Today’s very competitive business climate demands that business owners understand and use advanced technologies. Technology is an enabler; it can help a business improve efficiencies and even expand operations.
However, the use of technology should be balanced with business needs and practicality.
Should Your Small Business Be On The Web?
The answer to that question is a resounding, "YES!."
The Internet is probably the most important communication vehicle developed since the telephone. And more importantly for the small business, the Web levels the playing field between small business and big business.
Let's look at the variety of commercial uses for the Internet:
The Web is a hot medium for advertising. It offers significant advantages over traditional advertising media in that it is dynamic, interactive and inexpensive. The Internet is making it possible for small- to medium-sized businesses to compete with the big guys. Of course, as the Web matures, advertising rates for the most popular sites will increase. Advertising is not the only way to make your business known via the Web. Search engines are another powerful and low cost way to increase awareness of your products and services.
The Web is an important customer service tool.Did you throw away the TV guide this week? You can check out your local TV station's Web page for its weekly schedule or the network specials this week. Have you ever wanted hard facts comparing natural gas to electricity? This type of information and much more is available on the web.
You can schedule appliance repair times and make changes to your gas service account by sending an email, at your convenience, either during or after regular business hours. Wouldn't you rather shop for a new car from the comfort of your home, in the quiet time late at night after the kids are in bed? This is now possible in many areas of the country. The Web allows you to communicate with your customers at their convenience. Don't you want to offer this level of service to your customers?
Network connectivity makes it possible for you to hook up your local area network (LAN) directly to the Internet.Who wants to do that? Lots of companies! For example, a wide area network (WAN) connection offers multiple simultaneous connections through a dedicated data line at a tremendous savings over individual modems and standard telephone lines. This makes your existing internal email addresses work as Internet email addresses. It also allows you to set up your own Web server with your own domain name, to provide volumes of information to existing and potential new customers, and to take orders on-line.
Understanding The Internet
If you're using the Internet now to gather information, shop or just for entertainment, then you're probably familiar with the process of dialing in and moving from website to website. But do you really understand how you're doing what you're doing as you move from web location to web location? How did it all get started, this Internet thing?
The Internet began in the late 1960s as an experiment by the U.S. Department of Defense to see if a non-centralized network could be built to withstand the destruction of one or more of its parts. Unlike previous networks, this new network did not have a single central point. Instead, all sites on the network were interconnected.
Out of this network came a protocol for linking computers together. A protocol is a set of standards for how network communication takes place. The protocol is called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). This protocol is the standard that makes it possible for different computers all over the globe to talk to each other. The TCP/IP protocol is the foundation of the Internet.
At first, the Internet was used solely by the government, but soon universities and other institutions connected themselves to the Internet to communicate with one another and collaborate on projects. The Internet grew to connect hundreds of different sites all across the world. Each organization on the Internet was responsible for maintaining its part of the network, so the Internet was not owned or controlled by any one organization.
Today, the Internet connects up to 40 million people around the globe and is growing by as much as 10% per month.
Getting connected
The Internet is like a system of roads, freeways, and bridges. Although the term "Information Superhighway" is over-hyped, it is a decent metaphor for how the Internet works. From any road in any city, you can get to almost any other road in any other city. From my computer at my desk, I can send an electronic mail message to someone sitting at a computer in Helsinki, Taipei, or Biloxi.
Internet access companies or Internet Service Providers provide "onramps" to the Information Superhighway -- physical connections that allow you to access the Internet. These onramps are called "POPs," which stands for "points of presence."
Your computer uses a modem to dial into a POP which connects you to the Internet. Once connected to a POP, you have access to all the resources of the Internet. Most ISP's will also supply you with software available for "surfing" the Internet: a Web browser.
The Birth of Domain Names
In the 1980's, a major shift occurred as a result of the increase in scale of the Internet and its associated management issues. To make it easy for people to use the network, hosts were assigned names, so that it was not necessary to remember the numeric addresses. Originally, there were a fairly limited number of hosts, so it was feasible to maintain a single table of all the hosts and their associated names and addresses. The shift to having a large number of independently managed networks (e.g., LANs) meant that having a single table of hosts was no longer feasible, and the Domain Name System (DNS) was established. The DNS permitted the conversion of a numeric host address (i.e, 215.72.87.66) to a simpler, easier to remember name address (somesite.com).
The Birth of the Web Browser
In October of 1994, Mosaic Communications Corporation (renamed "Netscape Communications" on 11 November 1994) introduced the first public beta of their browser, "Mosaic NetScape." This was one of the first web browsers to be freely distributed across the Internet.
How does my email work?
Let's say you're sending mail to joy@aol.com. When you've finished composing your email, your mailer (email software) performs a gethostbyname system call to look up the IP address of the remote host (aol.com).
Normally the host would be looked up from /etc/hosts, but since you're on the Internet, your system queries an Internet name server to find the address of aol.com.
Your mailer opens a virtual circuit over the Internet to "joy's" mailer. It communicates with the remote mailer by using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
If all goes well, the mail is usually delivered within a few seconds, even if the recipient's machine is on the other side of the world.
If the remote site is down, your mailer will keep trying every hour or so, usually for a couple of days.
If the site still can't be reached, the mail will be returned to you as "undeliverable."
People and organizations without fulltime Internet connections may also use the Post Office Protocol (POP).
How do I create a domain name?
Option 1
- Go online to a name registration service such as Registeryours.com and perform a name search to make sure the domain you want to establish is available.
- After confirming the availability of your domain name, complete the online registration form to secure your name.
Option 2
- You select an Internet Service Provider to host your website.
- The service provider registers your company with the InterNIC -- the Internet's Network Information Center.
- A unique domain name, of your choosing, is assigned to your business or organization. For example, sun.com, indiana.edu, nasa.gov, neosoft.com.
- One or more IP network numbers are assigned to you. For example, 198.64.6. Internet zone tables are updated to include your domain name, the mapping between your domain name and network numbers, and to show that the route to your network is through your service provider.
What should it cost to have my own website?
Hosting fees will vary based on your individual need for space, download capacity, security and special programming requirements. In general, the monthly hosting fee for a basic web site account should cost between $25 and $50 a month.
Free Hosting Services
There are a variety of places on the Internet that offer hosting at no charge. Before you decide to host your website with one of these services, be sure you understand the fine print of your hosting agreement. In general free hosting services are free because of the following:
- You will be required to place banner advertisements on either the top or bottom of each page of your website. In some cases you will be required to place banner advertisements on both the top and the bottom of your web pages.
- The activities of visitors to your website will be tracked via Cookies or other online software. Their activities on the Internet will be monitored and the data collected will be sold to marketing services.
