Why Experienced Businesses Often Fail Online and How To Win!, Other : iPedia

This series of articles takes a different slant than the usual targeting of aspiring entrepreneurs. Here we focus on existing

In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.

The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.
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The Internet (also known simply as the Net) can be briefly understood as "a network of networks". Specifically, it is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and governmental networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
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There are countless of experienced business persons knowledgeable in brick and mortar offline business operation, but don’t really have a clue as to what the Internet can really do for their business or how to do it. Yet, they see its overwhelming impact on business worldwide and realize they had better embrace this new technology or risk falling behind the competition. This article series is dedicated to YOU! Even if you are a beginner, the practical

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association, is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders".[1]

Another definition, perhaps simpler and more universal, is this: "Marketing is the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow...or conform to someone else's products, services or values. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing.
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Yesterday, I had a call from Frank M. in St Petersburg, FL. He is a very intelligent person that built a strong website around a niche product. The presentation is professional and he’s been at it for several years with unsatisfactory results. He’s paid good money after bad for “consultants” that have made grandiose promises of Internet marketing magic, claiming they have the best Opt-in mailing lists, miraculous

Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.

Many people speak about the Information Age as the advent of the Knowledge Age [citation needed] or knowledge society, the information society, and information technologies, and even though information science and computer
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Computer software (or simply software) is the programs and procedures that enable a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the system (hardware). This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a user to perform a task, and system software such as an operating system, which enables other software to run properly, by interfacing with hardware and with other software.
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The domain name system (DNS) is a system that stores and associates many types of information with domain names, but, most importantly, it translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses. It also lists mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain. In providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, DNS is an essential component of contemporary Internet use.
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Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American computer services company with its mission: "to be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses". It operates an Internet portal, the Yahoo! Directory and a host of other services including the popular Yahoo! Mail. It was founded by Stanford graduate students David Filo and Jerry Yang in January of 1994 and incorporated on March 2, 1995. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
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Are you experiencing similar disappointments, money and time wasters? You likely seek what Frank wants, real information, not blue sky dreams. If you’re successful running an offline business, you don’t see the world through rose colored glasses, but know it takes a polished business plan, you are forever refining, for ongoing success.

Welcome to the real world of the Internet. The same rules apply. There just isn’t any secret formula like many so called Guru’s would like you to believe. Like any business endeavor, you must research and learn the right information that works. We call this “insider secrets.” Not because it’s mysterious, but because successful people generally don’t reveal their secrets. All industries have their specialist that have “been there done that,” and are willing to write about it. We’re not referencing “get rich quick” formulas targeting rookies and wannabe millionaires.

We mean consultants that have a proven track record of doing it themselves and testimonials from others that have done it. The real problem here is anyone can create a website and have their friends give bogus testimonials. Most of their “how to formulas” don’t work. You’ve probably already learned that lesson. Frank did.

So what’s a person to do? What approach did you use to setup your existing offline business? You researched your industry, learned all you could about it, and finally implemented your business plan. And you’re still developing it, in some cases after many years. It must change as the times change. Again, welcome to the Internet.

Let me explain. Internet technology is changing faster than most of us can keep up with. That’s confusing. We purchase some software to provide a solution for a business need. Then a new way comes out that seems much better and we upgrade losing our investment in the older version, which we may not even had time to utilize. This happens because most individuals running brick and mortar businesses can’t seem to spend the time to focus on their Internet business. Sure it’s the same business just a new marketing tool. The reality here is it takes the work and knowledge of setting up a completely new business.

We get the point. We have explained some problems facing your Internet marketing endeavor. But what are the solutions, real practical answers. We will cover the following topics in this series. We’ll break each one down over the next several articles.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG and LSE: GGEA) is a U.S. public corporation, first incorporated as a privately held corporation in September, 1998, that designs and manages a popular Internet search engine. The company employs approximately 5,700 employees and is based in Mountain View, California. Eric Schmidt, former chief executive officer of Novell, was named Google's CEO when co-founder Larry Page stepped down.
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• Identifying important information that is true, timely, and works. Not the phony claims from individuals that supposedly “made it” but didn’t or those that had a tremendous behind the scenes advantage over competitors from the get-go. Sure, there are always the exceptions that project “If I can do it so can you.”

