Congratulations! You've made the plunge into Internet Business,
and now you have to show everyone what you're made of. Use your
new technology-enhanced marketing powers to reach more customer
channels and grow your business. You're on the bandwagon
already, so here are a few basics you need to be conscious of to
succeed in this Web Business game.
CHECK AND ANSWER YOUR EMAIL
There's nothing like sending
someone an email only to find that they never check it. Email is
probably THE most important internet tool you could have. Learn
how to use it! I can't say that enough. LEARN HOW TO USE IT!
After checking your email, take the next step and actually
answer the person who emailed you. You'd be suprised how easy it
is. For those of you out there who get so much email that you'd
probably need an assistant to read it all, try segmenting your
email based on priority or by sender so that you can at address
the ones that are really important to you. Advanced email users
can add keyword filters to their mailboxes to help keep things
organized.
CHANGE YOUR SITE
A web site that never changes, is simply
boring. If you have content that doesn't change at all, or
doesn't change often - at least update the home page every now
and again so it appears that you have an active interest in your
business. On the flip side, major navigation changes and adding
irrelevant sound or graphics that don't mount to a hill of beans
for your audience isn't worth your time either. You'll only
frustrate people and ultimately end up doing alot of work with
little gain. Less is more, but too little is not enough!
SPY ON YOUR COMPETITORS
Yep. You have to do it. Many
businesses on the Internet today fail because they neglect to
provide services or functions that are considered 'normal' for
the audience they serve. For example, if you're a mortgage
broker, it might be a good idea to have some of those cool
mortgage calculator scripts on your site. If you're a tax
accountant, then maybe putting a copy of this years' tax forms -
or independent links to them - would be a good idea. You can't
know these things unless you check out other sites that have
similar businesses to yours. Find out what they're doing and
what they're not doing. Design or rebuild your site based on the
research you've done and rest easy knowing that you're at least
on par with your competition!
ADVERTISE
If you build it, they will NOT come. They won't
know you're there! You pay a sum of hard-earned money to a
designer and a web host, then you sit back and just wait for the
phone to ring or the emails to pour in. NOT! Low cost and no
cost advertising opportunites exist everywhere for just about
every line of business - find some and get the word out!
FOLLOW THE RULES
When building and publicizing your site,
make sure you are following the rules and regulations for your
industry. Never accept credit card numbers without having an SSL
Certificate on your site (try
www.rapidssl.com), and don't send
SPAM emails. Your web designer or developer should be able to
able to give you a basic idea of what will be necessary for some
things, however, its not their business and ultimately YOU will
be held responsible for any errors, omissions, and acts of
non-compliance. Research, research, research!
An internet business, although having no walls or physical
location, is much like having a normal business. Make a
commitment to learning all you can about running your business
and to understand the technologies that are available to help
you succeed.
Share your own experience with me at curtis@idylhands.com
About the author:
Chris Curtis, a professional Internet Business Consultant, has
been helping small and medium businesses gain a competitive
advantage on the internet, worldwide, for more than 10 years.
Through her own site at
http://www.idylhands.com she provides
web design, programming, and internet business consulting.
