I am an aspiring online business person. I want to start a company that
would facilitate existing small and highly reputable brick and mortar
businesses that sell goods that are affordably shipped in expanding
their businesses online. I would run the online business and share in a
percent of the sales.
An example of the types of businesses that I wish to target are high
quality boutiques that sell products such as herbal remedies or bath oil
/ soaps.
Here are my questions:
1. Can anyone refer me to some articles online, sites or books that I
can use as a check-list in evaluating the suitability of a product for
an online business. I recall reading in Business2.0 "way back" before
the bust of the criteria the folks who started Garden.com used in
evaluating online business ideas. Can anyone add to this?
2. I want to focus on what I do best (business development, planning and
managing) and outsource as much as possible. Can anyone help me in
establishing just what all the elements would be to establishing a basic
online ecommerce enabled, database driven (both in terms of tracking
sku's as well as for opt-in marketing purposes) web presence? What is
the range of costs in each area that I need to consider?
3. Is anyone familiar with the different online Marketing suites that
are available (saw that Microsoft offers one for $250 US per year).
These suites typically handle search engine optimization, email /
newsletter marketing and banner ads placement / conversion tracking. Any
recommendations?
4. Is anyone here actually doing this successfully and have any advice
from the trenches?
All feedback is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Richard Bender
rbender_at_telus.net
Received on Tue Oct 01 2002 - 12:54:40 CDT
