Best Practices: E-Business and Online Marketing

As Internet-based connectivity with customers, suppliers, and partners becomes key to your business, it is enabling you to open new markets and provide better service to current customers. You'll need to make sure that the systems and networks providing this key connectivity function properly and stay secure. This paper takes a look at how to achieve some of these key functionalities.

Not only do the bulk of people in the developed world have Internet access -- but a majority of Internet users worldwide, 62% by one report, have high-speed (or broadband) Internet access, and 57% of U.S. Internet users have broadband connections.

Meanwhile, upwards of 81% of U.S. workers with Internet connections enjoy high-speed broadband service^6-1 and, as of 2003, more than 80% of small and mid-sized businesses have Internet access while 30% also have web sites.^6-2

The implications for businesses of all sizes are profound: broadband boosts business over the Internet. In November 2004, some 69% of all online retail purchases were conducted using broadband connections, producing an average of 34% more in sales revenue versus those purchases completed using narrowband connections.

Furthermore, those enjoying broadband web connections spend more time online -- 22 hours (as of November 2004) versus 18 hours for narrowband users -- and connected 34% more frequently.^6-3

The challenge amidst all this Internet activity is to create ways to take advantage of new markets while remaining committed to better servicing existing customers more productively.

Getting Ready to Go Online

Key elements you'll need to make your company's online presence more effective and profitable include:

Website Design Tips

Whether you opt for a company domain name or a web page at someone else's domain (such as your Internet service provider's or ISP), you'll need to design web pages that deliver your message and are easy for viewers to navigate.

You can save yourself some time by using self-service web page templates that enable you to construct a website even if you have no knowledge of HTML (hypertext markup language). Some of these templates are free (be careful of these, since they may contain spyware) while others are available at relatively low cost from many software and/or service providers.

With or without the aid of templates, modernizing your website requires that you adhere to some basic design rules:

• Pick a "look" to be used consistently across all your web pages.
• Construct your pages so they'll display properly on as many different kinds of web browsers as possible.
• Link your pages to each other or provide a sitemap.
• Use color carefully, and be sure to specify not just background colors, but also text and link colors, too, so that visitor browser preferences don't "disappear" your text and links.
• Keep it brief and focused, since many people will allow only a few seconds to check out your pages, and remember that bulleted text is easier to comprehend (and read) than long paragraphs.
• Make sure your content is accurate and include options and links for visitors looking for more information or seeking help.
• Size your web pages so they fit into a typical monitor's "visible window" thus saving visitors from having to scroll down to see all of the page and its contents.
• Use small image files so your pages download fast.
• Include contact information -- but if you want to avoid receiving huge amounts of email spam, put your contact info in an image rather than in HTML code.
• Don't forget titles, meta tags, and link tags (used to indicate related resources, such as relevant search terms or a stylesheet).
• Test your pages more than once to make sure they display properly and that all the links work.