Running an Online Business

As you develop company strategy, you should also develop a realistic Web plan for your website’s look, feel and functionality. This is often called the Web “front end,” or scale and technical reach of your site. There is an enormous range of possibilities for Web development, from the $10/month hobbyist site developed in simple […]

Your business plan has been carefully drafted, written and re-written and is ready for implementation. You may have spent weeks or months writing it, and it represents all of the goals and objectives for your business. You will definitely have a website because you know that in today’s business world, that’s a necessity and […]

In theory, choosing a domain name is simple. If it is memorable, pronounceable, short, clever, easily spelled and suggests the nature of the commerce on your website, you’ve got yourself a winner.
But even if your choice is brilliant from a marketing standpoint, it may be worse than foolish from a legal perspective. Your name is […]

Spam is any message that you send electronically to lots of people who have not specifically requested mail from you — in other words, junk email. Like a telemarketing call during dinner, spam almost always annoys, and sometimes offends, those who receive it. While sending spam may result in a sale or two in the […]

Starting an online business is much the same as starting any business. You should go to your local town hall and find out what the requirements are to form a business in your area. Also ask what is required at the state and federal level. In most communities you must register a trade name. If […]

Every Web plan has to fit the needs and situation. You must be able to customize your Web plan to fit your company, rather than follow a recipe to build a cookie-cutter plan. Even so, there are standard components you just can’t do without. A Web plan should always have a market analysis, website strategy, […]

The first article of this series discussed page views per session as a kind of early warning system key performance indicator (KPI) for your website. The second discussed the time on site KPI as another warning flag. Both of these articles discuss specific measurements that can be used to forecast site problems. There are lots […]

The problem with most e-commerce marketing strategy today is that companies don’t understand how to use tools such as Web analytics. Most e-commerce directors or Web marketers are given a budget and told to stick to it, and good analytics seldom come cheap. Without Web analytics you can’t even begin to measure key performance indicators […]

The first article of this series discussed page views per session as a kind of early warning system key performance indicator (KPI) for your website. This article will discuss another KPI, the time your visitors spend on your website, and why this is an important metric.
Why time spent on your site is important
All websites, regardless […]

Your site positioning is the website equivalent to product positioning in market strategy and product strategy. You need to relate your website to the benefits offered to target users, and locate it in relation to its strategic focus on defined benefits for defined target users. Position your website to play towards strengths and away from […]