Internet Business

This is the place to find information and tools you need to run a Web business. If you're a suit, or just need to know a bit about the business side of things, we have information about tools and software for business, marketing, advertising and Web project management.

 In This Section

• Business Environment
• Business and Technology
• Internet Advertising
• Site Traffic Analysis
• Management and Recruitment
• Archive

 Related Sections

• Web Site Promotion and Search Engines
• Ecommerce

 Business Environment

• New Horizons for Domain Names
  In November of 2000 the ICANN Board of Directors approved seven new Top Level Domains for use on the Internet. They are: .biz, .info, .aero, .pro, .name, .coop, and .museum. Soon you'll be able to register them for real.
  
  
• Building a Simple Ecommerce Web Site
  You don't need to spend $millions to build an ecommerce Web site. There are viable do-it-yourself alternatives at hand. These are cost effective and require little technical expertise.
  
  
• Who Controls the Internet?
  If you've ever been asked this question, you'll know it's a difficult one to answer. The obvious reply is "nobody". Problem is - nobody believes you.
  
  
• Dotcom Bubble - "The Emperor Has No Clothes!"
  Expect valuations in ecommerce companies and other consumer business to go down even further. Somebody has noticed the Emperor is nude and the stock market and venture capitalists are no longer prepared to pay for his wardrobe.
  
  
• Which Web Sites Are Making Money?
  A year or so ago nobody worried too much about Web sites making money. But the atmosphere has changed. Stock markets have lost their unquestioning faith in the future profitability of dot coms. Which begs the question, which Web sites actually do make money?
  
  
• Domain Vacant
  Many of the best domain names belong to speculators. Problem is, most of these names are still standing idle, waiting for a sucker with deep pockets to come along.
  
  
• You Paid How Much For That Domain Name?
  The domain name Business.com was recently sold for a staggering $8 million. If you've got a domain name to sell, or you'd like to buy one, where on the Internet should you start looking, and how much will it be worth?
  
  
• Highly Targeted Marketing on the Web
  It used to be an amusing truism that "on the Internet nobody knows if you’re a dog." Nowadays a webmaster can figure out if you’re a dog, what your favorite brand of dog food is, and if you’ve ever been to obedience school.
  

 Business and Technology

• Web Site Trends
  We all know that Microsoft Internet Explorer is way ahead of Netscape Navigator, but which Web servers are most popular, and what design elements do top Web sites have in common?
  
  
• The Script/Component Model
  Edward Tanguay looks at computer languages and the amazing potential of the script/component model. Right now we've only scratched the surface. Personalised Web services based on the script/component model will be a big deal during the next decade.
  
  

• MP3 Will Give Streaming a Bloody Nose
  Big media companies hope that the free MP3 phenomenon will toddle off into a quiet corner somewhere and die, so they can make money out of streaming audio. No chance. Don't they know the Internet has changed the rules?

• Streaming's Gonna Kick MP3 Butt
  Everyone may think that MP3 downloads are the coolest thing since disco biscuits, but save your money - don't buy one of those waaay over-priced Rio MP3 players. MP3 will soon be dead anyway - replaced by streaming.

• Think Small, Think PDA
  PDAs, Personal Digital Assistants - led by the Palm Pilot - are hugely popular even without Net connections. Now they're getting wired, expect them to become ubiquitous.
  
  
• Online Applications
  A software application runs on a server, while the client machine connects to the server over the Internet. This server-based computing model, also called a hosted application, offers several advantages. ASPs are only part of the picture.
  
  
• A Billion Internet-Enabled Mobile Phones
  The WAP Forum predicts that as many as 525 million WAP enabled handsets will be sold in the United States and Europe by the year 2003. Internet mobiles are the boom technology of tomorrow.
  
  
• The Web Meets TV - It's Tabloid Time
  Television and the Web are two media on a collision course. Surely we'll soon see them both on the same screen. Or maybe not. How about the Web/TV combination follows its own separate path, becomes a new market, quite different to what's gone before?

 Internet Advertising

• Commercial Overkill
  Many sites are cramming more adverts on to their pages and heavily pushing their affiliate programs. The problem is that at some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in.
  
  
• Banner Advertising Statistics
  In the rush-rush atmosphere of the Web, even otherwise meticulous managers sometimes end up spending ad dollars blindly. Here's a guide to measuring the effectiveness of online campaigns.
  
  
• Banner ads do not suck!
  Since it began in 1994, Web banner advertising has been steadily growing at an amazing rate. The popular press has made it sound like the South Sea Bubble. Nonsense! Banner ads are a proven success story.
  
  
• Sell ads on my site?
  The question isn't whether you can, it's whether you should.
  