About Modems And Telephone Lines
Telephone lines were designed to carry the human voice, not electronic data from a computer. Modems were invented to convert digital computer signals into a form that allows them to travel over the phone lines. Those are the scratchy sounds you hear from a modem's speaker. A modem on the other end of the line can understand it and convert the sounds back into digital information that the computer can understand. By the way, the word modem stands for MOdulator/DEModulator.
Buying and using a modem used to be relatively easy. Not too long ago, almost all modems transferred data at a rate of 2400 Bps (bits per second).
Today, modems not only run faster, they are also loaded with features like error control and data compression. So, in addition to converting and interpreting signals, modems also act like traffic cops, monitoring and regulating the flow of information. That way, one computer doesn't send information until the receiving computer is ready for it. Each of these features, modulation, error control, and data compression, requires a separate kind of protocol and that's what some of those terms you see like V.32, V.32bis, V.42bis and MNP5 refer to.
If your computer didn't come with an internal modem, consider buying an external one, because it is much easier to install and operate. For example, when your modem gets stuck (not an unusual occurrence), you need to turn it off and on to get it working properly. With an internal modem, that means restarting your computer--a waste of time. With an external modem it's as easy as flipping a switch.
Here's a tip for you: in most areas, if you have Call Waiting, you can disable it by inserting *70 in front of the number you dial to connect to the Internet (or any online service). This will prevent an incoming call from accidentally kicking you off the line.
This table illustrates the relative difference in data transmission speeds for different types of file sunder the best of circumstances. A modem's speed is measured in bits per second (bps). A 14.4 modem sends data at 14,400 bits per second. A 28.8 modem is twice as fast, sending and receiving data at a rate of up to 28,800 bits per second.
Many things can interfere with the speed of a file transfer. These can range from excessive line noise on the telephone line, the speed of the web server from which you are downloading files, the number of other people trying to access the same file and the overall traffic on the Internet
Until the end of 1995, the conventional wisdom was that 28.8 Kbps was about the fastest speed you could squeeze out of a regular copper telephone line. Today, you can buy a modem capable of a data transmission up to 56 Kbps. The key question for you is knowing what speed modems your Internet service provider (ISP) has. If your ISP has only 28.8 Kbps modems on its end of the line, you could have the fastest modem in the world, and only be able to connect at 28.8 Kbps. Before you invest in a 56 Kbps modem, make sure your ISP supports them.
DSL
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), a high-speed technology, is becoming increasingly popular. A DSL line can always remain connected to the Internet, so you don't need to dial-up. Typically, data can be transferred at rates up to 1.544 Mbps downstream and about 128 Kbps upstream over ordinary telephone lines. Since a DSL line carries both voice and data, you don't have to install another phone line. You can use your existing line to establish DSL service, provided service is available in your area and you are within the specified distance from the telephone company's central switching office.
DSL service requires a special modem and a network card in your computer. Prices for equipment, DSL installation and monthly service can vary considerably, so check with your local phone company and Internet service provider. The good news is that prices are coming down as competition heats up. Some companies now provide free installation and equipment when you sign-up for a year of service.
Cable Modems
Another new development is a device that provides high-speed Internet access via cable TV. With speeds of up to 36 Mbps, cable modems can download data in seconds that might take fifty times longer with a dial-up connection. Because it works with your TV cable, it doesn't tie up a telephone line. Best of all, it's always on, so there is no need to connect--no more busy signals! This service is now available in some cities in the
Glossory Of Internet Terms
ADN
(Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
ADSL
See: DSL
Anonymous FTP
See: FTP
Applet
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers across a network. The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.
See Also: HTML , Java
Archie
A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of it.
ARPANet
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) -- The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war.
See Also: Internet
ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.
See Also: Network
Bandwidth
How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
See Also: Bps , Bit , T-1
Baud
In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).
BBS
(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?) of BBS's around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
Binhex
(BINary
HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See Also: ASCII , MIME , UUENCODE
Bit
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also: Bandwidth , Bps , Byte , Kilobyte , Megabyte
BITNET
(Because It's Time NETwork (or Because It's There NETwork)) -- A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs®, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.
See Also: Bandwidth , Bit
Browser
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client , URL , WWW , Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or Homepage)
BTW
(By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum.
See Also: IMHO
Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made.
See Also: Bit
Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections.
See Also: Security Certificate , SSL
CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software (the "CGI program") talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard. Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message, or turning the data into a database query. You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing "cgi-bin" in a URL, but not always.
See Also: cgi-bin
(Web) cgi-bin
The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are stored.
The "bin" part of "cgi-bin" is a shorthand version of "binary", because once upon a time, most programs were refered to as "binaries". In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine.
See Also: CGI
Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser is a specific kind of Client.
See Also: Browser , Server
Co-location
Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to one person or group physically located on an Internet-connected network that belongs to another person or group. Usually this is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security risks of having the server on thier own network.
See Also: Internet , Server , Network
Cookie
The most common meaning of "Cookie" on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser's settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration information, online "shopping cart" information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular user's requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their "expire time" has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them.
See Also: Browser , Server
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle choices as well.
See Also: Cyberspace
Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.
Digerati
The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.
A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per second, and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement is called ADSL: "Asymmetric" Digital Subscriber Line.
Another common configuration is symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second in both directions.
In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.
DSL is now a popular alternative to Leased Lines and ISDN, being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased Lines.
See Also: bit , bps , ISDN , Leased Line
Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:
microbusineschamber.com
mail.microbusinesschamber.com
workshop.microbusinesschamber.com
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
See Also: IP Number
E-mail
(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List).
See Also: Listserv® , Maillist
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.
See Also: Bandwidth , LAN
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same question over and over.
FDDI
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3).
See Also: Bandwidth , Ethernet , T-1 , T-3
Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.
Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes.
See Also: Network , LAN
Flame
Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude.
See Also: Flame War
Flame War
When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.
See Also: Flame
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.
Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
GIF
(Graphic Interchange Format) -- A common format for image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color. GIF format files of simple images are often smaller than the same file would be if stored in JPEG format, but GIF format does not store photographic images as well as JPEG.
See Also: JPEG
Gigabyte
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.
See Also: Byte , Megabyte
Gopher
A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted byHypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while.
See Also: Client , Server , WWW , Hypertext
hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, "hit" means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 "hits" would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
"hits" are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. "Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month." Because each "hit" can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.
Home Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Check out so-and-so's new Home Page."
Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a "homepage," e.g. "That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting."
See Also: Browser , Web
Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.
See Also: Node , Network
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.
See Also: Client , Server , WWW
HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).
