Help Search our knowledge base:

Index - FAQ - Definitions

 Details
Frequently Asked
Question (FAQ)

Document Number: 1077

Optimize for Printing
E-Mail This Link

 Feedback
This document ...
helps resolve my question or problem.
does not apply to my question or problem.
is inaccurate for my question or problem.
How To Run A Successful Online Business

Tips For Building A Successful Online Business.

An online business is in many ways similar to a brick-and-mortar business and in many other respects it is very different. When designing a web site to take advantage the tremendous potential of the web, many business owners either forget lessons learned in other contexts or never learned them in the first place. Some web sites make mistakes that in other kinds of marketing situations the same business owners probably would not make.

For example, one of the most annoying features that some web sites have is pop-ups. These are annoying and one has to ask, ‘Do the possible benefits of annoying pop-ups outweigh the downside factors?’ If pop-ups were so beneficial, then why do all the browsers have means for blocking them? Pop-ups are intrusive and distracting at best, yet so many web sites have them.

The other side of designing a web site that your customers will like is that some very basic web etiquette is often ignored. For example, many online shopping carts are poorly designed and do not allow the customer the same convenience as they would have just buying things over the counter. This may be due to the shopping cart software that they are using, or that simply have never considered these things. We cover these topics in our ‘Building a Successful Online Shopping Cart’ section.

Here we expose those features and factors that go into designing and creating a successful online business. We include several basic strategies that you might follow and questions that should be addressed.

  1. Start a business that you know well.

  2. Focus your product line.

  3. Keep your web site updated.

  4. Make yourself available to your customers.

  5. Watch your competition.

  6. Watch out for those search engine experts that over-promise your success.