http://hbr.org/product/citibank-s-e-business-strategy-for-global-corporat/an/HKU797-PDF-ENG?Ntt=global%2520challanges

There are many types of encryption and not all of it is reliable. The same computer power that yeilds strong encryption can be used to break weak encryption schemes. Initially, 64-bit encryption was thought to be quite strong, but today 128-bit encryption is the standard, and this will undoubtedly change again in the future.Though browsers automatically encrypt information when connected to a secure website, many people choose to use encryption in their email correspondence as well. This can easily be accomplished with encryption programs that feature plug-ins or interfaces for popular email clients. The most longstanding of these is called PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a humble name for very strong military-grade encryption program. PGP allows one to not only encrypt email messages, but personal files and folders as well.

Encryption can also be applied to an entire volume or drive. To use the drive, it is “mounted” using a special decryption key. In this state the drive can be used and read normally. When finished, the drive is dismounted and returns to an encrypted state, unreadable by interlopers, Trojan horses, spyware or snoops. Some people choose to keep financial programs or other sensitive data on encrypted drives.

Encryption schemes are categorized as being symmetric or asymmetric. Symmetric key algorithms such as Blowfish, AES and DES, work with a single, prearranged key that is shared between sender and receiver. This key both encrypts and decrypts text. In asymmetric encryption schemes, such as RSA and Diffie-Hellman, the scheme creates a “key pair” for the user: a public key and a private key. The public key can be published online for senders to use to encrypt text that will be sent to the owner of the public key. Once encrypted, the cyphertext cannot be decrypted except by the one who holds the private key of that key pair. This algorithm is based around the two keys working in conjunction with each other. Asymmetric encryption is considered one step more secure than symmetric encryption, because the decryption key can be kept private.

Strong encryption makes data private, but not necessarily secure. To be secure, the recipient of the data — often a server — must be positively identified as being the approved party. This is usually accomplished online using digital signatures or certificates.As more people realize the open nature of the Internet, email and instant messaging, encryption will undoubtedly become more popular. Without encryption, information passed on the Internet is not only available for virtually anyone to snag and read, but is often stored for years on servers that can change hands or become compromised in any number of ways. For all of these reasons encryption is a goal worth pursuing.

[1] CRM denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs.

[2] It is important to emphasize that CRM is a specialty within marketing, and to implement CRM in a company, you can use tools as CRM systems, mailers, databases etc. CRM is commonly misunderstood, thinking it is an IT system.

A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.

Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly online to the seller’s computer usually via the internet. There is no intermediary service. The sale and purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time such as Amazon.com for new books. If an intermediary is present, then the sale and purchase transaction is called electronic commerce such as eBay.com.

Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.

