1. A road map for getting your business
on-line quickly and inexpensively

2.  Selling online, with or through a website, or
by means of email
 Ecommerce or electronic commerce is usually
subdivided into B2B (business to business:
wholesale), B2C (business to customer: retail)
and C2C (customer to customer: auctions and
information portals).

3.  Much more demanding — and not usually served
by off-the-shelf software — is e-business or
electronic business, where information
technology is applied to all aspects of company's
operations.
 In e-business systems exist for CRM (customer
resource management), ERP (enterprise resource
planning), SFM (sales force management), SCM
(supply chain management) and EP (electronic
procurement).

4.  Online Purchasing: This business presents the
customer with those technologies that make it
easier for them to find data and buy
commodities. The businesses encompassed in
this category serve the customer by giving them
the option of order placement, purchase order
submission or requisition of quotes.
 Online Shopping: This involves businesses giving
information to customers so that they can make
a decision and buy a certain commodity from
you.

5.  You must know the law!
 A good site to visit is the Small Business
Development Center's National Information
Clearinghouse
 E-business laws include; Trademark and
patent laws; Consumer protection laws (if you
plan to sell online goods/services); Licensing
laws and taxation laws.

6.  Ethical laws - These laws are with regards to ethical behavior of
businesses online, especially if your e-business is an online
pharmacy or store.
 Privacy & security laws - Privacy and security laws are very
important to know because as an e-business you must at all
times protect the privacy of your customers and keep their
information safe and secure particularly their personal
information.
 Copyright laws - E-businesses need to be aware of copyright and
plagiarism laws as many copyright and plagiarism violations can
be found all over the internet.
 Digital laws - Digital laws refer to laws regarding information
technology, software/hardware patents, etc. These laws are vital
to an e-business.
 Taxation laws - Any e-business must be aware of the tax laws
that apply to their business and what state and local taxes they
must pay.

7.  7. Develop Concept
 6. Prepare a Unique Selling Proposition
 5. Obtain a Domain Name
 4. Secure Funding
 3. Lay Out a Project Plan
 2. Construct Website, Payment Systems (SSL,
Shopping Carts) and E-mail Systems
 1. Test Retest. Change Offers

8.  Storefront Software and Shopping Carts
◦ enable you to build sites where customers can view
your goods
◦ add or delete items from their selection
◦ review their final selection prior to purchase
◦ payment process is made intuitive, fast and secure
◦ Shipping details, tax and your returns policy are
clearly presented
◦ customers are emailed with a confirmation of
purchase and delivery date.

9.  Basically, there are three ways to build your
store:
◦ purchase software 'out of a box‘
◦ use software provided by an ecommerce hosting
company
◦ create your own system, writing the code necessary

10.  Ease of Build
◦ uses wizards throughout?
◦ resulting code can be easily 'tweaked'?
◦ needs simple programming in Perl, Coldfusion or ASP?
◦ uses a proprietary programming language?
◦ suitable only for the advanced programmer?
 Integration
◦ works with what payment gateway system?
 Support
◦ software produced by large and reputable company?
◦ software has good customer base?
◦ adequate build instructions?
◦ online tutorials available?
◦ software user's club and help center?

11.  Storefront appearance
◦ professional-looking result?
◦ suitable templates? customizable?
◦ displays sufficient products?
◦ resulting store easy to navigate?
◦ payment system intuitive and easy to use?
◦ works with all browser?
 Backend functions
◦ proper records kept of
 purchases? customer details? tax levels? shipping information?
◦ handles multiple currencies and tax levels?
◦ records readily integrated
 directly into current accounting / sales packages?
 with software supplied?
 via compatible databases?
◦ customer emailed with sale confirmation and shipping details?
◦ doesn't use cookies (some customers turn off the facility).

12.  http://stores.ebay.com/
 http://webstore.amazon.com
 http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/
 http://www.networksolutions.com/e-
commerce/index.jsp
 http://www.storefront.net/
 http://www.volusion.com/
 http://storefront.com
 http://www.shopify.com
 http://www.shopfactory.com/

13.  competitive prices
 good reputation: look for awards and
testimonials.
 uptime of 99.9% or better.
 7/24 email and telephone support.
 SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to provide security for
payment transactions.
 use of a digital certificate (Verisign).
 appropriate operating system
 direct feed of website data into accounting and
inventory databases.
 Adequate disk space - opportunity to add more.
 sufficient bandwidth, with affordable increases.

14.  no more than 10 accounts on same server.
 online help: tutorial, manuals, control panel.
 detailed traffic statistics.
 regular site backup, preferably daily.
 opportunity to upgrade package, preferably to dedicated
server.
 T3 connection (with no more than 30% average utilization).
 close proximity to backbone (not many upstream
providers).
 redundant connections (to minimize bottlenecks).
 backup power supplies, usually diesel generators.
 guarantees, e.g. free monthly trial.
 fast and helpful response to detailed pre-contract
questions.
 adequate security measures.

15.  Many attractive deals exist. Some throw in detailed statistics of your visitors
and their movement through your store. Some will also include marketing.
Remember, however, that:
 you must still assess the software provided to ensure it does the job
properly: evaluate the alternatives.
 terms may be restrictive: adult or politically incorrect material is usually
banned.
 you may have to include banners etc. advertising the hosting company: these
can interfere with the image or integrity of your store.
 the hosting company gets their cut somewhere: the merchant account
provided may not be the best going: shop around.
 modest hosting charges allow for only limited support: check their rates for
anything else.
 The hosting company may have the right to delete credit card information
from their server some time after you have supposedly retrieved it: check
that they keep a backup copy for customer disputes later.
 You may be locked in: transferring to another system/hosting
company/merchant account can be difficult, especially if there are long
leases involved.

16.  What are we selling? Product? Service?
 How to people come to our site?
 Niche Marketing
 Affiliates
 Traffic Generation – Core Site
 Blogging, Social Media, Newsletters
 Facebook Ads
 Google Adwords/Google Analytics
 Organic Ranking

17.  About.com
 Wilsonweb.com