Starting an Online Business

Plug into profits with a Web site that's both fetching and functional

By Matt Alderton, Writer, Editor and Media Consultant, Logolepsy Custom Content and Communications

The dot-com bubble may have burst in the 1990s, but the continued success of Internet giants such as Amazon.com is proof that e-commerce is still a boon for your bottom line. A Web site is powerful marketing, after all, but a Web site that sells your stuff is a true profit center. An online business can:

Sell products and services.
Drive traffic to your bricks-and-mortar business.
Communicate with new and existing customers worldwide.

Test your concept and merchandise

Before you take the e-commerce plunge, you should try selling your wares at other Web sites – such as those with auctions or classified ads – to make sure there is an online market for them.
Try: Try selling to impulse buyers via classified ads at Craigslist.org or Gorage.com. Or, take a crack at selling on eBay: eBay Stores lets you sell fixed-price products from a customized page for between $15.95 and $500 per month.

Build your Web site

Designing your own Web site is simple and inexpensive with easy-to-use software; doing it yourself will cost you less than $150 per month, with an initial software investment of only a couple hundred dollars.
Try: Macromedia's Dreamweaver, Microsoft's FrontPage and Softpress' Freeway are low-cost software packages that make Web design easy and fast.

Secure a domain name

The most important piece of any Web-based business is its domain name. Choose a Web address that is easy to remember and that accurately describes your business.
Try: Find out if your chosen domain is available — and if it is, register it — at GoDaddy.com, Register.com or MyDomain.com.

Choose a host

In choosing a host for your site, consider the amount of server space available, the services provided — e-mail aliases, for instance — and whether there is security with which to protect customer data.
Try: Reliable hosts include Yahoo!, Network Solutions and Affinity Internet, which offer comprehensive hosting packages designed especially for small businesses.

Secure a shopping-cart service

Shopping-cart software will help you collect orders, determine shipping costs, calculate sales tax and send order confirmations to your customers.
Try: Popular shopping-cart packages are available from ShopSite, GoEcart and 1Shoppingcart.

Build payment solutions

In order to make money, you'll need a means for collecting it. Set up an Internet merchant account with your bank in order to accept credit card payments online and establish a payment gateway account to process them.
Try: Authorize.Net and CyberSource are leading gateway service providers, while PayPal offers a free, account-based service for sending and receiving online payments.

Protect your customers

Protect personal data — and earn trust — with secure solutions for online purchases.
Try: Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology protects customer information by encrypting and authenticating it; trusted SSL certificates are available from VeriSign, Comodo and GoDaddy.

Open for business

Make sure you have all the necessary systems in place not just for accepting orders, but for filling them, too.
Try: UPS offers several small business solutions to help e-commerce sites fill their customers' orders, including UPS OnLine Tools to help customers track packages and UPS WorldShip to automate all of your company's shipping tasks.

Improve sales by cross-selling and up-selling products throughout your site.
Maintain quality customer service with a live phone number and e-mail address devoted especially to addressing customer concerns.
Have a clear and concise return policy, and post it online, to ward off potential customer-service blunders.
Test your site regularly for functionality, edit it for grammar and spelling, and review it for accuracy.