Running an Effective e-Business

In order to run an effective e-Business there are several things that the business owner has to take care of.

1... Have a consistent business brand and maintain it online:
A brand is what differentiates your product, service or business from another.
A business's brand includes its colours, its reputation, its "feel" and all the other things that people connect to the business.
When you think of Coca-Cola, what comes to mind? These things are all a apart of Coca-Cola's brand.

Everything that is associated with your business should maintain the brand image.
This means the colours and fonts have to be the same on everything (business cards, letter head, websites and images).
If your company is luxurious then everything you produce (including tweets and facebook posts) should reflect this.



2... Keep the website design professional:
Neon green font with a pink background is a great colour scheme for a kid's program but it might not work if you want to sell power tools.
Flashing fonts and scrolling text are also probably not a good idea.
Before you create a website, go look at some of the best e-commerce websites such as e-bay or amazon.

As you look at these websites, ask yourself: Poorly designed sites are too busy, are distracting and are not a pleasure to visit.



3... Keep website navigation simple:
If a user has to click too many times to find what they want, or they can't get back to your main page, then you could potentially lose customers.
A lot of the big e-commerce sites make sure that the process of purchasing the goods is as streamlined as possible.
If poeople have to click too many times then they will often get fed up and leave the site.
This is not good for business.

4... Everything needs to be up-to-date:
There is nothing worse than a website that hasn't been updated for months.
If your business moves or the phone number changes it is very important to make these changes online.
Sales and new products shoul be advertised, but once the sale is over or the new product is no longer the "newest thing", your site should reflect this.



Further questions...
1. Consider the following companies, what are some aspects of each of their brands: