Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Another model for setting up a Web site is the use of a
storefront broker
, which serves
as an intermediary between your Web site and online merchants who have the actual products
and retail expertise. The storefront broker deals with the details of the transactions, including
who gets paid for what, and is responsible for bringing together merchants and reseller sites.
The storefront broker is similar to a distributor in standard retail operations, but in this case
no product moves—only electronic data flows back and forth. Products are ordered by a
customer at your site, orders are processed through a user interface provided by the storefront
broker, and the product is shipped by the merchant.
storefront broker
A company that acts as an
intermediary between your Web site
and online merchants who have the
products and retail expertise.
Building Traffic to Your Web Site
The Internet includes hundreds of thousands of e-commerce Web sites. With all those
potential competitors, a company must take strong measures to ensure that the customers it
wants to attract can find its Web site. The first step is to obtain and register a domain name,
and your domain name should say something about your business. For instance, stuff4u
might seem to be a good catchall, but it doesn't describe the nature of the business—it could
be anything. If you want to sell soccer uniforms and equipment, then you'd try to get a
domain
name
such
as
or
www.stuff4soccercoaches.com
.
The more specific the Web address, the better.
The next step to attracting customers is to make your site search-engine friendly by
improving its rankings. Following are several ideas on how to do this.
•
Include a meta tag in your store's home page. A
meta tag
is a special HTML tag, not
visible on the displayed Web page, that contains keywords representing your site's
content, which search engines to use to build indexes pointing to your Web site. Again,
selecting keywords is critical to attracting customers, so they should be chosen carefully.
•
Use Web site traffic data analysis software to turn the data captured in the Web log file
into useful information. This data can tell you the URLs from which your site is being
accessed, the search engines and keywords that find your site, and other useful
information. Using this data can help you identify search engines to which you need to
market your Web site, allowing you to submit your Web pages to them for inclusion in
the search engine's index.
•
Provide quality, keyword-rich content. Be careful not to use too many keywords as this
can get you banned from the search engines. Judiciously place keywords throughout your
site ensuring that the Web content is sensible and easy to read by humans as well as search
engines.
•
Add new content to the Web site on a regular basis. Again, this makes the site attractive
to humans as well as search engines.
•
Acquire links to your site from other reputable Web sites that are popular and actually
related to your Web site. Avoid the use of low-quality links as they can actually hurt your
Web site's rating.
The use of the Internet is growing rapidly in markets throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin
America. Obviously, companies that want to succeed on the Web cannot ignore this global
shift. Companies must be aware that consumers outside the United States will access sites
with different devices and modify their site design accordingly. In Europe, for example,
closed-system iDTVs (integrated digital televisions) are becoming popular for accessing
online content, with some 80 million European households now using them. Because such
devices have better resolution and more screen space than the PC monitors that U.S. con-
sumers use to access the Internet, iDTV users expect more ambitious graphics. Successful
global firms operate with a portfolio of sites designed for each market, with shared sourcing
and infrastructure to support the network of stores, and with local marketing and business
development teams to take advantage of local opportunities. Service providers continue to
emerge to solve the cross-border logistics, payments, and customer service needs of these
global retailers.
meta tag
A special HTML tag, not visible on
the displayed Web page, that
contains keywords representing
your site's content, which search
engines to use to build indexes
pointing to your Web site.
