Making the decision to change from traditional business methods to ebusiness is a big step, but one that can lead to tremendous business growth if handled properly. While many of your business processes and operations may remain the same, there are certain things you will need to consider if your business is to make a successful transition. Many companies find the shift from the high overhead costs of running a traditional business to the much lower expenses involved in running an ebusiness to be reason enough to make the change.

Operating Procedures

The first step in changing from one type of system to another is to document all of the company’s operations, in detail. Base your ebusiness procedures on your current methods, adapting them wherever necessary to fit the new way of doing things. Plan out each step in the process, starting with how you will receive orders, fill them and ship the completed orders to your customers. Don’t forget to build in customer service and procedures for returns and refunds. Much of ebusiness can be automated, so you often need fewer people to handle the same number of orders as before, though you may want to include plans for handling expanding quantities of orders, since an ebusiness is open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Website

When transitioning a conventional business to an ebusiness, your website becomes the face of your company in the minds of your customers. Just as you wouldn’t want to be located in a dirty, shabby store, your ebusiness should operate from an attractive, easy-to-navigate and highly functional website. The pages should load quickly and contain all necessary information, but not be so crowded that potential customers are overwhelmed when they see your site. While you can use some of the low-cost business systems available in the marketplace that allow you to design your own pages, if at all possible hire a designer and invest in a site that has a look that is unique to you and your business. This sets your business apart from those using cookie-cutter websites and makes your site more memorable.

Advertising

As in traditional business, advertising is an important means of customer acquisition in ebusiness; the only difference between the two is the method. Investigate the different marketing options available and determine which ones you feel will fit your business best. One commonly used method of bringing customers to your website is pay-per-click advertising, where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. Small text ads, similar to classified ads in the newspaper, work this way, as do the larger banner ads that appear in different places on many pages. Other ways of bringing in customers include providing useful content in the form of articles and blogs. The content should be optimized for the search engine, which means that the text contains keywords related to the business as a whole to help the search engines catalog the pages as highly relevant to the search topic. Search engine optimization is a combination of art and science, and if you are inexperienced in this area you can hire a consultant to help you optimize your pages.

Changeover

Once you have everything in place, it’s time to make the change from running a traditional business to operating an ebusiness. You can choose to do this in increments, phasing in the new and phasing out the old, or you can make the switch all at once, cutting off all the old procedures and depending completely on the ebusiness for your company’s survival. An abrupt switch may be the best way to go, especially if you are focusing on a different market share for your business. According to Walt Geer, who switched his company from a small promotional products business that operated nationwide to an online business in one abrupt move, it is scary to make such a change but rewarding in the long run. Entrepreneur magazine reports that the change ultimately moved Greer’s tiny company, now known as the eCompany Store, into a position where it was able to compete for – and land – national accounts. You have to decide what works best for your particular situation, but sometimes a complete break with the old way may be the best, allowing you to focus exclusively on ebusiness.