1. www.2checkout.com
2. www.plimus.com

A credit card terminal is a stand-alone piece of electronic equipment that allows a merchant to swipe or key-enter a credit card’s information as well as additional information required to process a credit card transaction. A credit card terminal is a dedicated piece of equipment that only processes credit cards although it is common for related transactions including gift cards and check verification to also be performed. A credit card terminal typically must be plugged in to a power supply and connected to a telephone line. However, some terminals may be powered by batteries and communicate over the Internet or through a cellular phone data network. When a credit card is processed (either swiped through the magnetic stripe reader or keyed-in to the keypad), it contacts the network to verify if the credit card can be authorized. The transaction is then stored on the machine until the polling window is opened. The machine will either upload the electronic funds directly to the merchant bank, or a polling service provider will dial in to collect process then submit the data to the merchant bank. The most popular credit card terminals consist of a modem, keypad, printer, magnetic stripe reader, power supply and memory card. They have had the same basic design since the 1980s. As with computers, there is a wide range of memory capacities and other features like built-in printers and debit card pin pads that affect the manufacturing cost of a credit card terminal.
Automated Response Unit (ARU)
An ARU (also known as a voice authorization, capture and deposit) allows the manual keyed entry and subsequent authorization of a credit card over a cellular or land-line telephone. With this method a merchant typically imprints their customer’s card with an imprinter to create a customer receipt and merchant copy,then process the transaction instantaneously over the phone.
Payment gateway
A payment gateway is an e-commerce service that authorizes payments for e-businesses and online retailers. It is the equivalent of a physical POS (point-of-sale) terminal located in most retail outlets. A merchant account provider is typically a separate company from the payment gateway. Some merchant account providers have their own payment gateways but the majority of companies use 3rd party payment gateways. The gateway usually has 2 components: a) the virtual terminal that can allow for a merchant to securely login and key in credit card numbers or b) have the website’s shopping-cart connect to the gateway via an API to allow for real time processing from the merchant’s website.
Level 2 or Level 3 Processing – Purchasing Cards
Visa and MasterCard have created a specialized type of credit card used primarily by government agencies and businesses. Increasingly, corporations and government agencies are relying on this form of payment to compensate their service providers and suppliers. Businesses benefit by receiving their funds quickly and by winning competitive bids and government contracts where purchasing cards are the required form of payment. The downside, however, is the increased costs associated with receiving these payments. These costs will usually be much higher than accepting a standard consumer credit card.
The solution is that some businesses may qualify for ways to process these transactions that allow them to pay lower fees if they can supply additional information, called “level 2 or level 3 data”. For example, if government transactions are over $5,000, businesses can significantly reduce their transaction costs by including “level 2 or level 3 data” about the purchase along with each transaction. Examples of level 2 or level 3 data is a purchase order number associated with the transaction that the credit card will be paying. This data is passed on to the purchaser so that it may be many times easier to reconcile the transaction. If all the required data is not collected and passed on during the transaction, the merchant can have surcharges added to the basic fees or be forced into a non qualified transaction category.
Merchant Account Marketing
Merchant accounts are marketed to merchants by two basic methods: either directly by the processor or sponsoring bank, or by an authorized agent for the bank and additionally directly registered with both Visa and MasterCard as an ISO/MSP (Independent Selling Organization / Member Service Provider). Marketing details are by card issuers like Visa and MasterCard, and are enforced by various rules and fines. A few of the largest processors also partner with warehouse clubs to promote merchant accounts to their business members, such as NovaMerchantFunding.
Marketing by Banks
A bank that has a merchant processing relationship with Visa and MasterCard, also known as a member bank, can issue merchant accounts directly to merchants. To reduce risk, some banks limit approval to merchants in its geographical area, those with a physical retail storefront, or those that have been in business for 2 years or more.
Marketing by Independent Sales Organization (ISO)/MSPs
To market merchant accounts, an ISO/MSP must be sponsored by a member bank. This sponsorship requires that the bank verify the financial stability and suitability of the company that will be marketing on its behalf. The ISO/MSP must also pay a fee to be registered with Visa and MasterCard and must comply with regulations in how they may market merchant accounts and the use of copyrights of Visa and MasterCard. One way to verify if an ISO/MSP is in compliance is to check a website or any other marketing material for a disclosure “company is a registered ISO/MSP of bank, town, state. FDIC insured”. This disclosure is required by both Visa and MasterCard and will cause a fine of up to $25,000 if it is not clearly visible. In almost all cases, if there is no disclosure, the company is likely to be an uninformed 4th party or worse. In many cases unregistered operators have been responsible for some of the worst horror stories from merchants.
Rates and fees
A Merchant Account has a variety of fees, some periodic, others charged on a per-item or percentage basis. Some fees are set by the merchant account provider, but the majority of the per-item and percentage fees are passed through the merchant account provider to the credit card issuing bank according to a schedule of rates called interchange fees, which are set by Visa and MasterCard. Interchange fees vary depending on card type and the circumstances of the transaction. For example, if a transaction is made by swiping a card through a credit card terminal it will be in a different category than if it were keyed in manually.
Discount Rates
The discount rate comprises a number of dues, fees, assessments, network charges and mark-ups merchants are required to pay for accepting credit and debit cards, the largest of which by far is the Interchange fee. Each bank or ISO/MLS has real costs in addition to the wholesale interchange fees, and creates profit by adding a mark-up to all the fees mentioned above. There are a number of price models banks and ISOs/MLSs use to bill merchants for the services rendered. Here are the more popular price models:
3-Tier Pricing
The 3-Tier Pricing is the most popular pricing method and the simplest system for most merchants, although the new 6-Tier Pricing is gaining in popularity. In 3-Tier Pricing, the merchant account provider groups the transactions into 3 groups (tiers) and assigns a rate to each tier based on a criterion established for each tier.
First Tier – Qualified Rate
A qualified rate is the percentage rate a merchant will be charged whenever they accept a regular consumer credit card and process it in a manner defined as “standard” by their merchant account provider using an approved credit card processing solution. This is usually the lowest rate a merchant will incur when accepting a credit card. The qualified rate is also the rate commonly quoted to a merchant when they inquire about pricing. The qualified rate is created based on the way a merchant will be accepting a majority of their credit cards. For example, for an internet merchant, the internet interchange categories will be defined as Qualified, while for a physical retailer only transactions swiped through or read by their terminal in an ordinary manner will be defined as Qualified.