  
• Andy Grove is wrong. Interactive TV is not a dead end.
  
  
• Advertising on the Internet (Book Review)
  
  
• We'll Make Money Selling Ads On the Site!
  
  
• Banner Ads Aren't Worth It
  We do the math for you. It's not a good deal.
  
  
• Banner Ads Eat St. Louis!
  Laser-point personalisation is going to spawn a whole new advertising industry.
  
  
• Ad Management Software Shootout
  
  
• Evaluating Ad Management Software
  

 Site Traffic Analysis

• Getting Site User Feedback
  There are a number of methods and techniques to improve your knowledge of what users think about your site. Some are easy and inexpensive and some can take a large investment in time and money. Here is a review of four methods: unsolicited user feedback, surveys, online usage profiling, and focus group sessions.
  
  
• Traffic Analysis Software
  Bruce Morris explains how to analyze your Web site traffic, and compares the different software packages available.
  
  
• Analyzing Log Files
  Who's coming to your site? What are they doing there? Where are they coming from? What are the best analysis programs? What features do you need to look for?
  
  
• Analyzing Web Site Traffic - Find the information you need in your log files.
  Is anyone looking at your Web site? Do they like what they see? Do all your links work, or have some of the Web sites you linked to disappeared? The answers to all these questions (and more!) can be found in your log files.
  
  

 Discussion Groups

• Web Marketing Discussion Group
  A Web-based discussion forum. Questions and answers on search engines, online advertising, etc.
  
  
• Web Marketing Mailing List
  Email-based discussion list that discusses the same Web marketing topics as the Web-based group.

• A Good Web Development Team
  Web sites are more than just an addition to the corporate presence. A site can make or break a company's image. This is why a good Web development team is crucial to your business.
  
  
• Business Cases Versus Reality
  E-business through a Web site needs to be approached as if it were another bricks-and-mortar outlet. It needs to be justified on a sound business case. Why then are business cases moving further from commercial reality?
  
  
• Will the DotCom Implosion Ease the Skills Shortage?
  After more DotComs go belly up and those hundreds of Internet companies rumoured to be circling the drain start to gurgle, a whole bunch of only slightly tarnished development talent will come on the job market. Will it be enough?
  
  
• How Corporates Poison their Own Web Efforts
  Stiff corporate thinking has to change if big business wants to cash in on the entrepreneurial genius that lurks within their organisations. Otherwise their best people will leave to build competing, light-on-their-feet dotcom businesses.
  
  
• There is No Skills Shortage
  Sure it's tough hiring experienced Internet development and business talent. You think you have trouble recruiting? Try recruiting people to move to a place where the airport code is SUX.
  
  
• Setting up a Web Development Shop
  So you want to go into business as a Web developer? Here's a step-by-step guide to how to do it. The first step is to make an emergency appointment with the mental health professional of your choice.
  
  
• Today's Junk Software
  Web development software that simply does not work well causes huge problems for start-ups.
  
  
• What Internet Skills Shortage?
  There’s plenty of talent out there but most people don’t know how to hire Internet developers.
  
  
• Chaos is Not a Symptom of a Healthy Start-up
  Is chaos a necessary part of an Internet development effort or is it a symptom of poor management?
  
  
• How to Work with a Web Development Agency Without Killing Each Other
  
  
• The More Things Change...
  Managing change requests is a famously widespread problem in the Internet industry for several reasons.
  
  
• How to Write a Request for Proposal for a Web Project
  
  
• How to Hire the Best Web Developers
  
  
• The Coming (Even Worse) Shortage of Good Web People
  

 Archive 

• Q. Who’s running your project anyway?
  A. The accounting department? No way!
  Marketing people know marginally less about the technical aspects of software development than a hand-reared armadillo.
  
  
• Projects Always Late? Over Budget?
  
  
• Controlled Chaos Is the Key
  Establishing and managing a large commercial Web site is similar to running a daily newspaper. Seeming chaos in such newsroom environments is normal and perhaps even desirable. Actual chaos, on the other hand, demoralizes the troops and costs money.
  
  
• Managing Commercial Web Sites
  Here are a few items a smart Web manager should think about.
  
  
• Freelance or permanent staff?
  These days, there’s not much difference in the risk factor.
  
  
• Where has that bl**dy picture gone?
  This is all about losing your assets.
  Finding the pictures you want to use can be an absolute nightmare on any project. It can take two days or more to scour through all the CD-ROM and hard drive collections of images you have.
  
  
• Ad Management Software - Ad Juggler 3.1
  
  
• Log File Analysis Software - Hit List 3.0
  Hit List analyses your log files and uses the data to create a variety of reports.