Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Project

Prentice Hall 2006

Learning ObjectivesUnderstand the fundamental requirements for initiating an online business.Describe the process of initiating and funding a start-up e-business or large e-project.Understand the process of adding EC initiatives to an existing business.Describe the issues and methods of transforming an organization into an e-business.Describe the process of acquiring Web sites and evaluating building and hosting options.

Learning ObjectivesUnderstand the importance of providing and managing content and describe how it is accomplished.Evaluate Web sites on design criteria such as appearance, navigation, consistency, and performance.Understand how search engine optimization may help a Web site obtain high placement in search engines.Understand how some major support e-services are provided.Understand the process of building an online storefront.Be able to build an online storefront with templates.

Starting a New Online BusinessCreating a New Company or Adding an Online ProjectStep 1: Identify a consumer or business need in the marketplaceStep 2: Investigate the opportunityStep 3: Determine the business owners ability to meet the need

Starting a New Online BusinessOnline Business Planningbusiness planA written document that identifies a companys goals and outlines how the company intends to achieve the goals and at what costbusiness caseA document that is used to justify the investment of internal, organizational resources in a specific application or project

Starting a New Online BusinessInitial Funding of a New Online Businessangel investorA wealthy individual who contributes personal funds and possibly expertise at the earliest stage of business developmentincubatorA company, university, or nonprofit organization that supports businesses in their initial stages of development

Starting a New Online BusinessSecondary Funding a New Online Businessventure capital (VC)Money invested in a business by an individual or a group of individuals (venture capitalists) in exchange for equity in the businessAdditional Funding: A Large PartnerThe IPO

Adding EC Initiatives and Transforming to an E-BusinessAdding EC Initiatives to an Existing BusinessA storefrontA portalE-procurementAuctions and reverse auctionsOther initiatives

Adding EC Initiatives and Transforming to an E-BusinessTransformation to an E-BusinessWhat is organizational transformation?How an organization can be transformed into an e-businessSoftware tools for facilitating transformation to e-business

Exhibit 16.1 Roadmap to Becoming an E-Business

Building or Acquiring a Web SiteClassification of Web Sitesinformational Web siteA Web site that does little more than provide information about the business and its products and servicesinteractive Web siteA Web site that provides opportunities for the customers and the business to communicate and share information

Building or Acquiring a Web SiteClassification of Web SitesattractorsWeb site features that attract and interact with visitors in the target stakeholder grouptransactional Web siteA Web site that sells products and servicescollaborative Web siteA site that allows business partners to collaborate

Building or Acquiring a Web SiteBuilding a Web SiteStep 1Select a Web hostStep 2Register a domain nameStep 3Create and manage contentStep 4Design the Web siteStep 5Construct the Web site and testStep 6Market and promote the Web site

Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain NameWeb Hosting Optionsstorebuilder serviceA hosting service that provides disk space and services to help small and micro businesses build a Web site quickly and cheaplyISP hosting serviceA hosting service that provides an independent, stand-alone Web site for small and medium-sized businesses

Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain NameA Pure Hosting ServiceWeb hosting serviceA dedicated Web site hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services and functionality to businesses of all sizes

Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain NameA Pure Hosting Servicemirror siteAn exact duplicate of an original Web site that is physically located on a Web server on another continentco-locationA Web server owned and maintained by the business is placed in the hands of a Web hosting service that manages the servers connection to the Internet

Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain NameWeb Hosting Optionsself-hostingWhen a business acquires the hardware, software, staff, and dedicated telecommunications services necessary to set up and manage its own Web site

Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain NameRegistering a Domain Namedomain nameA name-based address that identifies an Internet-connected serverdomain name registrarA business that assists prospective Web site owners with finding and registering the domain name of their choice

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementcontentThe text, images, sound, and video that make up a Web pagedynamic Web contentContent that is updated infrequentlycommodity contentInformation that is widely available and generally free to access on the Web

Exhibit 16.3 Digital Content Delivery Life Cycle

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementContent Creation and Acquisitioncross-sellingOffering similar or related products and services to increase salesup-sellingOffering an upgraded version of the product in order to boost sales and profitPromotion (e.g., coupon, rebate, discount)Comment (e.g., reviews, testimonials expert advice)

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementCreating Content: Content is usually created by the sites owners and developersBuying Content: Content that is acquired from outside sources should be supplemental content, not primary content

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementBuying from a SyndicatorsyndicationThe sale of the same good (e.g., digital content) to many customers, who then integrate it with other offerings and resell it or give it away free

RSS (Rich Site Summary, RDF site summary, or Really Simple Syndication)An XML format for syndicating Web content

Exhibit 16.4 The Syndication Supply Chain

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementContent Creation and AcquisitionContent Providers and Networks

premium contentContent not available elsewhere on the Web

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementContent Creation and AcquisitionRepresentative Content-Related VendorsContent Delivery Networks

personalized contentWeb content that is prepared to match the needs and expectations of the individual visitor