See Also: Client , Server , WWW
Hypertext
Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
IMHO
(In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One of may such shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums.
See Also: BTW
Internet
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet.
See Also: internet
internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.
See Also: Internet , Network
Intranet
A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use.
As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network.
See Also: internet , Internet , Network
IP Number
(Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.
See Also: Domain Name , Internet , TCP/IP
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.
ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines.
eCommerce FAQs
What can a small business do to get started in electronic commerce without a lot of money to invest?
As the Internet and digital economy continue to shift, vendors and service providers will continually try to find unique ways to provide low-cost services to small businesses. One quick example is the numerous websites offering free development and hosting.
For example, the sites offer a web development application in a "wysiwyg" (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) style that allows each person the ability to create their own type of website. Other options include participation in an online marketplace. These mechanisms are roughly designed to simulate a real marketplace that will attract customers due to a shop-at-once mentality instead of surfing the Internet for different goods and services. A fast developing theme among new and old participants in the digital economy is the use of ASPs (application service providers).
These service providers allow you to purchase many of the off-the-shelf operating applications that you may use to run your business (finances to human resource management to inventory processing) at a much lower cost as well as have someone else manage and host the data. It also reduces the time and labor force necessary to run such types of operations. A final recommendation is the notion of partnering.
Finding similar organizations that can share resources and expenses can help you achieve your goals in the digital economy. The key role of the digital economy and electronic commerce is to help streamline your traditional organizational processes and daily routines and automate them through the Internet. Sharing the burden of making that happen can help minimize the expense and difficulty and stimulate a potential relationship for furthering business behavior.
What quick advice can you give on marketing a small business in the digital economy?
First and foremost, put your URL (or website address) on all of your organization's correspondence. That includes business cards, stationery, posters, flyers, e-mail headers, or footers and any other advertisement activity. Remember, you never know who may read or run across information about your company. Make sure they have the ability to reach you. Second, you have to do your research.
No matter what location you're in, most likely your local government has some sort of economic development office as well as a Chamber of Commerce. Both are great resources to ask about events, promotions, and other activities that will allow you to get your name out. Another great resource is the U.S. Small Business Administration's national resources. From regional offices to local business development centers, the SBA is ready to help you out by providing contact information or counseling you on a particular business endeavor.
Third, work on all of your vendor and partner relationships. The best marketing technique still remains word-of-mouth. And who is better at telling potential customers about your organization that those who already do business with you. In today's digital economy, that can also mean other types of help.
For example, many business partners work with one another on listing each other's URL (website address), know that the other person's site is another avenue to attract customers otherwise foregone. Be cautious, though, in working with linking agreements. You don't want to water down your site with too many links. The goal should always be to link to another site if it builds or provides value to your clients.
How often should a website be updated?
This question refers to the Internet term of versioning, or the reformatting of an organization's website. Similar to a company's advertising strategy, new ideas built on customer response and organizational direction must be put in place or an organization can be viewed as aging.
There is no standard time related to how often a new version of a website should be established. However, the market indicates that most companies are making substantial changes every two to three months on average. Most of these changes reflect better service to the customer and the roll out of a new product or service.
Others are based on keeping the customer interested or entertained enough to come back to the site. One particularly interesting piece of advice is that organizations can use an advisory board or group to provide feedback on their site. This group is open to suggest changes to the current structure based upon personal use as well as by comparison to competitors' sites.
What is Electronic Commerce (the ‘EC’ part of EC/EDI)?
Electronic Commerce (EC) is the paperless exchange of business information using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and related technologies. You are probably familiar with Electronic Mail (E-Mail), computer bulletin boards, facsimile machines (faxes), Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), and the like.
These are all forms of EC. All EC systems replace all or key parts of paper-based workflow with faster, cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable communications between machines. In today's Defense Department procurement arena, however the most important EC technology to know about is Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI.
When did the age of electronic commerce begin?
Business-centered electronic commerce began more than two decades ago with the introduction of electronic data interchange (EDI) between firms (sending and receiving order, delivery and payment information, etc.) Even consumer-oriented electronic commerce has a rather long history: each time you use automatic teller machines or present your credit cards, you transact business electronically.
These EDI and ATM, however, operate in a closed system; they are of a more convenient communications medium, strictly between the parties allowed in. The World Wide Web (WWW), the Internet's client-server, opened up a new age by combining the open Internet and the easy user interface. WWW was created at the CERN Lab for Particle Physics in Geneva in 1991 (with its Mosaic, the predecessor of Netscape).
It took two years for Mosaic to penetrate the Internet, and another two years before businesses and the general public took notice of its potential.
Is EC here to stay? Will it be here but gone tomorrow?
EC and the Internet, are not fads because of their widespread effects. Some may find it useless to open a web store, but web stores do not make electronic commerce or the digital economy. There will be new types of interfaces (browsers and protocols) and new (privatized) networks, but what the WWW represents is our march toward the digital economy and knowledge-based society. Technologies, the Web and other processes are but a means of achieving that goal.
Will EC be limited because not many people can afford PCs and/or access to the Internet?
Today's EC processes are based on personal computers because of their origin within the Internet, a network of computers. First stage of EC expansion is that within the installed base of computer users (more connected users). The second wave will come when more people get access to computers (via lowered computer prices or cheaper devices).
The third and more important, expansion is predicted to be from those with non-computer access to the global network: through broadcast TVs, cable TVs, telephone networks and new appliances. A widespread use of these cheaper access media represents the phase of bringing workplace computers into the living room. However, the affordability of these devices, the easiness of use or the mode we access the network is less of an issue than how we will use these devices.
Turning the computer into a convenient device like a TV is a goal in itself. For example, the speech-to-text technology will eventually make manual inputting unnecessary. In terms of productivity, it is hard to convince that computer hardware and software have met our expectation for making our work and life easier or more productive during the last decade. But what will we do with new gadgets when we get them?
Delivering the same information but more conveniently? Selling the same entertainment and TV programs but with more pizzazz? The limiting factor will be our limited vision about the electronic future.
Why should one care about electronic commerce?
Participants in the electronic marketplace are not limited to so-called digital product companies such as those in publishing, software, entertainment, and information industries. The Digital Age and the digital revolution affect all of us by virtue of their process innovations. At the least, through WebTV and digital television, the way we watch TV news and entertainment programs will change.
Changes in telecommunication will affect the way we receive information, product announcements, orders, etc. As phones, fax machines, copiers, PCs and printers have become essential ingredients in doing business, so will be emails, websites, and integrated digital communications and computing.
