HOW TO: Move Your Brick and Mortar Online

By Jim Kinkade

Putting an already successful small business online seems like a daunting task; but it is relatively easy, can be fun, and is a move worth making. Creating an Internet presence increases your customer base, exposes your business to new markets and generates new revenue streams, all for relatively minimal cost.

Opening a branch office -- another "brick and mortar" -- is a huge expenditure that most small businesses cannot undertake. A branch office typically only reaches another limited audience, in another neighborhood. Creating a comprehensive website gives your small business worldwide exposure when implemented correctly. Here are four simple areas of electronic entrepreneurship that should be researched and considered when moving a brick and mortar operation online.

Building a website
Most small companies already have a unique name, which can be easily translated to an equally unique domain name. It is fairly easy to register a company name appended with a .com on it for fewer than $10 USD per year. If your company name is not available, don't pay through the nose trying to obtain it… go with something similar and save money.

Many domain resellers assist new website owners with everything necessary to create a company website. Registrars like GoDaddy, TuCows, and Register.com offer everything needed to operate a website including a variety of hosting plans, design templates, and shopping carts, all for nominal fees. Getting a site built right out of the box is a great way to start, and as the web business grows, more resources can be devoted to improving the website and setting it apart from competitors.

Setting up a shopping cart
One of the main reasons for setting up an online presence is to generate additional revenue. If you are a retailer, a shopping cart capable of taking all major credit cards is essential to generating a new revenue stream. Customers that wish to make purchases online must have a simple and secure way to do so. PayPal is one increasingly common online payment system, and has come a long way in respectability and trust.

Most web-hosting services have shopping carts available, which are easy to configure: simply plug in the products and prices. Funds generated are securely deposited directly into a company bank account. Items sold online can easily pay for the minimal set up costs associated with establishing an online storefront.

A quick note of warning: If you are not already familiar with online commerce, brace yourself for a small percentage of fraudulent chargebacks. Many companies starting out online are surprised by the resourcefulness and audacity of some online purchasers. Strong anti-fraud practices should be implemented from the start, especially for sales involving large dollar amounts. Credit card charge-backs are not only made in the case of stolen cards, but sometimes from people who use the anonymity of online shopping to reverse payment once they get the goods.

Implementing effective e-mail marketing
Once your company makes a decision to go online, it is imperative to start asking for email addresses from customers, both online and walk-ins. Getting customers to agree to provide an email address is so common these days it is generally not an imposition to them. You probably don't have a long history of collecting email addresses from your customers. Even if your business has kept good track of customer contact information in a database, the email address is usually the missing piece.

Email append services like OptinBuilders assist companies in finding those missing customer email addresses by matching traditional data like addresses and phone numbers. Once this data is obtained, utilizing it with professional, permission-based mass email marketing programs like Email Marketing Director or Campaign Enterprise is of course the next step.

Optimizing for search engines
Once the website is established, it needs to be seen. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to methods of increasing the visibility of a website within search. Many companies pay a lot of money to increase SEO, but there are some relatively simple things for a company getting started. Registering the new site on the Open Directory Project is the first step. Being listed on this site is crucial for a website to be listed on most major search engines, including Google and Yahoo!

Frequent updates to the content of your website, with keyword rich copy, will help boost search engine rankings. Linking to other relevant sites is also critical. To attract local business, linking to your community's chamber of commerce website and other websites in the area will help.

There are many ways to increase links, but the key is to link to relevant sites that have their own high search engine ranking. Also, avoiding so-called "link farms," is critical, as these will cause more problems and decrease rankings in the long run.

Setting up an online presence should not be taken lightly, but it isn't as daunting as it at first appears. As long as you conduct research, get some legal advice if necessary, the next step is to jump in and get started. -- Arial Software

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