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CHAPTER 14 The Internet

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One of the most exciting communications, information transfer, and business developments in recent memory is the Internet. You hear about it everywhere-on television and radio, in advertisements, newspapers. For the small business, the Internet can be one of the most effective innovations to come along in years. Why? Because the Internet can give your small business access to a "worldwide" marketplace for a few dollars a month! You can compete head-to-head against the big guys.

The Internet is a giant worldwide network of inter-connected computer networks or "sites" which allows an individual computer connected to this network to access the information on any of the sites on the network. The Internet allows this information to be searched, retrieved and stored by any user. Since many of the connected sites contain a wealth of useful information, the Internet is an important business resource.

You may have read that the Internet is hard to learn and access. Maybe it was at first, but not any more! Along with the astounding growth of the Internet, numerous small "access providers" have sprung up all over the country, many of whom will get you up and running on the Internet quickly and easily. More on this later.

This chapter will introduce you to the Internet but it is not going to make you an expert. To really understand and make use of this resource, you must "get connected" and I'll describe this process below. Also, I urge you to check out some of the references listed in Appendix IV for additional information.

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet started around 1969 as a way of connecting government and university computers together for research. For those of you interested in a brief history of how the Internet evolved refer to Appendix IX. It has been growing exponentially ever since. In fact, at this time, estimates put the number of sites worldwide (places you can get information) at over 50 million! Since each site could have many users, this means that at any moment, tens of millions of individuals are accessing the Internet. The current estimate of growth is 10% per month!

The Internet is a big network of computers talking to one another. None of these computers is in control and there is no "central point" on the Internet. Amazingly, in spite of its large size, the Internet is a cooperative effort with no one in charge, and it seems to work.

The Internet continues to grow at a phenomenal rate and cannot be ignored as an important and effective resource and sales channel for small business.

INTERNET SPECIFICS

The Internet supports a variety of services, sometimes called applications, utilities, or tools. The most important are:

E-MAIL (electronic mail). This is the most popular Internet application. There are literally tens of millions of E-mail account users worldwide. Using E-mail allows you to send and receive "mail" messages to anyone with an E-mail account. A message may be sent to one person or a number of individuals simultaneously. A message may be a few words or include large text or graphic files as an attachment. Available software makes E-mail very easy to use and in many cases, the software will be free.

Suggestion: Eudora Light or Eudora Pro by Qualcomm. Eudora Light, is satisfactory for most users, is free and may be downloaded from http://www.eudora.com.

Most E-mail messages are delivered within minutes (to anywhere in the world!) and the cost is less than sending a letter and certainly less than a telephone call. There is no charge to send E-mail beyond your normal Internet provider's monthly charges. In many cases, E-mail can also replace a FAX.

Think of E-mail as another way to communicate with your customers. Unlike the telephone you don't have to be there to answer the call and no one pays a long distance bill.

Small businesses can use e-mail to take and confirm orders, provide requested product information, announce sales and new products, and provide answers to consumer or customer questions. It is a fantastic resource!

You will be assigned an E-mail address by your Internet provider. For example, my E-mail address is: bobs@isquare.com. Kind of strange looking but you can generally choose the portion prior to the "@." For example, Jonathan Reader might use jreader@isquare.com

Your E-mail address should be placed on your letterhead, print advertisements, business cards and anything else that contains your name and postal address. Note that there is a small possibility that your E-mail messages (not unlike a conversation on a portable or cellular phone) can be intercepted and read. It is normally not a concern but nonetheless you should be aware of the possibility.

Many companies provide free e-mail services - all you need to do is connect to their website. The services vary with the company so check out more than one. Here are a few sources for free e-mail:

http://www.altavista.com
http://www.amexmail.com
http://www.deskmail.com
http://www.excite.com
http://www.hotmail.com
http://www.netaddress.com
http://www.yahoo.com

NEWSGROUPS, sometimes called Internet Discussion Groups, are a powerful way to communicate with people around the world who are interested in the same things as you. Currently there are tens of thousands of newsgroups covering every subject imaginable. These groups allow people with like interests to communicate on a worldwide scale. Any person in the group can send a message to the entire group, and any of the other members can immediately respond to the entire group. Most Internet browsers include a newsgroup reader.

Suggestion: Use DejaNews (http://www.dejanews.com) to search for newsgroups of interest to you.

FTP. This application, File Transfer Protocol, allows you to send or obtain files from other computers on the Internet.

Suggestion: One of the best FTP programs is WS-FTP by Ipswitch at http://www.ipswitch.com.

