Web Gems

Actual Sales of Products – Amazon, etc…

Promotion/Advertising - Customers can be effectively targeted

in many situations because of they have sought out the site

Customer Service – Manuals, returns, software updates

Market Research - Data can be collected cheaply on the Net. 

However, the response rates are likely to be very

unrepresentative and recent research shows that it is very

difficult to get consumers to read instructions.

Value to Bulk ratio – small, valuable products are better

Margins – allow you to spend more money on processing

Extent of customization – allow user to do online

Willingness of customers to pay for convenience

Geographic dispersal of customers

Lots of competition

How to get people to your site

Site security/reliability

Compatibility – browsers/software, etc…

Speed vs. Aesthetics

Abandoned carts – too many banners/links

Information collection

Viral Marketing - product usually must be interesting and unique

Online Ads – sponsored sites Traditional Ads – magazines, t.v., radio Online promotion – discounts or gifts to new

customers (eMusic) SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Organic – shows up naturally in Google,

Yahoo, etc…

PPC – Pay Per Click

Number and quality of links to the site Relevant keywords.  Note that the ranking

algorithm tests for “spam.”  Reckless repeating keywords may actually count against  the rating of the site.

The “click-through” share of the site.  Make it relevant!