Second Tier – Mid-qualified Rate
Also known as a partially qualified rate, the mid-qualified rate is the percentage rate a merchant will be charged whenever they accept a credit card that does not qualify for the lowest rate (the qualified rate). This may happen for several reasons such as:
A consumer credit card is keyed into a credit card terminal instead of being swiped
A special kind of credit card is used like a rewards card or business card
A mid-qualified rate is higher than a qualified rate. Some of the transactions that are usually grouped into the Mid-Qualified Tier can cost the provider more in interchange costs, so the merchant account providers do make a markup on these rates.
The use of “rewards cards” can be as high as 40% of transactions. So it is important that the financial impact of this fee be understood. So therefore, merchants will be charged the qualified plus the mid qualified rate. Example) If your qualified rate is 1.5% and the mid qualified rate is 1 %, your effective rate would be 2.5 %.
Third Tier – Non-qualified Rate
The non-qualified rate is usually the highest percentage rate a merchant will be charged whenever they accept a credit card. In most cases all transactions that are not qualified or mid-qualified will fall to this rate. This may happen for several reasons such as:
A consumer credit card is keyed into a credit card terminal instead of being swiped and address verification is not performed
A special kind of credit card is used like a business card and all required fields are not entered
A merchant does not settle their daily batch within the allotted time frame, usually past 48 hours from time of authorization.
A non-qualified rate can be significantly higher than a qualified rate and can cost the provider much more in interchange costs, so the merchant account providers do make a markup on these rates.
6-Tier Pricing
As a result of the Wal-Mart Settlement and to compete against PIN-based debit cards (which are processed outside of the Visa and MasterCard networks), Visa and MasterCard lowered the interchange rates for debit cards well below those for credit cards. Some providers can pass on the lower cost of these cards directly to merchants. Consequently, the 3 tiers programs have added 2 classifications for debit cards that are processed without a PIN or with a PIN for a total of 6 rate classifications.
Interchange Plus Pricing
Some providers offer merchant account services priced on an “interchange plus” basis. These accounts are based on the “interchange” tables published by both Visa Visa Interchange and MasterCard MasterCard Interchange. This type of pricing creates a discount rate by adding interchange rates, fees, assessments, markups and other costs.
Bill Backs
A bill back is a relatively new price model and a variation on interchange plus pricing. It has some variations but the basic concept is that the merchant pays interchange on the statement that the transactions took place and then pay all other fees, like dues, fees and assessments, etc on the next month’s statement. It requires a great deal of time to research the actual cost per transaction with the bill back system. Some merchants feel this form of pricing is very misleading. [who?]
Other Fees
Authorization fee
The Authorization fee (actually an authorization request fee) is charged each time a transaction is sent to the card-issuing bank to be authorized. The fee applies whether or not the request is approved. Note this is not the same as Transaction fee or Per Item fee.
Statement fee
The statement fee is a monthly fee associated with the monthly statement that is sent to the merchant at the end of each monthly processing cycle. This statement shows how much processing was done by the merchant during the month and what fees were incurred as a result.
Many times, the statement fee is not directly linked to “paper” statements but rather general overhead. This means that a provider would not waive this fee if a merchant chose to have a “paperless” statement.
Monthly minimum fee
The monthly minimum fee is a way to ensure that merchants pay a minimum amount in fees each month to cover costs from the provider to maintain the account and to create minimal profits. If a merchant’s qualified fees do not equal or exceed the monthly minimum they will be charged up to the monthly minimum to satisfy their minimum fee requirements.
Example: A merchant has signed a contract with a $25.00 monthly minimum fee. If all the fees for the most recent month of processing total only $15.00, this merchant will be charged an additional $10.00 to meet their monthly minimum requirements. Sometimes there are fees that are charged that are not a part of the monthly minimum, such as statement fees. It is industry standard to charge a monthly minimum.
Batch fee
A batch fee (also known as a batch header fee) can be charged to a merchant whenever the merchant “settles” their terminal. Settling a terminal, also known as “batching”, is when a merchant sends their completed transactions for the day to their acquiring bank for payment. Some providers perform this automatically. It is important to close a batch every 24 hours or a higher rate will be assessed by Visa or MasterCard.
Customer Service fee
The customer service fee (also known as a maintenance fee) can be charged by some providers to pay for the cost of customer service.
Annual fee
The Annual fee can be charged by some providers to pay for costs of maintaining the merchant’s account. Sometimes these fees can be quarterly. The fee can be from $79–$399.
Early Termination fee
The early termination fee can be charged by some providers if the merchant ends the contract before the end of the contract term. While contract terms of 1–3 years are typical, some providers have terms of up to 5 years with a one year prior notice to cancel or the fee will be assessed. Some providers also assess all statement fees and monthly minimums remaining when the contract is terminated. Some providers may also assess a “lost profit” fee based on an assumption of profits they concluded they would have earned during the full term of the contract.
Chargeback fee
The chargeback is the largest risk that is presented to banks and providers. This is not to be confused with a refund, which is simply a merchant refunding a transaction. In the Visa and Mastercard rules, the merchant’s processing bank is 100% responsible for all the transactions that the merchant performs. This can leave the provider open to millions of dollars of potential losses if the merchant operates in an illegal or risky manner and generates many chargebacks. The providers pass this cost on to the merchant, but if the merchant is fraudulent or simply does not have the money, the provider must pay all the costs to make the card holder whole. The chargeback risk is the largest part taken into consideration during the contract application and underwriting process. Some banks are much more stringent than others when assessing a merchant’s chargeback risk.
If a merchant encounters a chargeback they may be assessed a fee by their acquiring bank. A potential chargeback is presented on behalf of the card holder’s bank to the merchant’s credit card processing bank. A reason code is established by the card issuer to properly identify the type of potential chargeback based on the card holder’s complaint. The most common complaint is that the card holder can not remember the transaction. Usually, these potential chargebacks are corrected when the merchant’s processing bank sends over more details about the transaction. Some providers charge a fee for this service, known as a “Retrieval Request”. A chargeback can also be related to a fraud or similar dispute that the card holder is claiming to the merchant. This fee can be charged by some providers whether the chargeback is successful or not and is not dependent on the amount of the chargeback.
Currently both Visa and Mastercard require all merchants to maintain no more than 1% of dollar volume processed to be chargebacks. If the percentage goes above, there are fines starting at $5000 – $25,000 to the merchant’s processing bank and ultimately passed on to the merchant.
In all cases, a chargeback will cost the merchant the chargeback fee, typically $15–$30, plus the cost of the transaction and the amount processed.

