Internet Marketing 101: The Basics You Need to Know
- By Dee Power
- Published 10/21/2010
- Tools and Resources
- Unrated
Online businesses take various forms and shapes from selling tangible products to digital e-books, setting up membership sites or offering advertising opportunities. The basics of an online business include online access through an Internet service provider, a web presence, method to collect money from customers and a way to interact and answer questions.
Website or Blog
Your company's web presence is through the establishment of a website or blog. A website is a collection of documents online at a specific universal resource locater address. The documents are viewable by browsers. The code of the documents are translated by the browser to appear as if it were an offline word processing document with several major exceptions. Videos and sound are possible to incorporate on a website, as well as special graphic effects. A website is static. Visitors do not interact with the site.
A blog is a website that has the capacity to interact with the visitor in that the visitor can post comments that will appear as part of the blog content. The name is derived from web log weblog and shortened to blog. A blog is updated on a much more frequent basis, sometimes daily, than a website.
Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is a program which allows the visitor to choose and accumulate products they want to purchase from the website. The shopping cart totals the order and adds shipping costs, and if applicable sales tax. A form appears when the visitor cl
icks on "checkout" that requires the customer to input their credit card information, and shipping address.
Merchant Account
A merchant account allows the merchant or website to accept credit cards. It's granted by a bank in conjunction with one or all of the major credit card companies. When the transaction is completed and approved the amount of the purchase is charged to the customer's account and credited to the merchant's bank account. The credit card may be charged manually by the merchant or automatically through a third party processor. The third party processing is nearly instantaneous.
Forums
Companies that offer products and services often have a specialized section of their website where customers and visitors can post questions and comments about the company, how a product is used or give advice to each other. Forums are sometimes called discussion boards or bulletin boards. Company representatives may or may not moderate the boards and answer questions or give advice themselves. A forum differs from a blog in that there are several different topics or threads going on at once. Participants have the ability to start a discussion as well.
Help Desk
Visitors and customers often have questions about a company's products. A online help desk gives them the opportunity to immediately ask those questions rather than waiting until business hours to call. Frequently asked questions can be answered by an autoresponder, a software program that sends a preformatted response to the questions. Other questions are answered by staff member's via email.
Website or Blog
Your company's web presence is through the establishment of a website or blog. A website is a collection of documents online at a specific universal resource locater address. The documents are viewable by browsers. The code of the documents are translated by the browser to appear as if it were an offline word processing document with several major exceptions. Videos and sound are possible to incorporate on a website, as well as special graphic effects. A website is static. Visitors do not interact with the site.
A blog is a website that has the capacity to interact with the visitor in that the visitor can post comments that will appear as part of the blog content. The name is derived from web log weblog and shortened to blog. A blog is updated on a much more frequent basis, sometimes daily, than a website.
Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is a program which allows the visitor to choose and accumulate products they want to purchase from the website. The shopping cart totals the order and adds shipping costs, and if applicable sales tax. A form appears when the visitor cl
Merchant Account
A merchant account allows the merchant or website to accept credit cards. It's granted by a bank in conjunction with one or all of the major credit card companies. When the transaction is completed and approved the amount of the purchase is charged to the customer's account and credited to the merchant's bank account. The credit card may be charged manually by the merchant or automatically through a third party processor. The third party processing is nearly instantaneous.
Forums
Companies that offer products and services often have a specialized section of their website where customers and visitors can post questions and comments about the company, how a product is used or give advice to each other. Forums are sometimes called discussion boards or bulletin boards. Company representatives may or may not moderate the boards and answer questions or give advice themselves. A forum differs from a blog in that there are several different topics or threads going on at once. Participants have the ability to start a discussion as well.
Help Desk
Visitors and customers often have questions about a company's products. A online help desk gives them the opportunity to immediately ask those questions rather than waiting until business hours to call. Frequently asked questions can be answered by an autoresponder, a software program that sends a preformatted response to the questions. Other questions are answered by staff member's via email.
Dee Power
Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. She loves to cook and make healthy dinner recipes Flu season is coming up. Find out about swine flu treatment
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