While today's office business machines are not integrated (e.g. faxed orders have to be typed in on computers), the much talked about convergence will drive all these equipment into one digital platform, whether it be a computer connected to the Internet and intranets, or a new kind of device capable of interacting with other devices, because that device will prove to be mo re efficient and productive. (Although, will it be easier to use? That depends on how developers and industry leaders promote interoperability and standardization.)
Even seemingly mundane bookstores face different challenges in the electronic marketplace by virtue of having digital processes in their business operations. The case of Amazon.com vs. Barnes & Noble shows that the very definition of stores has to be re-evaluated.
This also touches upon the issue of taxable nexus and sales tax collection on the Internet. Distributing books require numerous local outlets (local bookstores) to provide convenient access to customers. At the same time, mail order distribution has been used for many decades through various book clubs.
Taking this direction into the Internet, Amazon.com has become the leading online bookstore, billing itself as the "largest bookstore" on earth not by opening numerous branch stores but via the Internet. The "biggest bookstore," Barnes & Noble with a towering share of revenues and physical book stores, has been forced to respond to Amazon.com's challenge by opening its own Web store as well as by bringing a law suit against its challenger. What are competitive strategies of these two bookstores? Will any business selling physical products be facing a similar competition?
What Buzzwords Do I Need to Know?
eCommerce is rife with buzzwords and catchphrases. Here are some of the current terms people like to throw around: Digital or electronic cash: Also called e-cash, these terms refer to any of several schemes that allow a person to pay for goods or services by transmitting a number from one computer to another.
The numbers, just like those on a dollar bill, are issued by a bank and represent specified sums of real money. One of the key features of digital cash is that it's anonymous and reusable, just like real cash. This is a key difference between e-cash and credit card transactions over the Internet.
For more information, see PC Webopaedia. Digital money: This is a grab-bag term for the various e-cash and electronic payment schemes on the Internet. Yahoo lists 21 companies offering a form of digital money. Disintermediation: Disintermediation is the process of cutting out the middleman.
When Web-based companies bypass traditional retail channels and sell directly to the customer, traditional intermediaries (such as retail stores and mail-order houses) may find themselves out of a job. Electronic checks: Currently being tested by CyberCash, electronic checking systems such as PayNow take money from users' checking accounts to pay utility and phone bills. Electronic wallet: This is a payment scheme, such as CyberCash's Internet Wallet, that stores your credit card numbers on your hard drive in an encrypted form. You can then make purchases at Web sites that support that particular electronic wallet. When you go to a participating online store, you click a Pay button to initiate a credit card payment via a secure transaction enabled by the electronic wallet company's server.
The major browser vendors have struck deals to include electronic wallet technology in their products. Extranet: This extension of a corporate intranet connects the internal network of one company with the intranets of its customers and suppliers. This makes it possible to create eCommerce applications that link all aspects of a business relationship, from ordering to payment. Micropayments: transactions in amounts between 25 cents and $10, typically made in order to download or access graphics, games, and information, are known as micropayments.
Pay-as-you-go micropayments were supposed to revolutionize the world of eCommerce. One early scheme, for example, let visitors to ESPN SportsZone use their CyberCash CyberCoin accounts to buy a $1 day pass to the site's premium content, without having to spring for a full month's subscription, but many potential customers have been unwilling to play along with micropayments.
How Can Small Businesses Take Advantage of eCommerce?
Large companies pour millions into fancy ecommerce sites, but even mom-and-pop shops can make money on the Web with a simple, no-frills site. Sometimes, all it takes to succeed is the promotional savvy to get noticed by customers. Word of mouth, postings in newsgroups, and registration with search engines may be enough to get the customers rolling into your site. Kevin Donlin is a writer and Web developer who opened Guaranteed Résumés on the Internet back in 1994. Now, he gets about 100 visitors each day and draws half his income from his resume-writing business.
Donlin succeeds by keeping his costs down: the site sits on the server of his local ISP, and customers, who come from Japan and Europe as well as the United States, pay with a credit card via phone, fax, and even email. Instead of subscribing to an expensive, third party payment system to handle the credit card transactions online, he enters all the purchases into a swipe terminal that he leases for $30 per month.
Although most businesses can benefit from a home page on the Web, eCommerce isn't for everyone. Firms likely to profit most are those offering unique products or services that are not readily available locally. A small bookstore such as Moe's Books in Berkeley might want to advertise readings by authors and tell its customers about specials, but it would not want to compete with Amazon.com. But onlyGourmet - a Web-based business that sells premium coffee, chocolate, and specialty foods--might find new customers in small towns around the country, where people can't find lemongrass or Swiss bitter chocolate at the corner store.
What Are the Biggest Barriers to eCommerce?
According to a survey conducted by CommerceNet, shoppers don't trust eCommerce, they can't find what they're looking for, and there's no easy way to pay for things. Other than that, it's smooth sailing. Customers are worried about credit card theft, the privacy of their personal information, and unacceptable network performance.
Most shoppers still aren't convinced that it's worthwhile to hook up to the Internet, search for shopping sites, wait for the images to download, try to figure out the ordering process, and then worry about whether their credit card numbers will be filched by a hacker.
To convince consumers, e-merchants will have to do a lot of educating. However, Gail Grant, the head of CommerceNet's financial research arm, predicts that most buyers will be won over in just a few years. Grant says that if Web pages were labeled with tags giving product and pricing information, it would be easier for search engines to find stuff to buy online. That hasn't happened yet, she adds, because merchants want people to find their products but not their competitors'--especially if another company's goods are cheaper.
As for business-to-business systems, the issues are less emotional but still serious. Businesses do not yet have good models for setting up their eCommerce sites, and they have trouble sharing the orders and information collected online with the rest of their business applications. Many companies continue to grapple with the idea of sharing proprietary business information with customers and suppliers--an important component of many business-to-business eCommerce systems.
The key to solving the business model is for merchants to stop relying on fancy Java applets and to restructure their operations to take advantage of eCommerce, says Grant. "eCommerce is just like any automation—it amplifies problems with their operation they already had."
Who Stands to Lose From Businesses Moving Online?
The companies most directly threatened by eCommerce include travel agencies, entertainment ticket operations, mail-order catalogs, and retail stores--particularly software stores. eCommerce is already successfully invading their territories. A recent Forrester Research report predicts that sales of entertainment and travel tickets on the Internet will climb from $475 million in 1997 to more than $10 billion by the year 2001.
Forrester says that figure represents 8 percent of all travel tickets. As Bill Gates puts it, eCommerce is about to eliminate the middleman. The buzzword of the day is disintermediation, a way of saying that anyone between the seller and the buyer is in big trouble. But a closer look reveals that eCommerce may be creating of a new kind of middleman. Some of the most talked-about eCommerce success stories, such as Amazon.com and Virtual Vineyards, are really a new kind of intermediary. Amazon.com doesn't publish books, after all, and Virtual Vineyards doesn't make wine.
