I do not know whether this is the right place to write this review, but this review is about tips to successfully run a web business. This is bit long, so I request for your patience. I have written this assuming that one has an idea and has a business plan in place.
First, ask yourself what is your primary objective? If it is to make quick money and exit, I would say, you are late and need not read this review. If your objective is to be there on the web space for a long term, then this might help you.
Since your primary objective is clear, think of the business itself. One has to be clear what exactly the idea is. Is it to provide an environment to the existing business so to cut down the costs or to improve efficiency, B2B to be precise? Or is to directly interact with the consumers and provide products or service, in other words B2C? Or is to create space for consumers to interact and do business among themselves, C2C to be precise?
I would not like to write about B2B, since that requires a lot of technical knowledge of that business in particular. This write-up is about B2C and C2C.
1.I have observed that there are quite a lot of misconceptions in the people that Web Business is quite different from traditional style of business or the B-M style of business. Well, it is true to a certain extent, but I strongly feel that the basic rules of the game remain same.
2.Other misconception is it is easy to start a web site, thus very easy to run this business. Should we not think about maintaining the business and sustaining it? People have forgotten this part and have crowded the web space.
3.Money is easy to come by. People have by now understood that it is easy to go by too.
4.The biggest misconception probably is that, marketing a website is just advertising. The more you spend the more hits you get and thus more money. Someone forgot to mention that hits do not mean money, they just mean hits.
I can very safely say that, people who have had these four or any one of these three misconceptions lost out. People who have understood these facts have stood firm and are earning good money
Some said that, since the reach is quite extensive when compared to the traditional business, this has to seen differently. They mixed up the modes of business with the basics of the business. The way you do business changed, but principles and theories did not change. That still remains the same. You need to have solid product or service, innovate continuously and position it strongly. Service is still the key. Though one might not come in direct interaction with consumers, web has to provide the service, both pre sales and after sales. Market information and research is still important. Try getting into the web space without proper research and information backup, you would be kicked out of the web space immediately. So, can someone explain me how is it different to the traditional business?
Good technology which results in good design and fast access is good, but DATA or CONTENT is the most important thing in a web business. It is always good to have few links from your site, but what you have on your web site is very very important. Ask yourself, why a person should come to your site and spend time. Are you offering something different from others or are you offering the same but in a different and innovative way? If you do not fall in either of these two, please revisit your business plan.
The most important thing is to continuously upgrade and innovate. It is here that Web business differs from the traditional style. I have read that, the best site is the one where every time you visit, you find different content on the homepage. This might be little exaggeration, but nevertheless the home page should be updated frequently. Give utmost importance to the maintenance of the site, never let the data go haywire. Again, DATA or CONTENT is the heart and soul of any web business, never let it loose.
The trick of success is to never implement all your ideas at one go. Think hard before going online, have few ideas on paper, preferably on the business plan, and then execute them one after another with time intervals. This gives your consumers the impression that, you are always working hard to improve.
Always, be prepared to wait for some time, before you start reaping the benefits. Money is not that easy to come by, it is difficult to earn money and register profits, more so these days. One needs to have perfect revenue generation plan and perfect execution of business plan to register profits. So, do not waste money purely on advertising. One has to go for co-branding and joint ventures to promote. This lessens the pressure on spending. Remember how INDYA.COM was launched? I guess, they are regretting that, and are more involved in co-branding these days.
At the end of it, if one asks me to advice, I would say NO TO WEB BUSINESS. It still has to evolve in terms of PC penetration and Security aspects.