Is a Small Business Web SIte a Wise Investment? Ten key q..

I have come to believe that one of the greatest pitfalls in e-commerce
is Field of Dreams thinking, the notion that all one has to do is
"build it (a web site) and they will come." This is why I recommend
all my clients answer a few questions directly related to the
development of a sound business plan before they open their
checkbooks.

1. Have you adequately defined your market reach? Do you offer
products and/or services that will be of interest to an international,
national, regional, or local community? The larger your target
audience, obviously the greater your probability of success. Could
you add one or more products or services that would broaden your
reach?

2. What is the global demand for your product and/or service? Do you
have any idea how many internet inquiries are made about your product
and/or service? For an answer to this question, I suggest you visit
the "Pay for Performance Search" page listed under the heading
"Products and Services" at Overture.com. Enter a keyword or keyword
phrase you might use to find information about your product and/or
service in the search engine suggestion window at the bottom of the
page. In addition to finding out how many inquiries were made the
previous month using that keyword or keyword phrase, you may find a
dozen or more related terms and the number of inquiries made about
them as well. Add the number inquiries and this will give you an idea
just how much interest there is in your product and/or service.

3. How many of these inquiries actually come from your target market?
Let's assume you do business in Los Angeles and your target market is
Southern California. If 85% of all inquiries originate in the United
States and that 7.1% of those live in Southern California , then the
potential market in Southern California represents 7.1% of 85% (6.1%)
of all inquiries using any given keyword or keyword combination.

To calculate the proportion of inquiries in any market area, visit the
U. S. Census Bureau's web site. There you will find population
projections you can use to estimate the number of inquiries that are
likely to be emanating from within your market area.

4. What is your likely market share? Of those consumers actually
making inquiries from your market area, how many are likely to visit
your site, let alone make a purchase? Assuming that the content of
your web site is inviting enough to motivate visitors to either
purchase your product/service or to at least make an inquiry, what
percentage are actually going to become customers? A 1% return is
reasonable expectation if you are in a competitive market and you have
a competitively priced product and/or service. Obviously, the more
unique your product, the more the higher this percentage is likely to
be.

5. How many sales will you have to make to recoup the cost of
development and promotion, if only 1% of your visitors take advantage
of your offering? For arguments sake, let us assume that it will
cost you at least $100 to reserve a domain name and to secure a host,
$500 to get a 10 page site designed, and that you budget at least $100
a month on promotion. How many net sales will you have to make to
recover these costs? Put another way, how many sales would you need
to start making a profit?

6. Do you know who your on-line competitors are? If you don't, go to
any search engine, enter a few keywords related to your industry and
see who appears on the first page. Visit a few of them. What is
their message? What do you see as their strengths and weaknesses.?
What do you like or dislike about their sites? How could you make
your offering more attractive or enticing?

7. Can you be competitive? Knowing what your competitors are
offering, can you realistically expect to compete with them,
especially when it comes to pricing? Internet inquiries generally
come from individuals looking for a deal so they are price sensitive.
Do your competitors actual provide pricing or to they ask visitors to
make an on-line inquiry or to call for a quote? If you are in a
service related business, what are you going to have to do to compel
visitors to act once they visit your site? What can you do to
separate you from your on-line competition?

8. How unique is your product and/or service? Do you have a unique
offering, or are you in a highly competitive industry? Obviously, the
more unique your offering, the easier it is going to be to get
exposure and the greater your potential is going to be for success.

9. How are you going to promote your site? One of the greatest
misconceptions in e-commerce is the notion that to succeed all one has
to do to is submit a site to search engines. This, unfortunately, is
the full extent of marketing for far too many web sites and rarely
gets the job done.

One of the primary considerations when it comes to search engine
placement is popularity. The more sites linking or referencing your
site, the higher page rank it will earn. It is fairly inexpensive to
get a link on a wide variety of permanent directories, but it takes
more than directory links to significantly increase a site's
popularity. If you or your webmaster don't take the time to
negotiate link exchanges with non-directory related sites, especially
those who have high rankings, you are not likely to gain favorable
positioning in any but the most insignificant search engines.
 
10. What have you budgeted for promotion? If you cannot afford to
promote your site, you might as well forget spending money on its
development. To get a quick idea what it might costs to promote your
product or service on line using a pay-for-performance advertising
program, visit Overture.com again. Enter one of your industry related
keywords in Overture's internet search window on the company's home
page.

When the results appear, click on "View Advertiser's Max Bids" link
that appears to the top and right. The highest bidder wins the top
sponsored position on Yahoo, MSN, CNN, Alta Vista, InfoSpace, Overture
and a dozen or more minor search engines. The top three sponsored
listings will appear above normal search results at the top of these
search engines whenever the surfer uses keywords or keyword phrases
the advertiser has bid on.

These questions are not all inclusive, but I do hope they they food
for thought. Hopefully, they will help those interested in
establishing a web presence a better idea of what will be needed to
achieve a predictable degree of success and a return on investment.


Ron Scott
The Web Site Tutor
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.websitetutoring.com" target="_blank">http://www.websitetutoring.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->