There are several benchmarking indices at the macro (also called global, universal, etc) level, e.g., those calculated by the UNPAN, World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit etc.

Because what appear on the macro level can hide wide heterogeneity among organizations (educational institutions, government departments, etc.) local areas (cities, towns, etc.) individuals (female, individuals with disabilities, etc.) in digital access, a micro level more detailed benchmarking is suggested to compute sub-measures for networking, applications, web-accessibility and readiness (NAWAR).

E-Readiness indices at the macro level are constructed primarily for ranking countries, facilitating comparisons between countries and over time. They can also be used to track the global digital divide, i.e. the gap between countries that have access to ICT and those that do not (mainly because of differences in income, education, etc.).

NAWAR is constructed primarily to measure how ICT is actually put to work for development. For example, NAWAR is concerned with the gap between humans with respect to natural / assistive access to ICT in e-business environments, i.e., whether organizations have assistive systems (e.g. Braille keyboards and printers, one-handed keyboards, annotated websites for screen reading software, etc.) and whether organizational cultures adopt green computing. More importantly, because NAWAR is concerned with how ICT is actually put to work for development, attention is given to change in the level of activity, i.e. the move from e-readiness to impact in e-business environments.

Each year, in cooperation with the IBM Institute for Business Value, the Economist Intelligence Unit produces a ranking of e-readiness across countries, based on six pillars of e-readiness: connectivity & technology infrastructure, business environment, social & cultural environment, legal environment, government policy & vision and consumer & business adoption.

