Setting up and developing a successful Website

The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us. With the vast amount of information available at your fingertips, it has never been easier to communicate your message to the world.

A web site will enable you to create your own home on the World Wide Web. Your home may be as simple or dynamic as you'd like and is only limited by your imagination.

Although designing a great web site is an important part of developing a successful online business, it is only one small part of an overall plan.

Although many new Internet entrepreneurs believe that all they need to do to make money online is to put up a web site, that couldn't be further from the truth.

The truth is developing a successful Internet business takes a great deal of time, thought and effort. It takes a sincere commitment, a lot of patience, and a lot of personal drive.

There are a lot of lessons that must be learned, and a lot of failures that must be endured. However, if you're truly passionate about your business and success, it will happen -- you will succeed.

A major factor in determining your success is the amount of time you take to educate yourself. Please don't take this point lightly, as it can literally mean the difference between your success and failure.

Sure, learning HTML is an important part of designing a successful web site; however, it is only one small part. You must first develop a strategic plan and design your web site accordingly.

Prior to designing your web site, here are some questions to assist you in developing your strategy:

• Who is your target audience?
• What products and/or services will you offer?
• Will you sell affiliate products and/or services?
• What type of design will you use?
• Will you design your site or hire a professional?
• How will your site be navigated?
• How will your site be optimized?
• What type of graphics will your site use?
• What fonts will you use?
• How will you optimize your pages for the Search Engines?
• How will you make your web pages load quickly?
• What type of content will your site offer?
• How will you gain your visitors' trust?
• How will you build your credibility?
• Will you write your own sales copy or hire a copywriter?
• How will you accept payment through your site?
• How will you process your orders?
• How will you deliver your products or services?
• How will you collect your customers' information and store it within a database?
• How will you automate portions of your business?
• Where will you find the scripts you need?
• What kind of computer software will you need?
• Where will you find the software?
• How will you upload your files to your server?
• Will you publish an ezine?
• How will you collect email addresses?
• How will you send out mailings?
• How will you drive traffic to your web site?
• How will you advertise your products and services?
• How will you test your advertising?
• Will you offer an affiliate program?
• How will you run your affiliate program?
• How will you market and promote your web site, products and/or services?

Although this list of questions is far from complete, it will give you a basic idea of exactly what is involved in developing a successful web site. As you can see, there is much more to take into consideration than just learning HTML. You must look at the entire picture and design your web site accordingly. Plan your work then work your plan.

Above all else, you must be willing to invest in your business -- not only monetarily, but also your time. Although there is a lot of free information available online to assist you, keep in mind...you get what you pay for.

The great thing is you don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are many successful Internet entrepreneurs that have been where you are right now. Subscribe to their publications -- listen to their advice -- purchase their products. If you begin by following in the footsteps of successful Internet entrepreneurs, you will eventually begin making your own paths and find your own success.

Copyright © Shelley Lowery

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. And, Ebook Starter- Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.com Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies." http://www.web-source.net

Introduction and Basic Overview of E-Commerce

The Free Management Library will help you address the major considerations in setting up an e-commerce business. The considerations are as follows.

E-Commerce is Like Any Other Business, Except ...
Developing a business over the Internet requires many of the same major activities as starting any other business. You should do some basic business planning. After all, you need a product. You may need funding to get your business going. You need customers. You need to market products to your customers. You need strong customer service. You need to manage purchases by customers, finances, staff and other resources.

Not All Products Are Very Compatible to Sales Over the Internet
But there are some features unique to e-commerce. Not all products are real compatible to be sold over the Internet. For example, they may require a lot of face-to-face selling. They may cost a lot to ship (a primary practice in e-commerce is that customers buy products, and you ship the products to them). You need to make sure that, because your product may be advertised to the world, that you remain in control of your ideas, or "intellectual property".

You Need an On-Line "Store"
Basically, you need an "on-line store" to be an "e-tailer". (Don't fret. You may be able to outsource, or hire, a current store to work with you.) Your store will need a "merchant" account, or the ability to process your customers' credit card transactions over the Internet. This includes needing a "secure server", or that your on-line store be on a computer system that ensures that customers' credit card numbers cannot readily be read by people who are not supposed to read these numbers. You'll probably need some kind of on-line order form that customers can complete, in order to purchase your products. You may even want your the processing of customers' order to include processing the customers' credit card numbers right away while they're still on-line and connected to your Web site.

Let's read on to understand the very basics of e-commerce.

Obviously, You Need a Web Site
You need to design and promote a Web site. You'll need access to expertise that can regularly design and maintain this Web site for you -- and it will require ongoing attention. Fortunately, there is a great deal of free information available to help you with this design and promotion.