WWW. (World Wide Web). This is the big one! The WWW is what everyone is generally referring to when they say, "Internet." It is a graphical interface utilizing "hypertext." Hypertext allows you to use your mouse to click on certain highlighted words on the WWW screen which takes you immediately to another place in that document or to another site on the Internet! This is called "linking" and is a very powerful tool.

The WWW uses universal resource locators (URL's) as addresses. For example, my WWW URL address is: http://www.isquare.com. Like "123 Main Street, Mycity, VA., USA", this URL tells the Internet the "street, city, state and country" of the site you to which you to connect. Most URL's are similar to the company name like "http://www.fedex.com" for Federal Express. Appendix IV lists some interesting and useful URL's for you to try.

Also refer to Appendix IV for an example of what a WWW "page" looks like (there really are no 'pages' on the WWW, you simply scroll from beginning to end). If you were reading this example page while connected, every time you saw an underlined phrase, you could immediately link to another WWW site or elsewhere in the same document to obtain further information relating to that topic.

WHY IS THE INTERNET IMPORTANT?

Internet statistics are staggering. 40% of all small businesses now use the Internet; Internet commerce in 1998 was $5-Billion and will grow to $40-Billion by 2002; currently there are about 167-million users with an estimated 1-Billion by 2005. Finally it is interesting to note that e-commerce is growing 30 times faster than the global economy! There is little doubt that the Internet is the single most important business tool since the telephone and fax machines! If you don't think this is the case, check out these powerful reasons why you should be utilizing the Internet for your business and why having your own web site is so important.

E-Mail
Wouldn't it be nice to communicate anywhere in the world with customers and employees and pay NO long distance telephone charges? With the Internet you can. And while you're at it, you can "attach" additional documents to your e-mail. For example, you can send an updated proposal to your representative across the country - quickly and at no cost.

Low Cost
Utilizing the Internet for your business is incredibly inexpensive. Unlimited connect accounts are generally available for less than $20/month and include Internet access and e-mail. You can begin immediately by just using e-mail as a way to communicate with existing customers and new ones.

Customer Support
You can provide personalized support for your customers with answers to common questions; assistance on specific products or services and provide a variety of ways in which you can be contacted. And you can do all this without answering a phone or hiring additional staff.

Be Open For Business 24 hours a day
Here's a BIG plus for your business. With e-mail, people can contact you anytime it is convenient for them. And you can respond at a time that's convenient for you. Of course, we suggest "timely-response" just as if someone called you. When you have a web site, potential customers can find out about your products and services 24 hours a day. Isn't this much better than getting a call at 5:00 AM from a customer in a time zone that's 3 hours ahead of yours?

Global Reach
The Internet is being used regularity by millions worldwide with more "connecting" every day. Many of the new users come from countries around the world. They want to buy the "latest and greatest" products. And they have money! With the Internet they can become your customers! How much do you think it would cost you to advertise in the Times of London, the Tokyo Daily, and Moscow Today? Compare that to the cost of a web site.

Reach customers that speak a foreign language
Why restrict your market to the "English-speaking" world? Translate your web site into a number of languages and offer a choice to users when they come to your home page to further increase your exposure.

Money Savings
Today your long-distance phone bill can run into the hundreds of dollars. Using e-mail to talk to your customers, suppliers, partners, etc., can save you a significant portion of this expense.

Try new ideas
Since the Internet is a "brand-new" medium, no one (including us) really knows all of the ways you can make money from the Internet. We do know there are a whole lot of great ideas already. When you use the Internet, you can try new ideas usually for little invested on your part. It doesn't work, OK, you learned. Modify your idea. Improve it. At the very least you'll know more than your competitors. Who could imagine that authors would put their books on the Internet? Well, that's what people are doing with the hope that customer's will like what they read enough so that they'll buy the paper version.

Update or Change your products and services easily and at low cost
If you have produced "paper" catalogs, brochures, sales collateral materials, you know how difficult and expensive it is to change them. You want to add a new item. Oh no! The phone company changed your area code. No, no! Paper can be an expensive pain. With your Internet site, changing anything is a simple and inexpensive process.

Announcing Specials
Speaking of changes, let's say you just received a new product and you want to advertise a "special." Reaching your customers via the phone, sending a letter, or a FAX would be time-consuming and expensive. With the Internet you can instantly send an e-mail to 500 of your best customers with the click of your mouse. What's more, you can put a "SPECIAL" notice on your web site advertising the new product.

