“I can’t think of anything further from truth,” Ron Scott, a Riverside, California web designer, says. “Even if we develop an attractive, content rich web site, that is no guarantee that our client will generate enough sales, let alone traffic, to justify expense.

“There has to be a market for a company’s products and/or services in first place, and then it has to be properly promoted”, he went on to say.

This is why firm recommends their small business clients answer a number of questions directly related to development of a sound business plan before they open their checkbooks.

1. Have you adequately defined your market reach? Do you offer products and/or services that will be of interest to an international, national, regional, or local community? The larger your target audience, obviously greater your probability of success. Could you add one or more products or services that would broaden your reach?

2. What is global demand for your product and/or service? Do you have any idea how many internet inquiries are made about your product and/or service? For an answer to this question, Scott recommends visiting .the “Pay for Performance Search” page listed under heading “Products and Services” at Overture.com. Enter a keyword or keyword phrase you might use to find information about your product and/or service in search engine suggestion window at bottom of page. In addition to finding out how many inquiries were made previous month using that keyword or keyword phrase, you may find a dozen or more related terms and number of inquiries made about them as well. Add number inquiries and this will give you an idea just how much interest there is in your product and/or service.

If your reach is local or regional, be sure to incorporate names of cities in your search terms. Pay-for-performance programs sometimes do not allow local or regional advertisers to use generic terms because their services are irrelevant to a more global audience.

3. How many of these inquiries actually come from your target market? Let’s assume you do business in Los Angeles and your target market is Southern California. If 85% of all inquiries originate in United States and that 7.1% of those live in Southern California , then potential market in Southern California represents 7.1% of 85% (6.1%) of all inquiries using any given keyword or keyword combination.

To calculate proportion of inquiries in any market area, visit U. S. Census Bureau’s web site. There you will find population projections you can use to estimate number of inquiries that are likely to be emanating from within your market area.

4. What is your likely market share? Of those consumers actually making inquiries from your market area, how many are likely to visit your site, let alone make a purchase? Assuming that content of your web site is inviting enough to motivate visitors to either purchase your product/service or to at least make an inquiry, what percentage are actually going to become customers? A 1% return is reasonable expectation if you are in a competitive market and you have a competitively priced product and/or service. Obviously, more unique your product, more higher this percentage is likely to be..

Check 21 (The Check Clearing for 21st Century Act) is a new federal law which will go into effect October 28, 2004. The law mandates acceptance of a new negotiable instrument known in banking industry as, Image Replacement Document (IRD). An IRD is simply a substitute check. This allows a bank that exchanges images a legal means to produce a valid physical image of check as a replacement for actual check if an institution or an account holder requests a physical check.

This legislation enables banks and other financial institutions to streamline their check processing operations. Most checks processed today are electronically imaged. These images can be moved between banks without need for physical movement of paper checks, which reduces cost of transportation and other labor inherent in check processing. It also insures check movement in event of an emergency or disaster that halts transportation system, as events of 9/11 did.

It is important to note that there is no legal mandate for exchange of images, nor does it require a bank to accept images. Banks that do not have check imaging capabilities can still require a physical document.

But for institutions with check imaging, this will allow it to leverage their imaging systems by participating more in electronic exchanges

Electronic Cashletter Exchange (ECE) lets banks present digitized check images for clearing to each other or through participation in image exchanges. ECE has standards known as X9.37. If images are presented to a Federal Reserve Bank, it must be formatted to those standards. This in effect has made X9.37 de facto industry standard. Although banks and image exchanges can agree on different formats, X9.37 is likely to be most widely used format.

For business owners, Check 21 could open door to opportunities to save on costs associated with research fees that banks charge for check copies, allow control of their check images, and allow for better availability of funds, or even reduce check item charges.