They are simply online distributors. But these e-middlemen must demonstrate that they add value to the buying process, through marketing, customer service, or some other method. If they don't, customers will vote with their modems and cut them out of the loop.
What Is the Future of eCommerce?
What Is the Future of eCommerce? Rest assured, there is a bright future for eCommerce. Once the details of online commerce are worked out, it and the Internet in general could reshape the structure of the business world. The huge growth of virtual communities--people getting together in ad hoc interest groups online - promises to shift the balance of economic power from the manufacturer to the consumer.
At least, that's the view of John Hagel and Arthur Armstrong, a pair of analysts at McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm. These virtual communities are already making their presence felt. Investment site Motley Fool lets members exchange investment advice without the benefit of a stockbroker. ParentsPlace is a meeting ground for parents that gives smaller vendors an avenue to reach potential customers for products such as baby food and shampoo. Virtual communities erode the marketing and sales advantages of large companies.
A small company with a better product and better customer service can use these communities to challenge larger competitors--something it probably couldn't do in the real world. In Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities, published by Harvard Business School Press, Hagel and Armstrong argue that rather than fight the trend, smart companies will help build such communities and use them to reach customers.
Where can I get news about the Internet, surveys, and reports?
Keeping up with net happenings is a full-time job. Here are some sites that provide information about Internet events. Nua Internet Surveys. This email newsletter gives concise summary of most surveys and market research results. To subscribe to free, weekly reports, send an email to: surveys-request@nua.ie with the word "subscribe" in the body of the message. Check also its Surveys webpage. Forrester Research Internet News by Cowles/Simba (Merklermedia) Jupiter Communications
Why is the Internet different from other computer and network technologies?
Computers and networks are nothing new. They have existed and business applications such as LAN and EDI are well established long before the World Wide Web took over. Then, why the sudden talk of the Digital Age and the advance of electronic commerce? Two things make the Internet quite different from any other existing communications media. Unlike broadcasting media, the Internet allows two-way communications and is built around open standards.
A two-way communication means targeting audience and the possibility of feedback. Broadcasting sends out messages to no one in particular and without knowing quite who has gotten the message. (What do Nielson and a horde of market research firms do for their living?) An open standard (e.g. TCP/IP) means interoperability and the advantage of a large market and the possibility of integrating one product or process with another.
Both of these characteristics are being challenged. To the WebTV generation, the digital future looks like another version of the passive one-way broadcasting. The new media sums up how publishers and media companies view the digital medium. We are so accustomed to receiving random messages that we often forget the fact that broadcasting was a 20th century phenomenon. Even interactive television envisioned by today's media is a way of providing a more lively entertainment, offering more information related to existing contents (e.g. detailed information about characters, plots, and commercials shown on TV).
Multichannel, digital TV broadcasting may very well be a model for future entertainment, but it needs to be remembered that it is only one application of the digital communications network. The commercialization of the Internet is forcing businesses to differentiate their products from others by making products incompatible. Unlike the public Internet where standards were open, firms attempt to capture and dominate the market with their proprietary products.
In such an environment, TCP/IP would have had a very slim chance of becoming a standard and opening up the digital, networked economy. Whether markets driven by private interests can bring about a better result (e.g., more efficient, technologically superior, etc. system) is still a concern left for arguments.
Perhaps telephone networks are quite similar to the Internet (and indeed most Internet traffic goes through telephone networks). But unlike telephones, the Internet's user interface (computers) is much more sophisticated and flexible. Because of its beginning as a public research network, the Internet has no pricing regime of telephone companies. The worldwide connection, then, may be considered to have been an accident. When usage-based, long-distance charges are implemented, the Internet may look quite similar to the telephone network.
Do we have a truly worldwide network?
The ultimate goal of a global network like Teledesic is to make the globe into your home base. Currently, local ISPs provide subscribers with local access telephone numbers for dial-up. This means that you have to pay for long distance calls when you are checking your email from different cities. Roaming services often offer Internet access at cheaper prices than long distance calls.
A few service providers have point of presence (POP) in many cities. Smaller ISPs can join an alliance so as to cover a larger number of POPs worldwide. For example, iPass Alliance covers over 1,000 POPs in 150 countries. Any ISP allied with iPass will offer its own pricing schedule. (E.g. HomeGate).
AimQuest is another collection of about 80 ISPs including Netcom which has its own 1,500 POP in 70 countries. Find out whether your ISP offers roaming service and if so get 800 numbers before you head out. Also in the work is Cencert Internet Dial Roaming Service, a joint venture by MCI, BT and Japan's NTT Data Corp.
What choices do I have to connect to the Internet locally?
The way our computers connect to the global network varies greatly. At work, computers are commonly hard-wired maintaining constant connection (i.e., through local area networks using Ethernet). Dial-ups establish temporary connections, typically through modems and via some telecommunications networks.
These include the plain old telephone system, coaxial cables used for cable TV, wireless and cellular networks and satellite networks. Any of these connections may be constant if the line is dedicated to that purpose. The physical link from your home to trunk lines (where the traffic coming out of individual users is aggregated and carried by high-capacity coaxial and fiber optic cables) is referred to as the last mile.
The sheer number of individual users and the complex switching equipment required to manage traffic make the last mile relatively costly (representing between a quarter and a third of the total networking costs). At the same time, various telecommunications players are converging into this market. This will intensify competition among last-mile players. Will this competition lead to cheaper and better networking options for consumers?
Is the Internet secure?
The proper question will be: Is the Internet secure enough, enough for commercial uses? Despite the reliable encryption and other technologies, which are sometimes superior to telephone and other communications networks, non-digital media are full of hypercritical view of the Internet security.
While it is unwise to play down known security risks, it is also unnecessary to imagine a doomsday scenario for every occasion. Does the Internet need to provide more security than physical markets? Probably so because the electronic marketplace lacks some elemental safeguards available in physical markets. For example, buyers have certain assurance about a seller with a retail store although that seller might be operating a bogus shop that particular moment. But bogus operations are more difficult to recognize on the Internet.
Indeed, any online trading partner cannot be sure about the identity of the other person. Technologies and legal frameworks are needed to address such problems, e.g. nation-wide digital IDs.
How do I start selling online?
From cheap and simple to expensive and complex, there's a wide range of products designed to get your eCommerce site up and selling in a matter of days or weeks. Small businesses may not have to look beyond their local Internet service providers for a bare-bones solution.
