Introduction to Small Business on the Internet

The following overview is for small business owners new to the internet.  RAL Technologies would like to provide you with the appropriate web site(s) and services for your business to succeed.  Our approach to win you as a client is simple--we tell it to you straight and focus on satisfying the needs of informed consumers instead of making quick sales with hype.  So if you are not familiar with using the internet for business, here is a primer on the basic issues.

The first thing you need is a presence on the internet in order for potential customers to find you and contact you.  At the very minimum you need an email address and some classified advertisements on other business's web sites.  This kind of approach is very limited, so as a practical matter you will need to establish your own web site to be successful.

Before you can establish the right kind of web site for your business, you need to decide what purpose it will have and what resources you can commit.

Web sites typically have the following functions:

Web sites require the following resources or the ability to purchase them:

At the risk of being too general, a web site is a set of computer files that are available for anyone on the internet to look at or run.  A person using the internet uses a software called a browser to enter the internet address for this set of files, copy them to their own computer (client) from the computer where they are stored (server) and open them up.

Most of us do not have a computer in our basement that is always running and connected to the internet (server) so we rent space from companies that do (hosting service).  This typically involves a hosting fee (in the range of $5-50/month for a small web site) which gives you complete control of the site.  There are also "free" web sites available, which usually require you to have someone's advertisement on each of your web pages (so an advertiser is paying your hosting fee), or that are part of your internet access fee (i.e. AOL).

Once you have the computer space, you need to put together a set of files that accomplishes your purpose.  Web browsers use a software called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).  HTML is a plain text language that you can create using any word processing software, as long as you know the code words.  There are also many software products that will help you create the HTML files, some are even provided by your hosting service.  The combination of files (web pages), what each one looks like, and how they are connected, is created during web design.  If you are contracting your web design, you can expect fees in the range of $50/hour with at least 10 hours for most first time web designs.

You can create many web pages with text and graphics using plain HTML.  Most web sites use additional software for animations, interactive responses, email, databases, and so forth.  Some of the terms you may hear are cgi, java, ftp, gif, POP email, server-side includes, cold fusion, asp, and scripts.

e-Commerce is the much hyped, made-up word for selling on web sites.  There are some special functions beyond those of the basic web site that are required for successful e-commerce.  These features typically add from $50-100/month onto the cost of the web site.

First of all, if you want people to give you financial information like credit card numbers you need to protect their privacy, primarily by using a secure server which does not let other users intercept the data.

Next, most web stores have special types of additional software.  Shopping carts let buyers pick more than one item and pay for them with one transaction.  Ordering systems provide for collection of the necessary information to make the sale.  And Merchant Accounts allow credit card numbers to be verified and credit card transactions to be made over the internet in real time.  Merchant accounts can cost more each month than your web site.

E-commerce can involve more than the web site activities.  Inventory tracking, order fulfillment, shipping, scheduling, and accounting, even customer relations are all functions that can be integrated with the online order taking and billing for sophisticated businesses.