In the 2008 e-readiness rankings, global e-readiness improved for the fourth year in a row, from 6.2 in 2007 to 6.4 in 2008 (out of 10). With Denmark falling from 1st to 5th place, the USA now ranks 1st, Hong Kong 2nd, Sweden 3rd and Australia 4th. The number of countries and territories included in the EIU e-readiness rankings has increased from 68 in 2006 to 70 in 2008, with the inclusion of Malta (2007) and Trindad & Tobago (2008). ^{[1] [2]}

In the 2009 e-readiness rankings, global e-readiness fell partly due to fall in the global economy in the later part of 2008. In addition, the report started to cover ICT usage, which better reflected how countries are using ICT effectively. ^[3]

Rank 2009	2008	2007	2006	Country	e-readiness score (out of 10) 2009	2008	2007	2006
1	5	1	1	Denmark	8.87	8.83	8.88	9.00
2	3	2	4	Sweden	8.67	8.85	8.85	8.74
3	7	8	6	Netherlands	8.64	8.74	8.50	8.60
4	11	12	11	Norway	8.62	8.60	8.35	8.35
5	1	2	2	United States	8.60	8.95	8.85	8.88
6	4	9	8	Australia	8.45	8.83	8.46	8.50
7	6	6	13	Singapore	8.35	8.74	8.60	8.24
8	2	4	10	Hong Kong	8.33	8.91	8.72	8.36
9	12	13	9	Canada	8.33	8.49	8.30	8.37
10	13	10	7	Finland	8.30	8.42	8.43	8.55
11	16	14	14	New Zealand	8.21	8.28	8.19	8.19
12	9	5	3	Switzerland	8.15	8.67	8.61	8.81
13	8	7	5	United Kingdom	8.14	8.68	8.59	8.64
14	10	11	14	Austria	8.02	8.63	8.39	8.19
15	22	22	19	France	7.89	7.92	7.77	7.86
16	19	17	23	Taiwan	7.86	8.05	8.05	7.51
17	14	19	12	Germany	7.85	8.39	8.00	8.34
18	21	21	16	Ireland	7.84	8.03	7.86	8.09
19	15	16	18	South Korea	7.81	8.34	8.08	7.90
20	20	20	17	Belgium	7.71	8.04	7.90	7.99
21	17	15	20	Bermuda	7.71	8.22	8.15	7.81
22	18	18	21	Japan	7.69	8.08	8.01	7.77
23	23	24	-	Malta	7.46	7.78	7.56	-
24	28	28	27	Estonia	7.28	7.10	6.84	6.71
25	26	26	24	Spain	7.24	7.46	7.29	7.34
26	25	25	25	Italy	7.09	7.55	7.45	7.14
27	24	23	22	Israel	7.09	7.61	7.58	7.59
28	27	27	26	Portugal	6.86	7.38	7.14	7.07
29	29	29	28	Slovenia	6.63	6.93	6.66	6.43
30	32	30	31	Chile	6.49	6.57	6.47	6.19
31	31	31	32	Czech Republic	6.46	6.68	6.32	6.14
32	38	41	38	Lithuania	6.34	6.03	5.78	5.45
33	30	32	29	Greece	6.33	6.72	6.31	6.42
34	35	33	30	United Arab Emirates	6.12	6.09	6.22	6.32
35	33	34	32	Hungary	6.04	6.30	6.16	6.14
36	36	39	36	Slovakia	6.02	6.06	5.84	5.65
37	37	37	39	Latvia	5.97	6.03	5.88	5.30
38	34	36	37	Malaysia	5.87	6.16	5.97	5.60
39	41	40	34	Poland	5.80	5.83	5.80	5.76
40	40	38	39	Mexico	5.73	5.88	5.86	5.30
41	39	35	35	South Africa	5.68	5.95	6.10	5.74
42	42	43	41	Brazil	5.42	5.65	5.45	5.29
43	43	42	45	Turkey	5.34	5.64	5.61	4.77
44	49	46	43	Jamaica	5.33	5.17	5.05	4.67
45	44	44	42	Argentina	5.25	5.56	5.40	5.27
46	50	-	-	Trinidad and Tobago	5.14	5.07	-	-
47	48	48	44	Bulgaria	5.11	5.19	5.01	4.86
48	45	45	49	Romania	5.07	5.46	5.32	4.44
49	47	49	47	Thailand	5.00	5.22	4.91	4.63
50	53	52	54	Jordan	4.92	5.03	4.77	4.22
51	46	46	46	Saudi Arabia	4.88	5.23	5.05	5.03
52	58	53	51	Colombia	4.84	4.71	4.69	4.25
53	51	51	49	Peru	4.75	5.07	4.83	4.44
54	55	55	56	Philippines	4.58	4.90	4.66	4.41
55	52	50	48	Venezuela	4.40	5.06	4.89	4.47
56	56	56	57	China	4.33	4.85	4.43	4.02
57	57	58	55	Egypt	4.33	4.81	4.26	4.30
58	54	54	53	India	4.17	4.96	4.66	4.04
59	59	57	52	Russia	3.98	4.42	4.27	4.14
60	63	59	58	Ecuador	3.97	4.17	4.12	3.88
61	62	62	60	Nigeria	3.89	4.25	3.92	3.69
62	61	60	61	Ukraine	3.85	4.31	4.02	3.62
63	60	61	59	Sri Lanka	3.85	4.35	3.93	3.75
64	65	65	66	Vietnam	3.80	4.03	3.73	3.12
65	68	67	62	Indonesia	3.51	3.59	3.39	3.39
66	64	63	67	Pakistan	3.50	4.10	3.79	3.03
67	67	66	63	Algeria	3.46	3.61	3.63	3.32
68	70	69	65	Iran	3.43	3.18	3.08	3.15
69	66	64	64	Kazakhstan	3.31	3.89	3.78	3.22
70	69	68	68	Azerbaijan	2.97	3.29	3.26	2.92

