Taking Old, and Incorporating The New Be prepared to blend both new E-commerce ideas with old tried-and-true principles for a net result that will equal success. Don’t banish all of one theory for another, but rather mix what works. Affiliate programs with established marketing plans, advertising venues with email, etc. Be courageous, but wise.

>From Business to Community Create a place that others will talk about. It is nature of people to want to gather, so create a gathering place for people to share ideas, make deal, and communicate. The dynamics of Internet is in its community and E-bay saw value of this and became not just a community, but a society of it’s own.

Body Parts Are Not For Sale—Making Good with Bad Times While E-bay got press over body parts that were put on it’s site for sale, it wasn’t all bad. Yes, they obviously pulled these auctions from site once it came to their attention, but press it created did not hurt E-bay. In fact, it solidified them as THE online community of our time. The place to be, to go, to bookmark, and return. It drove more people to site. The lesson? Make good with bad times. Weather situation, but create an event.

Evolving Forward Remember above all that change is what creates a forward moving, successful business. Never stay stagnant. Be aware of consumer’s tastes, change of trends in behavior, and constantly evolve your plan.

E-bay was an idea. We all have them. The question is what will you do with next one that pops into your head? You know potential now, and if you doubt it, visit E-bay to become convinced.

If you don't know what needs doing to put your site on track, get some help. Look for forums or newsgroups into site performance. Swap your time in evaluating sites of others, for their's in examining yours.

If you can afford it, hire a professional. Learn what he or she knows that will help. Then go find another. No one individual has whole of this game in hand.

Learn The Rules

If you've been online for a time, you already know some rules. You may need to learn more. Use Verdana or Ariel on a white background, for either is much easier to read on a monitor than Times Roman. Limit main or bounding table widths to 600 pixels. Narrow cells/columns as required so that line lengths are a maximum of 65 characters. These are simple things. While many continue to debate them, it is wasted effort.

While breaking these rules may not turn away ten percent of your visitors as our hypothetical WalMart greeter did, why risk it? Why do anything that annoys a visitor, thus encouraging him or her to leave? While it's true you can not please everyone, it also makes sense to minimize site characteristics that may annoy.

About Branding

Of continuing debates about doing business on Web, one I ignore completely is notion of branding.

"..., quicker picker upper." This is branding. Chances are you connect this immediately to Bounty paper towels. You may even remember one of actresses featured in TV commercials.

If I were standing before a shelf of paper towels, all things being equal, I'd probably reach for Bounty. But when I think of megabucks expended in boosting this name, it's difficult to believe manufacturer has recovered costs. There's not much profit margin in paper towels.

Forget It

On Web, branding is often associated with splash or entry pages, those artsy slow-loading presentations within which you must find a link to main site.

This won't work for a small business. You have no chance of obtaining brand name recognition without a major corporate presence and an awesome dollar commitment. So forget branding. And forget those splash pages.

Are You Turning Away N% Of Your Visitors?

The validity of many rules can be difficult to demonstrate. This is a no-brainer. Check hits on your splash page and compare count to that of page it links to.

Now tell me you are confident you can succeed in business turning away over ten percent of your potential customers. WalMart couldn't make it happen. And neither can you.