Accepting Orders on-line
With the Internet you can accept orders either via e-mail or through your web site. Using e-mail, your customers can send you orders just like they send you a letter, fax, or call you on the phone. They send you their name, shipping address, part numbers, etc.. With the proper software, you can make the Internet into your "electronic storefront." Customers can check your stock, see that the item is available, put the item into a "shopping basket" with other items, and checkout by providing you with name, shipping address, credit card information, etc. The order can be sent to you for manual processing or you can use third parties to process the order for you including the credit card, packaging the shipment, and mailing it. How much easier can it be?

Security on the Internet is a concern just as it is if you have a "physical" storefront. The issues are the same. People can steal your credit card receipts from the garbage or your credit card numbers while they are transferred over the Internet. As of today, theft of credit card numbers over the Internet is about nil. The major Internet browsers have sophisticated encryption built-in to send credit card information secretly. Even without encryption, there's just too much traffic being moved around (billions and billions of bits per second) for a thief to find credit card numbers.

Sell to the U.S. Government
The Government is the largest purchaser of goods and services. To simplify their purchasing and to save taxpayers money, the Government is buying more and more of its purchases electronically over the Internet. For most of their purchases, the size of the supplier doesn't matter. When you are on the Internet your small company CAN compete with anyone.

Speed
Nothing beats the Internet for "speed to the market." With one e-mail you can reach five or five thousand customers, almost instantly. Send an e-mail tonight and by tomorrow morning all of your customers will have your message.

Illusion of size
The Internet "levels the playing field." Customers don't need to know that your business is small one-person business. In most media like magazines, newspaper, and TV big companies can spend millions on advertising. On the Internet, your web site (www.smallcompany.com) is as important as www.bigcompany.com. The big guys have one web site and so do you!

HOW TO GET STARTED

It is easier than you might think. You will, of course, need a computer. There are three major steps to Internet usage:

1. Get connected to the Net
2. Learn to use the Net ("surf" the Net)
3. Create your own presence on the Net

Let's look at each of these in some detail.

Getting Connected.

There are four major ways to connect to the Internet-your own connection, the library, a commercial service, or an Internet provider.

1. Your own connection.
This is not for the small business. This approach requires lots of expensive equipment and expertise.

2. Visit a library.
This is a neat way to try out the net without spending any money. Most large libraries now have one or more computers connected to the Internet that may be used by visitors. You obviously can't use this approach for your business, but it's a great way to familiarize yourself with the net and see what this tool might mean to you and your business.

3. Use a commercial service.
The commercial services such as America-On-Line (http://www.aol.com) and Mindspring (http://www.mindspring.com) provide Internet access. This approach is an easy and quick way to get on the Net. However you can expect to pay more than with a private, smaller Internet service provider.

4. An Internet Provider.
It is easy to find a local "access provider" and get an "Internet account" which allows you to connect into the Internet. One way to find these providers is to check in the business section of your local newspaper. Cost is around $10-$20/month which will give you unlimited access to the Internet. More good news: The required software for your computer is generally free and available from the provider (or you can download it from various hosts with help from your provider). Find a provider local to you by visiting http://www.thelist.com. Also check out http://www.webhostlist.com for additional useful information on your selection. (Go to the library to do this!).

Be careful when selecting your Internet provider since many are coming in existence to support the demand. Some are good, some are not. The following checklist will help you in making your selection.

CHECKLIST #17: SELECTING AN INTERNET PROVIDER

• How long has the provider been in operation?
• What are monthly costs? Is access unlimited?
• How many access telephone lines are available? Will you be able to easily connect at anytime?
• Is a local access telephone number available? (You don't want to incur long-distance charges since you will find that you're spending hours connected!). Call this access number a few times at different times to determine that it does not ring busy. This will give you a good idea of the ratio of modems to customers at the provider.
• Are 56Kbps modems being used for dial-in accounts?
• Are personalized E-mail addresses available? You want this for identification. It is your "name" on the Internet. For example, my E-mail address is "bobs@isquare.com." "bobs" is what I've chosen for my "name," "isquare" is the internet "domain" (different for each provider), and "com" indicates a commercial service.
• Will software be provided?
• Are there any restrictions on doing business using your account?
• Is technical help available? During what times? (This assistance should be free.) Call the help line to see what kind of response you get.
• What services are offered? You must have E-mail and FTP at a minimum. Will the provider be able to support your "home page" when you're ready?
• Are there any setup or activation fees?
• How much disk space will you receive with your account? You should have at least 2Mb if you are going to have a webpage.
• Shop around! Compare prices!