Study shows ebusiness in Developing countries can bring great impact on micro and macro economics – read the report by UNDP http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-ecom.pdf

A decent website doesn’t need to cost the Earth; in fact, there are many packages out there that will help you put together a sophisticated site that doesn’t look cheap and amateurish. The following points outline the essential steps needed in order to get up and running online.

Register your domain

You can’t have a website without a web address. Don’t be swayed by offers of free web addresses though, as they may be difficult for customers to find easily, or may make your firm look less than professional.

Register your address with one of the domain registries offering your chosen domain in Ireland. The dot-com (.com) addresses are cheaper, but firms doing business in Ireland might want to consider registering a dot-ie domain name, as some customers may perceive them as more trustworthy. Dot-eu is also an option for Irish firms, especially if they plan on doing business throughout Europe.

Choose hosting

You can host the website yourself if you have your own server. However, most small businesses do not have access to a dedicated server. Thankfully there are plenty of firms willing to host your website, for a fee.

Choose your hosting provider carefully. Don’t be tempted to opt for the cheapest one; do your homework first. There is also the question of whether to stick with an Irish firm or look abroad. Although you may be tempted by the seemingly lower prices that foreign hosting firms offer, there may be hidden issues that you should consider. For example, what happens if the server goes down in the middle of the day here, but it’s outside office hours for your hosting firm? Is 24-hour support provided, or would you have to wait for tech support to come into the office for a response?

Plan your site

Regardless of whether you are going to design a website yourself or turn it over to the professionals, make sure you know exactly what you want to include on the site.

If you don’t nail down these details at an early stage, the chances are you will end up with an ever-expanding project.

You should also have a rough idea of what the pages are going to look like, deciding on colour schemes, logos, and whether you are going to have eCommerce functionality.

Design your site

If you have enough skills and design experience to create your own site, it can save you some expense.

There are plenty of web design packages available, from Microsoft’s FrontPage to more advanced programs such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, which provides a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) view – meaning you don’t have to deal with HTML programming language unless you really want to. The program you choose ultimately depends on your budget. Dreamweaver, for example, costs a few hundred euro.
There are three essential elements to a website:

• Clear navigation.
• Easy-to-read information.
• A definite focus for the site – will it be selling your products or providing a point of information for customers?

You should also keep the following points in mind when setting up your site:

• Keep it simple.
• Make sure the site works with all web browsers, not just Internet Explorer.
• Ensure your contact information is clearly visible on the site.

If you are collecting personal information from customers, you must have a privacy policy in place.

If you are not familiar with design, however, it is best left to the experts. A quick search on Google will reveal a number of web design firms located in Ireland. Check out their previous work before making any commitments; it also helps if they are familiar with your specific type of business.

eCommerce options

If you are selling online, you will need to accept credit card payments. There are two basic elements necessary for this: a payments gateway and an internet merchant account.

While this may seem like a lot of trouble to go to, there are a couple of companies that offer merchant banking services and payments gateways to firms selling online, without the hassle and expense of setting up a dedicated merchant account.

For example, PayPal’s Website Payments Standard combines the payments gateway with the internet merchant account. This will provide you with a secure server to accept payments, whether customers are paying by credit card or PayPal. WorldPay offers a similar service. You could also opt for a bricks-and-mortar financial institution to provide your internet merchant account.

Online presence

Regardless of your business type, you will likely benefit from having an online presence – a port of call where customers and potential clients can find out more information about your products or services. If your competitors are getting online, you must ask yourself if you can afford not to do so.