For example, Brooklyn-based Forman Interactive offers Internet Creator for less than $150. The software uses a series of wizards to help you create secure pages for selling your product. Plus, if your pages reside on Forman's servers, the company handles electronic payments via CheckFree.
If you're ready to step up, you can use Yahoo's Yahoo Store, which lets you create a transactional business Web site from your browser. Yahoo hosts the site, and the cost is based on number of items--$100 per month for a store selling 50 items and $300 per month for up to 1,000 items. However, most eCommerce development tools targeted at small and midsize businesses cost $5,000 to $10,000.
They generally include templates for online catalogs and databases, so it's easy to change items and prices. Dynamic database searches can serve different information when an item is out of stock or on special, and they can be hooked up to existing back-end systems for order fulfillment and a range of automatic payment options. Companies that have a high volume of sales--especially those that deliver soft goods such as articles, reports, software, or music over the Net--require industrial-strength solutions costing anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 or more.
Of course, the software sticker price is only a small fraction of what it costs to run an eCommerce site. Many high-end eCommerce products are used by third-party companies to provide services for individual merchants. Most companies take advantage of eCommerce hosting services run by the likes of AT&T, MCI, and GTE's BBN Planet. "This is a low-risk, low-cost way of finding out how to do it," says Karl Lewis, vice president of production at Proxicom. Proxicom is a Web consulting company that recently set up an eCommerce site for Day-Timer and an extranet for Mobil Oil and its distributors.
What is intranet? Extranet?
Intranets and extranets have become en vogue. Intranets and extranets share the common protocol (TCP/IP) and Web technologies with the Internet. Intranet is a closed, business-wide network, but it uses open standards such as TCP/IP instead of proprietary protocols traditionally used for LANs (local area networks, usually hard-wired) and WANs (wide area networks, usually LANs connected by cable, telephone and wireless networks). Extranet is a private WAN running on public protocols. That is, an extranet is a virtual private network among private parties based on open network and protocols. To assure security and privacy, an extranet relies on secured channel using tunneling protocols and digital ID. In a way, extranet is a private street built on public land (although costs may be borne by private parties).
What’s the difference between physical stores and Web stores?
Web storefronts integrate various functions such as physical presence as a store, sales representatives, ordering and payment functions (combined cash register, credit card reader, etc.), backoffice supports and various data interchanges (for inventorying, supply ordering, etc.)
Should Web pages be jazzy or content-oriented?
Those accustomed to the old text-based Internet seem to favor simple, information-driven Web sites with not much fancy graphics. New generations of Web designers prefer graphic-rich, jazzy layouts. This is not surprising since they come predominantly from graphics professionals, and newspaper and magazine layout artists. In fact, most fancy Web sites decidedly look a lot like a magazine or a front page of a newspaper.
As both these print media and screen-restricted Web page have the same spatial limitation and the need to grab eyeballs, this jazzy approach seems to make a lot of sense. Furthermore, popular sites tend to have jazzy graphics. However, are jazzy sites drawing more visitors, or do (already) popular sites tend to employ a lot of graphics? That is, New York Times Online does have the definite advantage of being well known so that even if its Web site is text-oriented, easy to navigate, and well classified for organization, it might still draw heavy traffic.
Greater emphasis on contents than on appearance will reduce congestion and unnecessary delay. Too much emphasis on graphics and multimedia (although that may be interesting and act as a drawing factor) but not enough contents will ultimately convince us that the Internet is indeed as shallow as the media we have known all along is.
Should websites sell advertisements?
The balance between advertising revenues and subscription fees are puzzling content sellers on the Internet. In the end, the choice between the two is a moot issue because both ad-based and subscription-based selling is viable options. The question is which method is good for what products. Our experience with broadcast and print media will not help to answer that question because broadcast and print media are fundamentally different from the digital medium. For example, commercial-ridden television came about because there was no sure way of charging audience for what was being broadcast randomly over the air with no one targeted in particular.
Printed newspapers and magazines are constrained by the economics of mass production in pricing, in content selection and in distribution. These factors are non-existent on the Internet. Simply abstracting from traditional media will lead to wrong conclusions. Innovations will make things more complex. For example, commercials and advertising are indeed information goods so that there are some who are willing to pay to receive them. Why not charge for advertisements. That is indeed what CyberGold and other pioneers are attempting to experiment.
The electronic marketplace presents a unique opportunity to improve the way we disseminate product information (i.e. advertisements), charge consumers (and ultimately integrating the process into market research, product development and the next stage of marketing in a seamless process). The problem with spam is not only that they are distributed randomly but also that they have no market prices (or ways to transact).
If there is a way, some spam receivers may be paid to receive advertisements; others may be willing to pay to receive them. The legacy of the broadcast and print media has been that of artificially coupling advertisements with contents because of inability to charge or the economics of physical market. An efficient market will allow prices of these two different products to be determined separately.
What questions should I ask when selecting a web designer?
You don't really want a college student who has just learned HTML. You need a website design firm that will take time to understand your business, and has previous experience. Here are some important questions: What are the names and phone numbers of other small business clients you have served? You'll learn a lot by asking these references, "Would you hire this person to work for you on another project?"
What are the URLs of some websites you have designed? Then ask your web-savvy friends to evaluate the sites with you. What kind of website do I really need to accomplish my objectives as a business? Unless the designer knows how to accomplish business purposes with a website, she is of no use to you. Do you have a contract that outlines our agreement? Get it in writing. What will this cost, how long will it take, and at what points will various payments be due? Define what will be accomplished before each payment is made.
Will you register the site with search engines and perform any other marketing tasks? If this isn't included in their services, learn to do it yourself or find where to outsource it. A website without marketing is like a car without gasoline - nice to admire, but of no use at all.
What is a cookie and how does it help an e-business?
A cookie is a small amount of information that is stored on your computer when you visit a website, see a banner, purchase something at an online store, etc. Cookies help the e-business identify you the next time you come to the site so it can greet you by name, show you a banner you haven't seen yet, remember your username and password, etc. Cookies can also track how a visitor got to your website, so when he makes a purchase you can pay a commission to the affiliate who sent him.
Some people see cookies as an insidious breach of privacy - and it can be when connected with databases like DoubleClick's whose information collection spans many thousands of websites. Cookies smooth eCommerce for both the customer and the business. Now if they could just perfect a way of e-mailing me a chocolate chip cookie for every site I visit, I would be really happy.
What is the electronic marketplace?
Electronic markets ordinarily refer to online trading and auction, for example, online stock trading markets, online auction for computers and other goods. The electronic marketplace refers to the emerging market economy where producers, intermediaries and consumers interact electronically or digitally in some way. The electronic marketplace is a virtual representative of physical markets.