Hopefully, you have decided that a computer is an absolute necessity for your business. Given that you already have or will get a computer, the only additional piece of equipment required to support Internet access is a modem. This is the device that connects your computer to the telephone line. It is very important that this modem be able to transfer lots of data quickly. Fortunately, the cost of modems has come down considerably and for around $150 you can add a 28.8Kbps modem to your computer. "28.8Kbps" defines how fast the modem transfers data and is the minimum speed you should use with the Internet for satisfactory performance.

Learn to use the Net

At this point a lot of what you have read in this section may be confusing but believe me, once you get connected and start using the various tools we've described, everything will start to make sense.

When you are up and running on the Internet, start looking around using your various applications (called "surfing the Net") and get familiar with what's there. You will quickly be amazed at what is available and the possibilities. Send us an E-mail! (bobs@isquare.com)

Create your own presence on the Net. I hope I have convinced you WHY you should seriously consider a web site for your business. Now here are some hints for an effective small business web site.

1. Decide if you are going to develop your own web site or work with a developer. If the latter, search the web for possible candidates. If you are doing it yourself, visit a bookstore or search the web and pick up one of the many excellent references on Web Publishing and html (the language used to "build" web pages). If you don't have the time, hire someone and ensure they have the required expertise. A child can write html code. Designing an effective web site takes an expert.

2. Apply for a domain name. You can do it yourself over the Internet via the Internic, http://www.internic.net, or have your ISP do it for you. Think up three names ... it is likely you will not get your first choice. Take your time ... this domain name becomes your identifier!

IMPORTANT TIP: When registering for a domain name with the Internic, you must provide administrative, billing, and technical contacts. Be sure you are the administrative contact. The billing and technical contact may be you but may also be your ISP. It's important that you are the administrative contact because that is what determines the real "owner" of the domain. In the future if changes are required, you will be in control.

3. Carefully outline and organize the material you want to place on your web pages. Don't do it "on the fly."

4. Decide on the "look" of your pages. Browse the internet for ideas.

5. To be effective, your web site MUST provide valuable information as well as present your product or service that you are selling. Forrester Research (http://www.forrester.com) notes that high quality content accounts for 75% of repeat visitors! In our case, at the Small Business Advisor (http://www.isquare.com) we provide useful small business related information (tax advice, start-up information, money saving tips, etc). We then gently steer the visitor to the books and consulting services we are selling. It works!

6. Your web site must be EASY to use. The design of the site must make it easy for the user to navigate. A confused visitor will simply leave. Here are a few of the more important web site design tips. There is plenty of additional information on the Internet for you to use.

• LOADING TIME. Users will not wait. You have about 20-seconds to catch and keep a visitor. Your home page should load quickly. Ensure this by keeping graphic files small (optimize all graphics with "Gif Wizard" at http://www.gifwizard.com), your backgrounds simple and by using height and width tags with every graphic. The height/width tags will force the text to load first while giving the user something to read. It is also a good idea to use ALT tags with the graphic tag so that the graphic is identified to the user while it loads.
• KEEP IT SIMPLE. There are many different browsers in use. Be sure your home page is friendly to all of them. Do this by keeping your page simple. Your web site does not need to make use of the latest technologies to be effective. Many users will not spend the time to download the various software packages required to view these enhancements. Use animation sparingly, if at all. Continuous animations can be irritating to the viewer.
• ORGANIZED MESSAGE. The user should be immediately presented with a description of what's in your site. Also, make it easy for the user to navigate your site. For example, make certain there is an obvious way to return to the home page from anywhere within your site.
• META TAGS. These html tags are used to define the name and content of your site. Proper use of META tags will ensure that some important (large) search engines can find and properly index your site. Also ensure each web page is property "titled" within the header tags. Learn more about meta statements at http://www.metatag.webpromote.com or at http://www.searchenginewatch.com.
• UPDATE FREQUENTLY. Encourage visitors to return to your site by constantly updating its content. This cannot be stressed enough - a static site will not grow.
• ASK FOR FEEDBACK. Make it easy for a visitor to e-mail you comments.

Developing a website is only part of the job - you must get the word out! Your website must be marketed. We have found the following strategies and techniques to be very effective in building and sustaining traffic to our web site. It goes without saying that web site sales are directly proportional to traffic! Forrester Research notes that the most used sources for finding websites are - in order - search engines; E-mail messages; links from other sites; and personal referrals (word of mouth).