• Examples and case histories of others doing it and some insider information on how they are doing it.

• A plan that will take you step-by-step through the maze of software, tools, and activities necessary to make an online success of your business.

• What is different on the Internet opposed to my current marketing offline approach?

Advertising, generally speaking, is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion.
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The list is endless but we will focus on getting started, teaching you how to crawl (quickly), then to walk, and finally to run. Our goal here is to open your eyes to the real value of taking your business online, a true expose and road map on Internet success. Now let’s cut to the chase!

I suggest taking some time to get acclimated to the Internet before jumping in. Remember when you first started working with a

A search engine or search service is a program designed to help find information stored on a computer system such as the World Wide Web, inside a corporate or proprietary network or a personal computer. The search engine allows one to ask for content meeting specific criteria (typically those containing a given word or phrase) and retrieves a list of references that match those criteria. Search engines use regularly updated indexes to operate quickly and efficiently. Without further qualification, search engine usually refers to a Web search engine, which searches for information on the public
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Observe what seems to be working for similar businesses and meet other online entrepreneurs that “are doing it.” Visit business forums and read questions and answers by others. After a short time, you’ll know the real players that know what they are doing. They are active, helpful, and a wealth of information. People of this caliber often have books and courses they offer. The

A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions known as a program.

Computers are extremely versatile. In fact, they are universal information-processing machines. According to the Church–Turing thesis, a computer with a certain minimum threshold capability is in principle capable of performing the tasks of any other computer, from those of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer, as long as time and memory capacity are not considerations. Therefore, the same computer designs may be adapted for tasks ranging from processing company payrolls...
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Remember Frank M we referred earlier in this article? He paid upfront, like most of us have and received little or no value for his expense and effort. He didn’t know how to “test the waters” of his providers. Online it’s a different process to get to know your service providers. There ARE ways. I suggested to him to locate consultants and service providers that have strong track records of quality and fair pricing.

Some service providers require upfront deposits and others are solely performance based, meaning they deliver on their promises first and then get paid. Often the best approach for both parties, a win-win scenario, can be a reasonable deposit and draws based on progress. This way each party feels protected. This arrangement is workable when a client is dealing with a professional they are sure is honest and will deliver the quality and product in time as promised.

Here’s an example. Frank M. stated he needed a writer and designer for some brochures he will use on and offline. I referred him to an online service. This is one of the premier websites loaded with consultants and service people bidding for work contracts. It is free to clients for posting their project needs, attracting service providers through a bidding process. The winning consultant or service provider completes the assignment, whether it be for building a new website, article

Beauty is a value associated with an innate and emotional perception of life's affirmative and meaningful aspects within objects in the perceived world —ie. vitality, fertility, health, happiness, goodness, and love. Cognition of "beauty" involves the interpretation of objects as being in balance and harmony with nature, which in turn elicits a sense and experience of attraction, affection, and pleasure.
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There are three strongly appealing benefits of this program to the client, or buyer of services. They have a source for advertising their project needs, at no cost, to consultants. Secondly, the consultants post a profile so the client can learn more about them, and like eBay, upon project completion, feedback by the client is given so new potential clients can determine if they want to accept the providers bid.

At this online site, you describe what you want to get, and let the experts figure out how to do it. You don’t need to know every detail about what you want, but the more detail you provide the better. Skilled professionals review your needs and send you proposals - usually within 24 hours. You can even see the earnings of each consultant. Prices are more competitive than any other service I’ve found.

There are ads for Internet services all over the Net, but only a few provide the safeguard assuring you of the best quality services, at the best prices, and even additional protection through payment controls. It’s a great service.

Use forums, and other similar sites you’ll discover through researching search engines to find verifiable talent. EBay set the format and standards successfully being utilized by other industries. Use them! The RIGHT forums open doors for you to meet other like minded businesspersons. They permit you to witness their service and advice to others. In a short time you’ll know if what they say works and if you should buy their book, course or follow their recommendations.

Performance based means the service provider shows you some upfront value before you shell out your hard earned cash. You can experience some perceivable benefit positioning you in your comfort zone before contracting with them.

Next week in Part 2 we’ll cover “Can my product or service have a chance for success on the Internet?

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