The economic activities undertaken by this electronic marketplace collectively represent the digital economy. Electronic commerce, broadly defined, is concerned with the electronic marketplace. The electronic marketplace resembles physical markets (the one we know) in many aspects. As in physical markets, components of the digital economy include: players (market agents such as firms, suppliers, brokers, shops and consumers) products (goods and services;) and processes (supply, production, marketing, competition, distribution, consumption, etc.).
The difference is that, in the electronic marketplace, at least some of these components are electronic, digital, virtual or online (whichever term you may prefer). For example, a digital player is someone with an email or a Web page. Purely "physical" sellers may be selling a digital product, e.g. digital CD-ROM. One that sells physical products at a physical store may offer product information online (thereby allowing consumers to "search online"), while production, ordering, payment and delivery are done conventionally. Currently, the emphasis is on the core of the electronic marketplace where everything (i.e. all value chains or business activities) is online.
But, if any aspect of your business or consumption dwells upon the digital process, you are already part of the electronic marketplace. That is, almost all of us are already players in the electronic marketplace!
How is the electronic marketplace different from physical markets?
Answer: The answers to this question provide us with a preview to what we try to achieve in this FAQ: comparing the digital economy with the physical economy, and coming up with a better understanding of the new market. Business strategies must be based on a sound understanding of the market dynamics, for which we rely on standard economics. More in-depth discussion is presented in our book, "The Economics of Electronic Commerce". Is the electronic marketplace a perfect, frictionless market? Will transaction costs become zero? Will the market be perfectly competitive, yielding lowest possible prices? Should the market be left alone to march toward those predictions? On the surface, the electronic marketplace appears to be something of a perfect market, where there are numerous, worldwide sellers and buyers, who in turn have bountiful information about the market and products, and where no intermediaries are necessary.
Such a market is very competitive and efficient (with no need to regulate or intervene arbitrarily). However, closer looks indicate that consumer searches are not very efficient (due to the cost of having a complete, easily searchable database, and because sellers may not provide all information necessary). Although wholesalers and retail outlets may not be needed, other types of intermediaries appear to be essential for the electronic market to function adequately (e.g. certification authorities, electronic malls who guarantee product quality, mediators for bargaining and conflict resolution, etc.). All these brokers add transaction costs. Will prices be lower?
Digital products are highly customizable due to its transmutability, i.e. easy to revise, reorganize and edit. With information about consumer tastes, products will be differentiated (or customized, e.g. custom news). The number of potential sellers may be low, or even only one, in a highly differentiated and segmented market, and the price will tend to approach the maximum price the buyer is willing to pay. (In economic terms, sellers practice first degree or perfect price discrimination, which is exact opposite to the result we get in a perfectly competitive market.) How about the often heard zero marginal cost argument that digital products will be priced at zero (given out free) because their reproduction costs will be minimal? The price will approach zero only if (1) the marginal cost is really approaching zero and (2) there is effective competition among sellers. We will discuss the microeconomics of digital products in Section D1 in detail.
In short, the marginal cost of a digital product may be substantial. Even when it is close to zero, prices in a non-competitive market will be determined more by demand (or the buyer's willingness to pay) than by marginal cost. Unless we think all information and digital products are of no value, they will never be priced at zero by sellers with market power. (Giving out free products today does not mean that sellers are doing it because the costs are zero nor that they will continue to do so when they monopolize the market.)
How do I choose keywords and summaries that will get my site more hits?
On every webpage you can place META tags in which you specify keywords and descriptions that some search engines use to index and display your webpage. (We're talking about HTML tags here, so if your eyes glaze over, I understand.) While there's a whole science to optimizing pages for search engines, here are some simple steps.
First, try to determine the words that your potential customers are likely to use to find your kind of business in search engine.
Make a list of 10 or 20 of the top such words or phrases. Second, make sure your TITLE tag is descriptive AND includes as many of the keywords as are appropriate. Not "Acme Manufacturing" but "Acme Manufacturing - bicycle seats, handlebars, and safety reflectors". Should be between 5 and 20 words.
Third, list the keywords in your keyword META tag, separating words and phrases with commas. Example: Use plural instead of singular, and don't repeat the same word twice in a row. Keyword spamming may get you removed from the search engine.
Fourth, compose a description that uses as many of your keywords as possible, while eliminating throw-away words that will never be searched on, such as "the, and, that." You don't need to repeat the words in the title, but it won't hurt. Example: About 25 words is a good length. Some search engines display this description if you've included it on your page. Not all search engines consider keyword and description META tags, but if you consistently take these steps with each page, you WILL place higher on search engines and receive more targeted traffic.
I am searching for government grant money to finance a new business, a non-profit group or business enterprise. How do I go about finding
available grants?
A good place to start for grant information is: Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (http://www.gsa.gov/fdac). The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) is a government-wide compendium of federal programs, projects, services, and activities, which provide assistance or benefits to the American public. It contains financial and non-financial assistance programs administered by departments and establishments of the federal government.
All these electronic payment systems, are they any different?
There are dozens of electronic payment systems proposed or already in practice. But they can be grouped into three based on what information is being transferred online. The first type uses a trusted third party that maintains all sensitive information (such as bank account and credit card numbers) for its clients, which include both buyers and sellers. When there is a transaction, order information is transmitted along with information about payment confirmation and clearing, all of which do not include sensitive information.
In effect, no real financial transaction is done online. The primary example of this type is First Virtual. In this type of system, the information need not be encrypted since financial transactions are done completely off-line. The second type is an extension of the conventional notational fund transfer. In credit card or check transactions, sensitive information is being exchanged. For example, you give your credit card to a merchant, who sends the card number through phone line and receives confirmation. Banks meanwhile receive the same information and adjust buyer and merchant's accounts accordingly. The information being transmitted online in this case is encrypted for security.
The primary example is the use of digital credit cards (e.g. CyberCash and VISA/Mastercard's SET-based transactions). This type is becoming the mainstay of online payment methods because consumers are familiar with this system and current players have vested interest in extending that system to the Internet. The problem with transactional security has been overly played on the traditional media, but with proper caution and encryption, the Internet may be more secure than phone lines for this same old payment methods. (Can you encrypt your voice when you give your credit card number over the phone? Can you be sure who the other person is?)
The third type includes variations of digital cash, electronic money and coins. What distinguishes these systems from the other two is not simply the anonymity they afford, but the fact that what is being transferred is value or money itself. With the second type described above, some one can commit fraud by lifting your message (credit card number) by running up the charge on your account. With digital currency, intercepting a message is an outright theft of your property, not just information.