• Use "webcards" to announce your URL to existing mailing lists. These inexpensive 4x6 inch cards feature a graphic of your homepage on one side and a "sales" message on the reverse. Use these cards to announce your website to all existing customers. Visit http://www.printing.com for details.

• Start an e-mail based newsletter. Provide a form within your web site that makes it easy for a visitor to subscribe to the newsletter. Publish your newsletter periodically and include information that is relevant to your audience.
  
  
• Ensure that your URL address appears on everything you can think of! Here are some examples;

  Business cards and stationary
  Return address labels
  Telephone answering machine message
  T-shirts (great customer giveaway)
  News releases
  Display advertisements
  Brochures and other sales literature
  Yellow page advertisements
  Business checks

• Utilize news releases; both traditional and e-mail based. E-mail based releases can be sent for anywhere from less than $100 to a few thousand depending on coverage. Try these folks for sending your news releases electronically:

  http://www.newsbureau.com/
  http://www.internetwire.com/
  http://www.newstarget.com/
  http://www.xpresspress.com/
  http://www.urlwire.com/

• Search engine registration and verification is mandatory! There are thousands of search sites on the Internet but only the top 100 are really important. Professional registration services cost from $200 and up. We don't suggest you use one of the many "register your site with 1000 search sites for $29" companies advertising on the Internet - they don't do a good job. You get what you pay for! It is important that your web site is "search engine ready." Specifically, your web site designer should ensure the following:

  a. Appropriate tags have been included, including title, description, and keywords, within the header tags.

  b. All images should have tags containing keywords

  c. The visible text on the homepage should include as many keywords as possible.

  d. A line of text should be included at or near the top of the homepage that includes keywords and utilizes tags of any size.

  e. Include a "comment" tag within the header tags that is a short statement about the content of your web site and include as many keywords as possible.
  
  

• Announce your web site to relevant newsgroups. Be careful - don't make your announcement sound like an advertisement. Visit each newsgroup of interest and carefully craft a message that contains useful information relevant to the group. And of course include your URL in your "signature." (see below). Find newsgroups by using http://www.dejanews.com. This takes time but it worth the effort.
  
  
• Ensure you include a "signature" as all your e-mails. This signature is a short 5 or 6 line message that will appear at the end of all your e-mails. Most of the popular e-mail programs include an easy way to add this signature to all your e-mails. Keep it short, keep it useful. Our signature looks like this:

  Helping small businesses be SUCCESSFUL Books, e-commerce, Consulting, Publishing http://www.isquare.com
  Register at the site for our free newsletter

• Mutual link development is a must. This technique involves searching for web sites that attract visitors that may also be interested in your web site. Offer to "trade" links with that web site. When asking for your link don't just make the request - also mention that you have already added a link to THEIR site from yours and ask them to confirm that it is okay to have done so. This way the chances for a reply are increased. As time goes by, these mutual links can represent a significant percentage of your total traffic.
  
  
• Consider "banner" advertising on relevant sites. This can be expensive but if you choose wisely, you can get excellent exposure at a low cost. Typical costs for banner advertising ranges from $3 to $50 per CPM. (Cost Per Thousand impressions).
  
  
• Write articles for journals and periodicals that relate to the industries you serve. Include a byline with your URL, of course.

You can build a successful web site if you pay attention to what works for others. The ideas presented here continue to pay off for us and I bet they will work for you. All you have to lose without a web site are sales! Think about it.

SUMMARY

Using the Internet to advertise your product or service is considerably different than traditional sales and promotional techniques. The bad news is that you must stand out in a crowd of millions! The good news is that you can "look" like a company that sells millions! To do so requires you carefully think through your strategy to ensure whatever you place on the Internet is very unique and interesting.

When using the Internet to advertise, and again contrary to the traditional advertising, you must give to the Internet as well as use its capabilities. In other words, your advertising must also provide real and useful information to the reader. We don't simply advertise our books and consulting services on The Small Business Advisor website - we also provide a wide variety of useful small business information including articles, tax advice, hints and tips for saving money, and more.

The form of your presence on the Internet is dependent on your business goals and marketing specifics. A variety of possibilities are described in many excellent references for doing business on the Internet. Refer to Appendix IV.

You should learn more about the Internet and see how it might fit into your business. Refer to Appendix IV for some suggested reference material. Visit your local bookstore or library and browse through dozens of excellent books that are available. You won't be sorry you did. Using the Internet as a business tool will be mandatory for success in the 21st century.