Several generations have grown up in the “era of PCs,” dating back to the 1970s. Even the great inventions of the early 1980s are, in fact, already obsolete, from VCRs to cell phones the size of a brick. These new generations see PCs as part of everyday life and are completely comfortable with highly advanced video games, smartphones, netbooks, WiFi, satellite radio and, above all, the Internet. Constant virtual connection to everything you need is now a way of life.
It’s almost magical, that word “internet”, and it certainly was the center of many fantasies in the late 1990s. At that time, you could raise a multi-million dollar seed fund by adding a “dot-com” suffix to the end. of anything (Sports.com, Poker.com, Ideas.com, whatever) and remembering the “old” Bankers and entrepreneurs invented that the World Wide Web had a new kind of economy. “Profits weren’t the most important, apparently, and they were simply supposed to appear as a result of being trendy, slick, cool, and relevant.
Reality strikes
The 2000-2001 “dot-com crash” put fantasy to lie, of course, because fashion, cunning, coldness, and relevance don’t keep doors open and bread on the table. Profits do. Yet even with that large and well-documented bursting of the tech stocks bubble, the Internet and the companies that operate there have some standing. This article, then, covers what every small business should know about the offline problems of an online business, in case you are thinking of starting a web business or putting your current business online.
Of course, you are encouraged to study the various things to be mentioned further, as a thousand words can only cover a limited territory. However, that’s enough space for you to connect well, hit the main points, and head in the right direction. You will discover that there is a lot of common sense (which is less and less common, of course), as well as some surprising comments. Do as much research as necessary to understand exactly what you and your business are getting into.
Business truisms
Remember now, this is not an advisory article on “how to start an online business”, but rather a collection of warning messages, such as “Hey, don’t forget this problem” or “Avoid this mistake”. You know you have to have a business plan, you are certainly aware of the technical challenges of building and running a website, and if you don’t have that plan and you don’t understand website building, put articles on those topics at the top. . off your reading list.
Perhaps the main offline problems of an online business involve marketing, although the reach of the internet is wide and people will often find your business online while online, through links, banners, referrals, search results. , etc. – there are many more people you can communicate with offline. Don’t neglect the traditional avenues of marketing, advertising and promotion, or you will be seriously undermined and greatly reduced in scope. In fact, some of your customers will be people who connect to the Internet only for certain activities, such as sending / receiving email and making specific purchases.
Capturing customers
Most of your online business customers will not be “cruisers” who just stumble upon your site, although there is a new online “marketing community” that is trying to find a way to make money, well, stumbling over it. World Wide Web. However, more often than not, customers will come to you directly, directly to your URL. This should clarify the type and scope of marketing you need to do.
Some business advisers question the notion that there are separate models for online and offline business. “The business is or it isn’t,” Andre Gofman writes on Vmarketing.biz, though he notes that the “implementation” of certain activities will certainly vary based on the location of the business. In addition to marketing efforts, some online entrepreneurs may neglect financial discipline, specifically in the area of vendors and vendor costs.
Trading, virtual and otherwise
Another important area that online business owners should focus on is vendor relationships. The best business relationships are personal ones, and the old saying, “People don’t do business with companies, they do business with other people,” is as true as ever in e-commerce. The offline problems in this case involve personal contact with vendors and suppliers, rather than relying on email, chat windows, or the phone.
Just because your business is online and “virtual” in some way doesn’t mean you or your vendors are any less real and human. And real human beings want to hold hands, look into each other’s eyes, and have “a feel” for each other. Since so much of our communication with others is non-verbal, it is really important to go out and meet your suppliers, clients, and clients face-to-face. There is nothing that can replace that “close and personal” touch.
The bottom line is the bottom line
Finally, while there are many more problems that you will run into in your ongoing research on the subject, there is the subject of financial reporting. The IRS doesn’t care where you do your business, they want their share, as do the sales tax authorities, licensing offices, etc. You may be used to a paperless, computerized business model, but tax agencies and bureaucracies live off paper, forms, ink, and envelopes. Regardless of how efficient your computerized records are, one of the major issues for online businesses is record keeping.
Sure, your Excel and Quicken and Peachtree ledger files are well stored on your office PC’s hard drive, but the IRS wants a hard copy of a few specifics. You will need to develop, process, and provide various other figures, reports, and lists for local, regional, state, and federal organizations of different types, depending on your line of business and a number of other factors. Business owners who spend too much time navigating “the parallel universe” may forget that there are some very important things to take care of right here in our four-dimensional lives (those are the three dimensions of space, plus time, that there are never any enough of). We recommend that you take care of the offline problems of your online business before they become real problems. Any number of mistakes can get you punished and prevent your next trip to cyberspace, and that would really be a problem, online and offline!