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If you've done your market research and have made the decision to set up a store front on the Web, this article can help you understand some of the issues related to Web site design and installation.
The first decision you must make is whether to set up your own site, or to get a web engineer to do it for you. This article focuses on general issues, and contracting out the work. (We'll discuss how to set up your own site in a future issue.)
We wish we could say Web site design is quick and easy, but that would be unfair to our readers. Instead, we'll provide some background information, suggestions and pricing, so you can decide which path is right for you.
The Anatomy of a Web Site
A Web site is a collection of files on a machine which is connected to the Internet. They are configured to be accessed by the public, or by authorized users with a password. These files most commonly include:
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files
CGI scripts
Perl scripts
Java, VRML, C or C++ programs
JPEG or GIF bitmap graphics files
If these terms are unfamiliar with you, and you have never managed files on a computer system, then it's best for you to consult your ISP or a Web site engineer/designer to help you create your store front.
The most important aspects of a Web-based store are:
Promoting a Web-appropriate product.
Setting up a site.
Promoting your Web site.
Making your site appealing.
Incorporating a transaction mechanism.
If your product doesn't appeal to this cross-section, your chances of success are limited.
The best types of products to sell on the Web are downloadable computer-related items, or information which can be downloaded and read on-screen or printed. These products have appeal to the computing public and satisfy the desire for immediate possession. Other products which sell well are those which can be viewed and ordered online with quick delivery to the customer's home.
The Web is awash with free information and products. You must be sure that what you are trying to sell is not already freely available in one form or another and can be purchased without the customer having to physically see or feel the product.
Setting Up a Site
It is true that someone with minimal programming skills can pick up a book on HTML and throw together a home page in a few hours, but there is a big leap from cobbling together a home page, to providing a site which is professional, appealing and dynamic, and designed to convince customers to buy your products.
Think about the money and effort a retailer puts into setting up a store. A store needs an attractive exterior, appealing products, incentives (sales, contests, discounts), changing window displays, an information counter, and a cash register. A virtual store is no different. You will need an attractive home page, appealing products, occasional specials, Web pages which change often enough to draw customers back, technical support, and a way to take orders and collect the payment.
A retail site typically includes the following:
A front end (the part the customer sees)
Content (the HTML files or database information linked to the front end)
Data acquisition (forms or queries which the customer fills out)
Information processing (CGI, Java, or other means by which the information supplied by the customer is stored; analyzed; or changed and redisplayed to the customer).
Monthly or other periodic charges to your Internet Services Provider
Initial setup
Content development
Site Maintenance
It can cost as little as $50 and as much as $50,000 to set up a Web site. In addition, you must pay monthly charges to your ISP, and continually maintain and update the site.
Monthly Charges
ISP charges for business accounts and file storage space will be about $50 - $200 per month, depending on your provider. If multiple employees will be maintaining the site, you may have to pay $20 or more extra per month for each person who accesses the account. Ask your ISP about single-user and multi-user accounts.
Setup Charges
A functional, professional, basic site with about 20 pages of content, two or three forms, a logo, and a dozen buttons and icons will cost about $800 to $2,000. If you wish to add queries, databases, interactive forms, and Java scripts, you will probably be spending up to $5,000. Since databases and order/payment systems require more sophisticated languages than HTML, there will be some programming involved, and experienced Web programmers typically charge from $30 to $100 per hour.
Make sure you ask your Web engineer if he or she is experienced at CGI scripts, Perl, and Java, or some of the other languages which can be used to automate your site. There are many people promoting themselves as Web designers who can put together a basic HTML page, but who lack the technical skills to set up databases, interactive forms and other features you may need to make your store successful. Some ISPs provide boilerplate templates for basic store-front sites, but they tend to be very simple and generic, and may not adequately meet your needs.
Not all Internet Services Providers will offer what you require to set up an efficient store front. It is likely that you will need a shell account with a domain name which is accessed by http.//www.yourcompany.com, rather than http://www.yourprovider.com/~yourcompany, more than one email address, the ability to run CGI programs, an ftp site, the option to get extra storage space, if you need it (it would not be unusual to require 30 megabytes or so for a store, or more, if you display a large, illustrated inventory online). Make sure you shop around before you settle on a good ISP. Even though a domain name can be moved, it may take time, and you don't want access to your site to disappear, or to have to pay for duplicate accounts during a transition.