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementContent Creation and AcquisitionDelivering Content by E-Newslettere-newsletterA collection of short, informative articles sent at regular intervals by e-mail to individuals who have an interest in the newsletters topicWriting Effective ContentDelivering effective content involves not only what is said, but how it is said

Content Creation, Delivery, and Managementcontent managementThe process of adding, revising, and removing content from a Web site to keep content fresh, accurate, compelling, and credibleContent TestingMeasuring Content QualityPitfalls of Content ManagementContent RemovalContent Management Software

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementCatalog Content and Its ManagementFor buyers who aggregate suppliers catalogs on their own Web sites, content management begins with engaging suppliers and then collecting, standardizing, classifying, hosting, and continually updating their catalog dataTranslation of Content to Other LanguagesThe primary problems with language customization are cost and speed

Content Creation, Delivery, and ManagementContent Maximization and Streaming ServicesMany companies provide media-rich content, such as video clips, music, or Flash media, in an effort to reach their target audience with an appealing marketing messageThese and other content providers are concerned about the download time from the users perspective

Web Site Designinformation architectureHow the site and its Web pages are organized, labeled, and navigated to support browsing and searching throughout the Web sitedeep linkingEntry into a Web site via the sites interior pages, not the homepage, typically through search engines or external links

Exhibit 16.6 A Simple Hierarchical Web Site Structure

Web Site Designsite navigationAids that help visitors find the information they need quickly and easily

Web Site DesignSite Map and NavigationframeAn HTML element that divides the browser window into two or more separate windowsExhibit 16.7 A Generic Navigation Bar

Web Site DesignConsistencylook and feelThe elements, including layout, typeface, colors, graphics, and navigation aids, that visually distinguish a site from any other

Exhibit 16.8 A Web Page Layout Grid

Web Site DesignPerformanceSpeed ranks at or near the top of every list of essential design considerations, for good reasonVisitors who have to wait more than a few seconds for a Web page to load are likely to hit the stop or back button and go somewhere else

Web Site DesignColors and GraphicsThe key to effective use of color and graphics is to design the site to match the expectations of the target audienceOther rules that guide the use of color and graphics on Web sites are provided in Online File W16.12

Web Site DesignQuality AssuranceQuality assurance is about making sure the Web site design is properly tested before it is launched and ensuring that it continues to perform up to expectations after launchA lesson most Web designers can learn from total quality management (TQM) principles is to design the site for easy maintenance

Providing EC Support ServicesWho Builds the Web Site?Do It Yourselfinternal Web site developmentThe process of building and/or maintaining the Web site with company staffOutsourceexternal Web site developmentWhen the business hires another firm to build and/or maintain the Web site

Providing EC Support ServicesHybridpartnering Web site developmentWhen a mixture of internal and external development is used to build and/or maintain a Web site

Providing EC Support ServicesWeb site constructionThe initial content creation, design, programming, and installation phases of a Web sites development

Web site maintenanceThe on-going process of keeping the Web site open for business, managing content, fixing problems, and making incremental additions to the site

Providing EC Support ServicesManaging Web Site ConstructionStart with a planSet goals early and stick to themUse a fixed-price contractJustify graphics and features

Providing EC Support ServicesPayments: Accepting Credit Cards

card-not-present (CNP) transactionA credit card transaction in which the merchant does not verify the customers signature

Providing EC Support ServicesWeb Site PromotionInternal Web Site Promotionsignature fileA simple text message an e-mail program automatically adds to outgoing messagessearch engine optimization (SEO)The application of strategies intended to position a Web site at the top of Web search engines

Providing EC Support ServicesCustomer Relationship ManagementListening to Customerse-mail discussion listA group of people who share a common interest and who communicate with each other via e-mail messages managed by e-mail list softwareelectronic discussion (e-forum)A portion of the Web site where visitors can post questions, comments, and answerschat groupA portion of the Web site where visitors can communicate synchronously

Opening a Web StorefrontOptions for Acquiring StorefrontsBuild them from scratchBuild them from componentsBuild with templatesUse someone elses storefront

Opening a Web StorefrontOptions for Acquiring StorefrontsSelecting a Development OptionCustomersMerchandisingSales servicePromotionTransaction processingMarketing data and analysisBranding

Managerial IssuesWhat does it take to create a successful online business?Is creating a Web site a technical task or a management task?How do we attract visitors to the Web site?How do we turn visitors into buyers?Are best practices useful?How much of my new business should we give to funders?How do we save on Web hosting expenses?

SummaryFundamental requirements for initiating an online business.Funding options for a start-up online business.Adding e-initiatives.Transformation to e-business.Web site hosting options for an online business.Web site construction options for an online business.Provide content that attracts and keeps Web site visitors.Design a visitor-friendly site.High placement in search engines is key.