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Building a Web Presence
Copyright 2002
So you're tired of losing dealers because you aren't internet
"with it" and they can't brag about their stuff appearing upon the
"net". I'm going to do it, you say ! I'm going to have an internet
web presence for my antique or craft mall ! All set ? Ready !
Fire ! Aim ! Is there something wrong with this sequence ?
Not so fast ! The web is a big complicated place. Creating a
good -- not really a great mind you, a good web presence requires
planning, commitment, skill, financial resources, a comprehensive
understanding of the uniqueness of the internet media and no
small measure of serendipity.
A good web presence doesn't just happen. It is very carefully
built, piece by piece, and tested every step of the way. And, it
lies upon a rigorously planned and well executed foundation.
The internet is a wonderful media but it isn't magic -- far from it.
Success upon the internet is based upon well known, long
established, fundamental principals and its unique characteristics.
A successful internet presence which may or may not involve your
own unique web site must be carefully planned. At the very least,
the planning for your internet presence must be in concert with
your business plan (You do have one don't you ? And, it is
current ?) . And your internet presence must also work in concert
with your marketing plan, which is integrated with your business
plan, as well. Otherwise you can easily end up working at cross
purposes.
Business and Personal Assessment
Lets start at the beginning. First, lets be very clear about one thing.
If you aren't doing very well with your antique or craft mall you have
fundamental problems that developing a web presence probably
won't solve. In fact, a web presence may make matters worse.
Technology will not, in and of itself, save you. Only when applied
to business problems in the context of fundamentally sound
business frameworks will technology help you.
That said, the first question to answer is "What do you really like
to do in the antiques or collectibles world ?" Do you like to buy
and sell a particular class of merchandise such as toys or glass ?
Are you REALLY good at it and already have something of a
reputation (good of course)? Can you partner with your dealers
and associates who handle desirable merchandise at saleable
prices to offer what people want ? What kind of desirable
merchandise can you look forward to expanding into from your
competency base or that of your dealers and associates. Who do
you have in your mall who can help you ? Who can you recruit to
provide the kind of merchandise you want to promote ?
What are your business strengths and how can your dealers,
associates and recruits help you add to them ? Do you have
access to high quality, fairly priced merchandise ? Or is there
locally available merchandise which could be desirable in other
regions you can reach through the internet ?
What are your competitive advantages ? Make a list of them and
consider how you can make them work for you. How can you
build upon your competitive advantages ? They are usually short
lived in today's business climate and require constant rejuvenation.
The world of internet business is very densely populated. For you
to succeed, you have to plan very carefully, know exactly what you
are about and how to differentiate your business from all of the
other businesses competing for attention in the internet marketplace.
Who is the competition ? And, what are their business strengths,
especially from a customer point of view ? What are their
competitive advantages ? Where and how do they sell their
goods ? How can you co opt some or all of their business ?
Please understand that you always have competition for the
customer's dollars. It is foolish and naive to think otherwise.
Some competition is direct and some is indirect and competition
comes in many forms.
Even if your business model consists of selling one class of
merchandise on the internet, planning, as simplified as it may be,
is still essential.
Never try to be all things to all people ! You most likely have
limited resources so you must focus ! Even if you have unlimited
resources, don't waste them by failing to focus. Where is the gap
in merchandise or services you can fill ? What opportunities have
your competitors left for you to exploit ? And, what will it take for
you to take advantage of them ?
What is your differentiated selling proposition ? That is, what will
make your business unique in the marketplace and provide
contrast with respect to your competitors ? You should be able to
very clearly state your differentiated selling proposition in one
sentence, or two at the most, in terms any sixth grader can easily
comprehend. Do the same for your major competitors. Analyze
the resulting information and then reexamine your original
differentiated selling proposition.
Building a Web Presence - Part 2 of 4
Knowledge of the Web
How well do you understand, I mean really understand, the
internet ? Do you know the driving forces behind the internet and
how to use them to your advantage ? Really understanding the
internet and what makes it work, especially from a functional
rather than a technical standpoint helps you to structure your
business to use the internet.
Some of the things which make a significant difference in web
functionality and web site usability are listed as follows:
• A practical and highly usable navigation system which allows
visitors to move easily around the web site in both a linear and
nonlinear fashion to find the information they are seeking
• Valuable information, tools and resources which are of interest
and easily available to a visitor. This is what makes a first time
visitor return over and over again
• Fresh content and regular updates which are clearly indicated
and easily available
• The ability to provide for meaningful feedback from and
interactivity with your visitors
• Provide full contact information so your visitors know who they
are dealing with and how to contact you. Provide a telephone
number, fax number, email address, and a postal address
• Always remember why you are creating a web site, especially
from your visitor's perspective, and continuously evaluate your
efforts in this light.