What's the deal with digital currency? Do we need them?
Digital money, currency or coins are but an encrypted serial number representing money, but money in all sense since they are convertible to real money (e.g. U.S. dollar) if desired. (Just as U.S. dollar bill is only a paper with funny graphics.) It took hundreds of years before people accepted paper money (and checks) as payment. Digital currency will become dominant when paper-based economy finally turns into the digital economy.
In the short run, digital money is just a convenient form of existing money since digital money is created against existing money. However, in the long run, digital money may be created on its own if users accept it on its face value, which will be determined by how dependable its issuers are. All monies are only as good as their issuers. Why do we need digital currency? Not because it is the ultimate in anonymous money. Rather, digital money is necessary if we are to operate fully in the digital marketplace. Non-currency electronic payment systems will be sufficient for some transactions; for others, digital currency will be more efficient, e.g. microtransactions as well as anonymous trades.
Furthermore, digital currency is very flexible since it can be made to behave like electronic checks or anonymous cash as situation warrants. Electronic checks or digital credit cards become useless if their sensitive payment information is erased, or become costly if that information is hidden and calls for an elaborate process of verification.
Smart cards, what are they good for?
The smart card will emerge as the ultimate interface device for the mobile digital economy. It will hold your cash, ID information, house and office keys, subway tokens, all types of preference files (for house temperature setting, driver seat setting, etc.) and other information. You will exchange these information and digital products with other people, transact business, present to police officers, check into a hotel or a sports arena, and all other things yet to be imagined.
I want to accept credit cards at my website, but I don't want to pay for a merchant account. Where can I find inexpensive credit card
processing on a secure server?
You'll probably have to get a merchant credit card account AND credit card processing on a secure server. Here's how it works.
- You secure a merchant account with a bank, and the bank contracts with a firm that processes credit card transactions for them.
- You contract with a web hosting service for a secure server for your order pages.
- You contract with a payment gateway company (such as VeriSign.com) that provides an Internet bridge from your order pages to the bank's processing company.
Sometimes, however, you can find a service that combines (2) and (3) together. While it is possible to pay a company to handle the merchant credit card transactions for you, they may take an 8% to 15% chunk of the total transaction, and in some places this kind of "factoring" is illegal. If you plan to sell much over the Web, secure your own merchant account. Start with your own bank.
If they don't favor Internet businesses, try Wells Fargo Bank (http://www.wellsfargo.com), Heartland Payment Systems (http://www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com/), or First Bank of Beverly Hills (http://www.fbbh.com). Independent sales organizations may promise to get you a merchant account, but be careful of high commissions ("application fees"), hidden fees, or penalties if your business folds before their "lease period" is over. Be careful you aren't sold the wrong services for your needs. Shop carefully.
How should we protect identifiable information about us?
Computer technologies enable sellers to find out more about their customers while at the same time they enable buyers to search and receive product information. The balance is certainly in favor of sellers since product information are proprietary, implying they are offered only if sellers want to.
On the other hand, information about online consumers seems to flow easily to sellers if technologies are not employed to block such transfer. Since there are sizable gains to be made from refining consumer demand information, collecting information about consumer preferences is widely promoted, and electronic commerce provides a unique opportunity for this.
However, while this information is clearly helpful to the sellers and researchers, a standard must be established to protect consumers. Presently, simple notification and disclosure to consumers are all that is needed for information collectors to use such consumer information. Rather than relying on regulatory solutions, however, innovative concepts are being tested in electronic commerce.
One new idea is to give consumers the right to sell their own information. As discussed in Section 8.3, this market-based solution turns personal information into a marketable commodity. Many online services are offered in return for divulging personal information. In that case, the price for that information will be equal to the value of the service offered. Some consumers may use the service heavily, implying a high price for their information.
Others may give out their information for a service they seldom use, signaling a low value for their personal information. Going beyond reporting names and addresses, consumers may be willing to sell all types of consumption data in the future if the price is right. In a way, consumers will become information sellers by participating in market research or focus groups.
Why should I care for privacy?
At least in one sense, selling personal consumption data may be detrimental to consumer welfare. In electronic commerce, such data will be directly linked to purchasing and price negotiation. With demand known, sellers may refuse to lower prices below what they think is a consumer's valuation.
However, rather than going back to a market with imperfect demand and inferior product quality, the market may be able to produce an equitable and efficient result. For example, the potentially higher sale price can be partly compensated by a higher payment for personal information.
This also demonstrates a reason why consumer information may have to be priced and traded in the market. A slew of economic questions arises regarding prices and the efficiency in such a market. Perhaps, the vigor evidenced in the debate on privacy and anonymity among legal scholars, government officials and free speech activists might guide economists to this task in the future.
Is eCommerce safe?
Although Internet security breaches have gotten a lot of press, most vendors and analysts argue that transactions are actually less dangerous in cyberspace than in the physical world. That's because retail sales employees who handle card numbers cause a great deal of credit card fraud. eCommerce systems remove temptation by encrypting the numbers on a company's servers. For merchants, eCommerce is actually safer than opening a store that could be looted, burned, or flooded. The difficulty is in getting a customer to believe that ecommerce is safe for them.
Consumers don't really believe it yet, but experts say eCommerce transactions are safer than ordinary credit card purchases. Every time you pay with a credit card at a store, in a restaurant, or over an 800 number - and every time you throw away a credit card receipt-you make yourself vulnerable to fraud.
But ever since the 2.0 versions of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, transactions can be encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), a protocol that creates a secure connection to the server, protecting the information as it travels over the Internet. SSL uses public key encryption, one of the strongest encryption methods around.
A way to tell that a Web site is secured by SSL is when the URL begins with https instead of http. Browser makers and credit card companies are promoting an additional security standard called Secure Electronic Transactions (SET). SET encodes the credit card numbers that sit on vendors' servers so that only banks and credit card companies can read the numbers. No eCommerce system can guarantee 100-percent protection for your credit card, but you're less likely to get your pocket picked online than in a real store.
What should be in a copyright statement on the website I've created?
I can give general advice, but consult your attorney about your country's specific copyright laws. By US law, an article is protected by copyright when it is published, whether or not you list copyright information. You can register your documents with the Library of Congress, though few do this for websites. The following statement should be adequate for most purposes: "Copyright © 2000, by John B. Doe. All rights reserved."
The primary purpose of your copyright statement is to put readers on notice that this is your property. Since websites are so easy to copy, I usually go further and say, "Text, graphics, and HTML code are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit permission." It's difficult to enforce your copyright in court -- the legal costs would be excessive.
