Standing on the Fence
A balanced look at what is happening in the Information Technology world and its effects on businesses large and small.
20 Nov, 2005
Costs of E-commerce
Posted by bknapik 23:05 |
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E-Commerce
Small business owners fear of startup costs of an e-commerce website however, the truth is by investing one months advertising fund a company can may start an e-commerce site. For less than $500.00 a functional e-commerce site can be setup. The basic technical elements of an e-commerce site are domain name, web hosting, SSL certificate, and shopping software.
Web hosting is a service that provides online systems for storing information, images or any content accessible via the web. Costs can range from $5.00 to $300.00 a month depending on the needs of the business. Most companies just starting e-commerce should look for web hosts pricing $9.00 to $24.00. Only large, busy e-commerce sites will need to look at web hosting that are more than $24.00.
A domain name is the unique name that distinguishes your website from others (similar idea to your mailing address but, for the Internet.) Costs range from $4.95 to $49.95 per year. Since this is a long term commitment take advantage of the multiple year discounts for the domain name.
Any site accepting credit cards online must have a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate for security concerns. If a credit card company discovers a site accepting credit cards online without using a SSL certificate they will pull the companies credit card processing privileges. A SSL certificate secures and protects critical customer information from being exposed to identity thieves thus adding trust to your business. Costs can range from $150.00 to $1800.00. Starting e-commerce sites should look for SSL certificates in the $200.00 - $500.00 range. Higher priced SSL certificates do not offer enough benefits to justify the costs.
There are hundreds of shopping software packages available for purchase. Prices range from free to several thousand dollars. However, there is one good shopping software package available for free that is worth considering. OSCommerce is a free full featured shopping system that many hosts are willing to install for little or no cost. There will be customization costs which may be done by reputable web development companies. These customization charges are not included in the startup costs since it is an ongoing process.
07 Nov, 2005
Why Establish Internet Presence?
Posted by bknapik 23:28 |
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E-Commerce
“If your company is not changing as fast as the world outside, then the end of your company is near.” Five years ago there were no instant credit card authorizations, broadband Internet, and online shipping. Companies adopted these technologies to obtain a competitive advantage. Today, small businesses must have a website to gain market share.
Having an online store has several unique advantages that cannot be gained through other mediums such as print, television, radio, mass mailing and telephone. One advantage of an online business is it has world presence verses being local and regional only. Another advantage is online advertising is cheaper compared to other mediums. Furthermore, a website can coordinate other marketing efforts in the mediums previously mentioned. Finally, the biggest benefit is the customer's ability to shop or access information about your business at their leisure.
Some small business owners believe that running a website is complicated, expensive and that there is little room to compete. This is hardly the case. Only 35% of small businesses in the US have a website (about 700,000 small businesses.) There has never been a better time to get involved online. Operation costs are now affordable, a person with basic computer skills may operate an e-commerce site, competition is low, and the market will continue to grow. In 2004 holiday shoppers spent 22.3 billion online, a 25% increase from 2003, and this figure is likely to grow for many years to come.
