Re: Internet Marketing

From: Jim Novo <jimnovo_at_sprintmail.com>
Date: Tue 01 Oct 2002 20:11:47 -0500

Richard Bender said:

> 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?

High value to weight ratio: jewelry good, cement blocks bad.
Unique and difficult to find offline; or "needs search" e.g. books, CD's
Fits in a standard UPS shippable box.

> 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?

Prices change all the time, and offers abound. There are literally
hundreds of different shopping carts, payment gateways, and so on to choose
from. This is what I steer clients towards:

In the beginning, to prove it can work without blowing a lot of money:

* Your own URL and site, FrontPage store with bCentral / CardService
package - $100 up front, $40 a month + 2.5% sales - no built-in database,
enter it into a spreadsheet by hand - good up to about 20 boxes a day,
$300K sales a year.

If it really starts to roll, you absolutely have to decrease the amount of
time wasted with administration so you have enough time to pack boxes and
handle service. So you have to go with some automation:

* Your own URL and site, Miva Merchant store with VeriSign and Stone Edge
Order Manager: $1200 up front ($600 if your Miva is packaged with hosting)
$100 a month + 2.3% sales - complete order management, customer database
(Access) - good up to about 120 boxes a day / $2 million sales a year.

Full service newsletter hosting add $100 a year if you produce newsletter.

These packages represent the best tradeoffs between functionality / cost /
ease of use / flexibility I have seen. There are many other ways to do it.

> 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?

Run away. It's not that easy. Get professional help, or teach yourself
how. There are tons of newsletters / sites on these topics. You have to
understand how all of this comes together to really make it work. Products
turn into copy which turns into content which turns into SEO which turns
into PPC. It is all one big chain when it really is working well. If you
don't understand it, you won't be able to maximize it. The technology and
the marketing, intertwined.

> 4. Is anyone here actually doing this successfully and have any advice
> from the trenches?

There are an absolute ton of people doing it; I don't know about in here.

Advice? Reconsider outsourcing everything - there won't be any money left
for "business development, planning, and managing" if you outsource all the
work.

Jim Novo
http://www.jimnovo.com/retailing.htm





Received on Tue Oct 01 2002 - 20:11:47 CDT