• How can my business benefit from the Internet even if I don't sell anything online?
• How can my website generate new business?
• What is E-commerce all about and what level of E-commerce is right for me?
• How Do I Start Selling My Products/Services on the Internet?

How Can My Business Benefit from the Internet even if I don't sell anything online?

Businesses can use the web in different ways to create new sources of sales. If you have a business that doesn't lend itself to an E-commerce solution, you can still use your web site to generate leads.

Once you drive traffic to your site through any method, such as search engines, advertising - both traditional and online, opt-in e-mails, direct mail, etc., you need to convert those visitors to genuine leads. This can be accomplished in several ways:

• Required registration - visitors to your site have to register to surf your site. Keep in mind, though, this is not a very popular method.
• Optional registration - visitors must be motivated to register voluntarily. Ways to encourage people to register include free newsletter subscriptions, offers of discounts and contests (check for legal restrictions).

How Can My Website Generate New Business?

The Internet has become influential in our economy. The Internet has changed how we get information, how we spend our leisure time and how we conduct business. Businesses are using the web to communicate to existing customers as well as generate interest from prospects. Businesses are also using their web sites to generate new revenue from both existing and new customers.

What Is E-commerce? What Level of E-commerce Is Right for Me?

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services directly over the Internet. According to Forrester Research, 40 million households will be shopping online by 2003, spending more than $108 billion. These figures don't even include the business-to-business market, which, also according to Forrester, will reach $2.7 trillion by 2004.

You must examine your business to determine what level of e-commerce is right for you and what features and functions will be important to your site.

• What do you sell? How many products? Do your items change frequently? Do you run short-term specials? Is product shipping a significant issue?
• Do you have repeat customers or are they new each time? Do your products support repeat purchases?
• How much time can you and/or your staff devote to your web site?
• Can your business fulfill the higher sales volume that could be generated by your successful e-commerce site?

How Do I Start Selling My Products/Services on the Internet?

Once you decide to set up an E-commerce enabled web site, the process can be as easy as setting up any other web site. 

Here's what you do:

1) Select and register your domain name.

• Keep it simple making sure it represents your company and business goals. We will help you get your name registered.

2) Determine the site creation process that's best for you.

• If you want to build your web site yourself, you can use the Site Creation tools that are available in the Control Panel, or you can use a program such as Microsoft's FrontPage®.
• If you would like to have the site built for you, we offer complete Design Services in which you receive a customized web site that can include a shopping cart enabled store.

3) Select the E-commerce plan that fits your business needs.

• Our E-commerce solutions provide generous allocations of disk space, data transfer and email capabilities.
• How many products will you offer? We have E-commerce solutions for anywhere between a few products up to 1000 products. One of these solutions will be just right for you.
• Do you want to conduct online credit card processing?
  See the section below.

E-commerce Site Payment Options:

E-commerce solutions support both offline and online credit card processing.

Our entry-level E-commerce plan allows you to capture the customer's order and credit card information from an online form, then process the credit card transaction manually. Information that your customers provide you is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol security. That means while shopping at your online store, your customers' personal information, including credit card numbers, are indecipherable while being sent through the Internet.

Online credit card processing capability may be added to E-commerce plans. Many existing businesses may already have a merchant account, however, this may not be sufficient for conducting transactions over the Internet. A separate Internet merchant account may be required.

Sound complicated? It's really not. When you select us as your hosting provider with our partners, we help simplify and streamline the process for you. With one stop here, you get all you need to get your E-commerce capabilities up and running.

For more information, please contact us.

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