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Article by Sam Martin, PE, CVS, President of OfficeOnWeb, Technologies. 12/1/1999

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the "stuff dreams are made of" for small businesses. The Internet allows a small business to reach many more customers than ever before, add to their services, and lower the costs of reaching clients.

However, if you are looking to sell popular products online that place you in direct competition with the major chains, sales will be tough and the road rocky. Small retailers need to offer a unique product that reaches a "niche" of customer needs. This may be nothing more than advertising that you are a local merchant (in Evergreen), or offering a unique product that has "value added" feature unavailable at the major chains.

Small businesses do make money through the Internet. Total online sales for small businesses are projected to be more than $6 billion by the year 2003. In 1998 it was more than $680 million. Online gift buying is growing more popular. In a recent poll (Harris Interactive), more than 46% of all shoppers planned to make some of their Christmas purchases online this year. The average shopper will expend about $350. Women represent 39% of those shopping this season.

So how do you get "a piece of the pie" for your business? First, determine your Internet business plan. If you are very familiar with the web, you can do this yourself, but getting advice from an Internet business consultant can help you make it even more profitable. It is amazing to me how many businesses start out without carefully going through this critical step. Don't trust your web business launch to luck. Make an Internet business plan and have it looked over by someone who knows e-commerce.

Next, get an Internet address. Don't just run out and get any name.com! The name you select is very important. Due to marketing concerns, you may actually need two or more names that point to the same web location (called parking). Check with an Internet marketing expert about the name or names you should select. Then get a commercial hosting service to host it. AN ISP's free space will not be suitable for your business.

Next comes design. You can attempt to do this yourself or hire a professional. If you do it yourself, you will need a computer ($1,000), scanner ($100), graphic software ($300), FTP client ($40), e-mail client ($0-$60) and several text and html editors ($0 to $1,200). What is best depends on your needs and it can be a complex choice. Our web site support area has extensive reviews and suggestions (support.officeonweb.net). If you hire a professional, make sure they are business specialist type design firm. Pick carefully as few web designers are trained in e-commerce. Examine their existing web sites and results. Select a firm that knows how page and information placement can make or break your Internet business.

Many businesses go through all of the other steps and fail on the last most crucial step. In e-commerce, it is marketing, marketing, and marketing that makes for success. It takes more than just search engine registration. One options is to sign up for a large array of marketing newsletters, study them each day, and do trial and error marketing. Alternatively, you can hire a firm that already has experience and a proven record in this area and use their advice.

Does all this sound hard? It's not really. Just take a look at some of the businesses that have successfully done it. Scotty Ingram and Assoc., Evergreen Glass company, Lifestyles Fitness, and Red Rocks Grill, If they are doing it, you can too.

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Did you know that in 1998 more than 95% of OfficeOnWeb's new customers made a profit from their web site within their first year of operation? Sad, but it is true. This compares to less than 20% industry wide ever even breaking even. Why? Professional and directed expertise. This industry average for people leaving their current web service provider is 4% per month! That's nearly 50% over a year! Ours is less than 1% per year. That is because we endeavor to make our clients money and don't just offer a "pat solution" that we know has a low probability of ever making our client a profit. Some of the features that make up the level of success that our clients enjoy are:

 Five redundant backbone connections

 99.999% up time on UNIX servers

 Redundant OC-3 connect to all five backbones

 Full data center services

RAID 5 system with weekly backup of critical systems

 True Web Developer Services

 Large support site for clients and visitors

 Four level or higherencryption on all e-commerce solutions designed by Office On Web (this is the government standard required if Government people are to use a site)

 We NEVER host a commercial site on an access server (that is really bad, but common in dial up providers)

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