. The “long tail” concept describes the niche strategy where businesses sell a large amount of specialized products, each in relatively small numbers.

–More emphasis on building brand over only selling products.

–More personalization and community integration, where customers’ habits are recognized and catered to.

–Further expansion into new international markets to expand global presence.

–Greater reliance on other vendors who can offer the latest in payment provisions, such as Google Checkout™, where a consumer can conveniently buy from stores across the Web and track their orders and shipping information in one location.

Successful Online Business: Customer is #1

The saying, “The customer comes first,” actually appears to be even more important with an online business than it does with a brick-and-mortar. The competition is so great in the virtual world, and it is so easy to get lost amidst the hundreds of thousands of similar store fronts, the number-one priority is attracting and, just as important, retaining customers.

From day one when you begin to think about starting an online business, you need to keep those customers’ needs front and center. Is this a product or service they want or, even better, need?  How do you differ from the others online? Why will the customer want to buy from you?

When you develop your business plan and design your Web site, the customer should be in your mind all the time, as well. What processes are being put into place to ensure top customer service? What features will the customer want to see, such as a shopping cart or product ratings?

Information is a key element in your marketing plan. What will draw customers to your site and build brand in addition to product or service? Will you have articles of interest, a blog, regular e-zines, or a forum? Will customers have the ability to rate the products or send in comments?

Similarly, how will you use the social network to increase awareness and grow traffic? Will you be active on Face Book or Linked In, or twittering news?

The more you think about your customers and their needs, the better chance you have of succeeding.  When developing your online business, put a big “C” for “customer” in front of you. That’s the person you need to be addressing every step of the way.

Choose the Best Online Business/Domain Name

You can be selling the best product or service in the world, but your online business and domain name do not let potential customers know exactly how you can meet their needs.

It’s very important to choose the right name for your business and domain that will draw customers and give you high search engine ranking.

Your name must:

1) Say it like it is.  Your online business and domain name have to be specific. Forget something like shoes.com. Shoppers already have in mind what they want. Better yet, go with something such as snowshoes.com or hikingtrailshoes.com. 

2) Be short and to the point. No one will remember the domain name bobsandershikingtrailshoes.com. In fact, who can even read that domain name? You can have 63 characters in your domain name, but enough is enough!

3) Be very easy to remember. Forgetspelling words differently, puns, or bad combinations, such as bobswear.com for Bob’s clothing store or shoozeareit.com for a shoe store.

4) Include your city/town. If you are using your online store to bring more business to your brick-and-mortar, make sure that local customers can reach you, such as riverdalesnowshoes.com.   The business category and city are the two most common keywords for search engines.  This gets your local traffic.

5) Use keywords. These are words that searchers will use when trying to find your product or service.  Not only will your potential customers find you more quickly, but you will have higher ratings with the search engines on pages that are directly related to what you sell, such as kitchenlamps.com or bathroomdecorlamps.com.  

 5) Be thoroughly tested. Before choosing a name, spend an hour or two writing every name that describes your business products or services and includes keywords that consumers will use to find you. Then, narrow it down to the half a dozen or so best ones and survey everyone you know.  Put the names in the search engine and see what happens. Ask the opinion of expert colleagues on forums.

6) Be checked for trademark infringement.  You do not want to lose your name once it is up and running.  You also do not want a once-used name that has a bad history.

Remember, you are going to have this name for a long, long time. You may add other names as you sell more products, but this first name will remain the same.  You want to love it for good.

HO! HO! Holiday Online Shopping to Rise 6%

Thinking About Selling Online?  Shoppers are Getting Ready to Spend

The winter holidays have always been “the” time for brick-and-mortar stores to make big sales. Increasingly, online businesses are taking over this annual opportunity. An E-tailing Group Inc. survey reports that over half, 55 percent, of present Web shoppers could be shopping at your online store for holiday shopping. That’s an increase over last year’s 49 percent.

E-commerce is going to take a 26 percent share of holiday spending. That’s a jump from 2008’s 21 percent. If  you have an online product, now’s the time to start pushing it. All web merchants are gearing up to get their share of the holiday dollars. 

Here are some of the survey highlights:

•  The economy may be impacting people’s buying, but they are still going to buy a lot.  Of those surveyed, 48 percent expect to purchase   from 6 to 15 gifts, almost the same as last year’s 47 percent.
• Of these buyers, 43 percent say they will spend about $300 to $800 for friends’ and family members’ gifts.
•  Consumers are always looking for value, right? Well, 88 percent of these online shoppers report they will pay full price for “hard-to-find” products, convenience and good customer service. There’s that tip to go niche
• What’s important for these shoppers? Many, 91 percent of these buyers want free shipping;  81% are looking for free returns.  They also say they want to see retailer contact information.  In other words, you need to at least have a customer phone number, if not your address.  In addition, these buyers like the shopping cart feature.
• Time is still of the essence, with 85 percent of those surveyed saying they are shopping online to save time.
• Favorite items include books, clothing, music, gift certificates, toys, and consumer electronics for at least a third of the respondents.
• The gift of giving still ranks high.  The call for online gift centers had a huge increase from  30 percent to 49 percent .   

What’s the best way to capture this holiday traffic? Here are some tips from the survey:

• Think Phones. A third of the shoppers are going to use their mobile phone to ease shopping–18 percent to look your businesses up and 18 percent to compare prices.
• Keep e-mail steady but weekly–43 percent who are opted in to for e-mails want them once a week.
• Use social networking– 37% of these online buyers are going to be swayed by social networking sites, an increase from last year’s 24 percent.  But fewer than 20 percent will make a purchase as a result. Consider this a way to boost your image!
• Are you are an online and brick-and-mortar store?  In-store pick-up for products purchased online is important to 60 percent of shoppers.