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My name is Phillip
R. Nakata, and I’m one of the original industry and technology architects
of the Internet, sales automation, wireless, and 'e-Business' (IBM,
Computer Sciences Corporation, Spectrum, Reuters). I’ve been building
business markets and applications for corporate business since 1986,
and a leader of Internet markets and technologies since 1994.
Until just a
few years ago however, the complexity, costs, and the ability to
best leverage the Internet for business, has been primarily reserved
for BIG business. Everyone else was relegated to using web sites
for establishing visibility… a reference marker or ‘digital signpost’,
similar to a fancy “Yellow Page” ad…. At best stimulating interest….
Describing the services offered and a few key products/services…
But not driving measurable business benefit…. And certainly not
providing the same image as a visit or call to the business.
The last time
I left IBM, I was evangelizing JAVA, Open Source and their potential
for Internet corporate business… that IBM made their “mantra” after
my departure. In response, I went to work as Business Principal
with their biggest competitor (National Business to Business for
Computer Science Corporation), proving the plans and technology
with real businesses, and driving over $15 Million, successfully
converting brick and mortar businesses to the Net..
And
over the last few years, while building sophisticated integrations
for corporate business, I’ve supported the growth of new very LOW
COST architectures for the Small to Medium businesses…..
building a number of online small businesses (also contributing
editor/marketer to over 150 Internet industry newsletters) for myself
as well a a number of local Oregon companies.
This time I’ve
left IBM and am doing something very different… as I know the technology
has matured to the point where my additional business and technology
expertise can now be leveraged to offer small to medium sized business
markets a significant and measurable benefit. I helped build much
of the technologies used today (From security and credit card transactions….
To knowing how the search engines work and how to manipulate them…
from sophisticated and complex midrange/mainframe commerce servers
integrating to procurement/supply-chains …. To simple, easy to change
and maintain commerce that can run on any low cost server)
Please feel
free to contact me at your earliest convenience. I’m consulting
between California and Washington, but as you’re a local neighborhood
business for me, I’ll make sure to give you the best personal attention
to make you a showcase. It’s fastest to reach me on my cell, before
my schedule fills again at… (503) 329-3689 – or "Skype me"
- Username: phillip-r-nakata
Best
Regards,
Phillip
R. Nakata
P.S.
I’ve already started, and this introduction should include
a number of local, well-respected testimonials/referrals…
from very different types of businesses and points of view…. From
service-based businesses that only service local customers…..
to products and services whose audience could be regional,
national or international. Please consider taking a few
moments and see the results others have realized….
Testimonials:
(click on a link)
Oregon Rustics –
Oregon Based Furniture Manufacturer w/factory outlet in Sandy
Business Web
Sites for Small-Medium Businesses
The
two types of Internet Business sites I build:
- Expert
Business Sites - Your 24 X 7 Sales/Guide & Customer Channel
- Your Competitive Edge
- Internet
Commerce – (unique) Products, Vendor/Merchant ‘Stories, &
Transactions
-
Expert Business Sites - 24
X 7 Sales/Guide & Customer Channel
..."Your Competitive Edge"
These sites
are a challenge because of the “image” you are trying to build.
If the customers
are local, there is little place for promoting to the Internet audience.
Instead the Business web site becomes the 24-hour a day sale spokesperson,
referenced by every other form of advertising the business does….
Business cards, stationery, yellow page ads, flyers-mailings, newsletters,
etc. There is no media less expensive where you can:
- Provide all the information
(customer’s product/service standard questions before they buy….
Quality, experience, policies, competitive, guarantees, costs
) a prospect asks (either openly or to themselves) before
they decide to do business with you
- Expert image (experience, skills, philosophies/methodologies,
samples of work or methods, and/or …free “expert” advice)
- Get direct requests and other feedback
from prospects and customers (forms)
- Build a new subscriber channel. In
Internet marketing, the majority of new buyers are subscribers
to a business’s opt-in mailing
- Easily leverage new business opportunities:
If you currently offer ancillary / complementary products or
services for your customers, more as a helpful “convenience”
than a business…. This is the way to give it the attention it
deserves to leverage it’s potential for all parties…
- **Offer
a 24 X 7 Customer Communications "channel": The
key objective of an 'expert' site should be get the viewer to
want to take the next action step… ask an business-generating
question, schedule a visit, call or buy now. As a result, your
directed forms need to invite and promote real business action
- this is far much more effective than email links.