• Visitors will not wait. They want the information they are seeking
now, not later. Later frequently doesn't come because your
impatient visitors will leave if they have to wait for your site to download
• Use fast loading reasonably mature technology and always
consider how your visitors will react to it. If the download is slow,
if graphics are jarring or irritating or if it's clear that your web site
designer was taken with his gee whiz skill, you will lose your
visitors before your message sinks in.
• Most of your potential visitors don't have the cutting edge
technology many web designers find so exciting. We all have
found web sites like these where the designer has played with
every flashy trick in the latest magazines, creating extraordinarily
distraction and annoyance for your hard won visitors. Guess
what they say ? Who needs this ? Guess what they do ? They
leave. Guess where that leaves you ? Holding an empty bag.
• Visitors really don't care a great deal about you and what you are
trying to accomplish. It's an unfortunate but very fundamental
truth that you really need to accept and factor into your thinking.
What they really want to know is how you can help them and
what information you have to offer. Make sure that your web
site's focus is upon your visitors and their needs
• Your web site must be visually "friendly", it must convey the
information and look and feel you want it to without being busy
or distracting
• Remember that although some visitors to your web site will have
lightening fast connections to the internet, own fast computers,
21" monitors and all the bells and whistles associated with them,
most will not.
• Never forget that the web is interactive, instantaneous and
interlinked. Therein lies its power and its promise.
The Web
Finally, the foundation is in place and we can talk about the web.
Of course, there are more questions and lots of decisions to make.
However, after having thoroughly examined the more fundamental
issues and built our foundation, we're now in a good position to
answer the web oriented questions we have.
Once, again we have a hierarchy of issues we have to consider.
At the top of the list, as always, is planning. Then we have design,
execution, and fulfillment. If your web site is intended to sell
merchandise or services, you have the added facets of resolving
payments, packing and shipping.
You need to consider whether your presence will include your
own hosted web site or whether you will rely upon a store front on
someone else's web site or will be selling through auction.
If you are going to have your own web site, as we do, you will
have to resolve the following issues:
• Someone will have to build it, populate it with information and
merchandise and, especially, maintain it.
• You will need to find a source for appropriate information content
and have it prepared for posting on your web site.
• If you are going to accept credit cards to pay for merchandise
you will, in all likelihood, need a shopping cart program.
• Who will host your site ? There are hundreds of web hosting
companies. However only a relative few have the skill and the
muscle to do an effective job. You don't want a hosting company
that is too small, has minimally effective technical help available,
has too few and too limited connections to the web backbone and
cannot provide the resistance to hackers required.. Or, on the
other hand, your web host shouldn't be too large. If you are a
microblip on their radar screen what kind of service can you expect ?
• Where will your site be hosted ? Is the site secure ? Are daily
backups available ? Is there an alternative power source ? Is
the host site very near a major connection to an internet backbone ?
• Who will build and maintain your extraordinarily valuable mailing
list ? As critical as this aspect is, it requires very careful consideration.
• Who are your prospective customers and what do they want to see ?
• How are you going to present the information and merchandise
they want ?
• How are you going to prepare the photographs required for your
site ?
• Do you know what to do to make your web site as attractive to
your prospective customers as possible ?
• Do you know what not to do to minimize the opportunity for
offending and irritating your prospective customers ?
• The web is a very cold, very impersonal space. Who is going to
do the critical aspect of preparing the copy writing for your web
page ? This is a very specialized and important skill which few
have mastered. Great copy writing will pay tremendous
dividends; poorly written copy can sink your web site.
Your choices are to build your own web site or contract for space
on someone else's. Either one requires work, and a lot of it, to
make it worth doing. But, there is a lot more work and considerable
expense involved in having your own site. Forget about slapping
up a dorky static "hey, I'm here" web page. The day, mercifully, of
having such sites succeed is long gone.
Can having a well conceived and executed internet presence be
worth the hassle ? Sure, it can if you do it right and keep it up.
What it takes is:
• Great planning
• The availability of good merchandise
• A solid comprehension of the internet and its ins and outs
• Excellent photographs
• A very high level of service
• Quality dealers and consignors
• Good equipment
• Technosavvy employees
• Loads of great information for your site
• Quality supporting software
• A fast computer with a very large hard drive and plenty of memory
• A good measure of serendipity
Is it possible to do well financially with an internet presence ?
Yes it is. But don't underestimate the planning, work, commitment,
financial investment, savvy (both business and technical) required
to succeed.
by
David P. Cunningham, P.E.
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