Content Development
No matter how attractive or well-designed your store front may be, if it doesn't hook, hold and sell the viewer, then it has not succeeded in meeting your goals. The purpose of a Web store is to make sales, or to promote the image of your company in such a way as to create sales. Here are the general principles you should hold to:
Site Maintenance
In budgeting for a Web site, many business owners neglect to count the cost of site maintenance. Site maintenance involves monitoring your hits, your links, your successful pages, your unsuccessful ones, your orders, your feedback from customers, and updating, and continually evaluating the inventory and content. Site maintenance will require two or more hours a day, if you are filling orders and continually interacting with your online customers. Some companies have entire teams of programmers, writers, designers and marketing professionals working on their online stores. Thus, the cost of maintenance and management of the site can vary from $400 to $40,000 per month.
Promoting Your Web Site
It is absolutely essential that you market your Web site as aggressively as you would market your business in general. A neighborhood store may only have a dozen competitors, whereas an online business is in competition globally. A user doesn't have to get in a car and drive from California to Florida to see what else is available. She or he just has to press a button on a mouse to instantly compare products on the other side of the country, or the world.
There are many ways to promote your Web site, but here are a few which we consider essential:
Make it easy to find (the competition for intuitive domain names is fierce).
Register it on all the search engines on the Web (e.g., Webcrawler, Lycos, Yahoo, etc.).
Register it on all the specialized sites related to your product (there may be hundreds of these, and it will take time to find and notify them).
Notify related organizations and trade journals.
Offer something unique in terms of products or entertainment value (contests, etc.) to keep people coming back.
There are creative ways to make a site interesting, such as uploading video shots of your physical location, your staff, your town, or the local alley cat. Contests are a popular way to draw customers. Make sure you understand the rules about contests before you embark, however, as there are strict regulations governing contests, sweepstakes and lotteries. Sales, or unique products can get a customer's attention.
A static site may be successful if it offers unique products at appealing prices, but if you have lots of competition from other Web vendors, you may have to update your pages about once a week to make them interesting enough for viewers to come back.
Incorporating a transaction mechanism.
A store is a store only if it makes money. The process of collecting money online is fraught with misconceptions, and security is as much a psychological issue as an electronic one. The market is still shaking out. Companies are still trying to devise effective and efficient ways to collect money on the net, especially small amounts, which are traditionally difficult to handle with standard invoices or credit card purchases.
We'll discuss different transaction mechanisms in future articles, because each is a complete topic on its own. In general, people like to buy with credit cards, or by COD, so you should try to make these, and as many other options as possible, available to your potential customers. If you are selling to institutions, you can take advantage of Purchase Order transactions, which involve taking the PO, verifying the institution, and then invoicing the buyer with 30 or 60 days net, whichever is standard for your industry.
Credit card security is not as big an issue as some would lead you to believe. We've seen statistics that indicate that credit card fraud in restaurants is higher than on the Internet. The use of PGP encryption to receive credit card information is a good way to prevent transmission fraud, and we recommend that you look into providing a PGP public key (more on this in a following issue) on your site. Not all customers know about PGP, but if vendors start offering it as an option, more programmers will start incorporating it into commercial products that make it easier for the customer to utilize this security option.
Most monetary transactions online are handled with HTML Forms, which allow the customer to type in personal information and a choice of payment options. This information is then processed with a CGI and recorded to a file, or sent as an email message which you, as a vendor, then must process accordingly. In some cases, there are banks setting up options on the net which may eventually allow you to direct debit or credit from your site, but these are still in development. We'll cover this topic in depth in future issues.
Summary
To sum up, business owners who are serious about having a successful presence on the Web, and a store front which is profitable, will have to devote the same amount of attention, effort and funding to their virtual store as they would to any other type of store. Nevertheless, there are many business windows still open to be the first virtual store of your kind. Those opportunities are definitely worth exploring.
Other articles in this issue:
Hanging Out Your Shingle: Finding the Right Office Space
The Alternative Office: From Garages to Sailboats
Point to Point: The Illusion of Free Enterprise
Promoting Your Mousetrap: An Anecdotal Look at Consumer Buying Habits
Selling Your Software: Even if You Hate Doing Business
Book Review: Launching a Business on the Web
Suggested Web sites for information related to this article:
Digital Money Online: A Review of Some Existing Technologies
Visit our line-up of issues coming in 1997.
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