The sites
typically build in 1-1-3 days, depending on how many bits and
pieces can be accessed from Internet research. It starts with
a design session and the owner “expert” interview, plus some digital
camera shots, scan-able materials from the business, followed
by a few hours researching both competitive sites, and sites offering
extensive ‘information’ in the customers’ industry or type of
business.
Key expert image-building content is developed next…. Typically including
- Owner-Company
Experts/Expertise: Background, Community affiliations
& commitments, skills, expertise, methodologies (practice
processes), Customer Support, philosophies, Interests
- Frequently
Asked Questions: Any and all main questions that prospects
ask directly or indirectly about before making a purchase….. what,
how, where, when, why’s, including policies, and guarantees*
- Free
Expert Insight, Knowledge, or a Glimpse of the work:
In the same way a well published author gets high-paid speaking
engagements…. We’re publishing, but at minimal costs on the Net.
A ‘Creative’ is developed, using the snapshots taken, pictures
and text from the Net, and the client interview… to “Craft” an
“Expert” web page. This establishes and further builds the image
of the expertise (quality, dependability, etc.) offered by association…..
This ranges from:
-
The 10 things you should know before…
-
Self-Health Checklist
-
A few secrets from…. (words
of wisdom)…
-
Insights… so you can appreciate….
-
The guide to….
- Testimonials:
These are some of the most powerful image and selling tools ever.
Just like the strength of word of mouth advertising,,, ........................2-3
testimonials are very powerful
Key communication
forms and channels include:
- Setting
appointments,
- Send a
message to the business's pager now (most alphanumeric pagers
have a linked Internet email address… and most numeric pager
have a web page that can send a page - and be encoded from their
CGI directly into your web business site (see mine on http://ebizguru.netfirms.com)
- Offering
bulk service program discounts (pre-paid for routine services)
- Offering
targeted customer support,
- Offering
a a newsletter channel,
- Getting
the details for a custom request
- Providing
a downloadable expert reference guide (e-Book, easily assembled
with simple tools today) linked back to your site (to keep things
current for the viewer, as well as provide the business a very
effective marketing channel)… it feels like software though
it's really an encapsulated website and is far more effective.
The 'sales' part of the guide is where you place the reference
of "for more information, contact …..XXXX at YYYY (with
a directed built in form"
- "The
Ten things you should know…."
- The
Guide to ….. (either in your field/industry…. Or 'Presented
Courtesy of….')
Construction
of the web site is the easy part. The biggest challenge afterwards,
needed to fully leverage the site’s potential, is to orchestrate
the other related advertising… stationery, letterhead, flyers-mailers,
yellow page ads… etc.
Internet
Commerce” – (unique) Products, Vendor/Merchant ‘Stories, & Transactions
The Internet
Commerce sites I elect to build are almost always an extension of
the Expert Business sites, in that they highlight many of the same
concepts, adding to, and ‘extending’ commerce. Go to any brick
and mortar business, or competitive Internet commerce in your industry,
and you’ll find in both merchants offering wide or narrow selections,
the ‘sales stories’, so critical to building the same positive ‘image’
of the ‘value’ of the merchandise and the reliability of the merchant.
“The
Big Difference” -- What most “Internet Commerce” consultants
miss is listening to the way the merchants sell in their storefronts.
They don’t just offer product pictures with prices and basic descriptions….
They tell the ‘stories’ about the product… the story of the artist
who built it… or it’s history… or the reliability of the company
that produced it… or it’s “ranking” in its product class… or some
type of comparison (vs. a discount or premium alternative)… or
ROI… or “how” the buyer will ‘feel’ about it (rewards of the purchase).
How this “selling” is designed into the system, along with the appropriate
promotion, will determine the success of the site for commerce.
These features are critical, but are typically built into the system
in a staged fashion.
(Note:
For all resale products, the vendor's and merchant's (and gallery
owner's, whatever) comments are extremely powerful. These additional
selling 'cues' give the prospectS/customers additional confidence
in their purchase… from "this is very popular"… to "Personally,
I've seen….. or This is the only XXX I recommend" to some
other 'VALUE INSIGHT' like "this artist/model is currently
featured at…", AND incorporated with the 'Expert Site approach',
very believable. Another equally powerful addition to the commerce
site in general, and specific targeted products and services,
is TESTIMONIALS.
These sites
typically take 4 to 7 full days to complete, and there is more
work from both parties required (depending on the number of products,
suppliers, and features required, it can take longer). While the
business expert stories are being gathered and created, the client
typically is both organizing the selection of the (A) Items to
be made for sale (including at minimum for each item, the product
name, id (or SN), minimum quantity to order per item, description,
size, weight (optional), price, shipping cost per item, and options
per each item – color, shapes, etc), (B) Graphics for each item
– Catalogs, online manufacturer/distributor product sites, or
Photographs of each item, (C) Establishing ‘Standard’ business
policies (Taxes for in-state purchase, Order Minimum, Shipping
Minimum, Disclaimers, Refund Policies, Customer Support, How to
Accept Checks On-line, Which Cards to Accept, What transaction
gateways to support, etc.), and (D) Finalizing the business details
of their transaction gateway (how to receive credit cards) with
the appropriate agencies.
Getting Money
Fast: The biggest shock to merchants on the west coast is that
typically 1) A secondary merchant account is often required, that
costs more to apply for, and has an average $0.40 per transaction
charge plus 2.6 – 3.0 % charge to the merchant per transaction (often
2 % higher than their existing in-store rate, or 1 % higher than
the phone-in/terminal rate). By comparison, third-party transaction
gateways (Paypal, Linkpoint, WorldPay, Authorize.Net, etc.) rates
can be as low as $0.20 per transaction and 2.3% for each transaction.
Most merchants are surprised to find that On-line Checks are also
very easy to accept, and can be cashed immediately, even without
a merchant account.
Fast StartUp:
During the first 2-3 days, I tend to produce the ‘selling stories’
and the business site’s features and navigation, while checking
on the progress the merchant is making both getting the product
information and graphics ready, as well as finalizing their merchant
account mechanics. Often it is more expeditious and cost effective
to use the third-party transaction gateway and on-line check processing
to get started.
The biggest
technical part of the project is scanning, editing (hand-cleaning
up the graphics), organizing the graphics, and building individual
order ‘options’ and descriptions for each item. On an average
hundred items spread over 5-7 categories, it might take me two
days to clean up the graphics and only one day to create the order
system.
Transactions:
My LOW cost business web sites offer multiple ways to process transactions…
including:
· Third
Party Transactions: Starting at $0.20 per transactions
plus 2.3% of the sale, credit card transactions are supported
for ....VISA, MC, Discover, American
Express and Bravo from LinkPoint, Authorize.Net, WorldPay or Paypal
· The
client’s Merchant Service Account – Note that proper interfacing typically requires a
separate Merchant Service account, ....plus
additional fees and often higher per transaction base charges…
ex: WM at $0.40 per transaction and 2.6% of each ....transaction.
·
An Encrypted
Message with all product details and the credit
card number will only be exposed to the vendor. This is a ...proprietary
method I developed to insure better security than current on-line
credit card processing – as the client credit card is ...NEVER
exposed to the Internet. Verified with a recorded conversation,
fax, or written authorization, these should be submitted ...under
a Merchant Account as a “phone-in” order.
· Accept
Checks – Anyone can now accept “pay-by-phone” checks
from a customer’s checking account. Validated upon a ...recorded
conversation, fax, or written authorization, you can print checks
using the same “font” as checks and deposit them ...immediately,
even without a merchant account!. It is thus recommended to collect
the bank phone number for funds verification ...prior
to submission.
Promotion:
- Most web
designers produce the web site, and do not offer extensive services
to promote the site. Almost all offer basic web search engine
promotion…. But this can take months to actually be acted upon
after submission. Even so, most focus on trying to position key
pages based on keyword (Metatag) combinations.
- To get the
most out of this type of promotion, you need to understand the
‘ranking’ of word combinations for each engine (they differ),
and how the search engines differentiate between “like’ sites.
Expertise in researching each engines current state, plus how
to influence the engines to ‘rank’ the site amongst competitors
wins the game.
- Other faster
marketing channels require either:
- Payout:
You can literally pay your way to the top … responses vary
depending on how generic the mix of terms are
- Links
– to link and banner exchanges… results vary, based on visibility
and industry affinity in the links
- Industry
Newsgroups and Discussion Threads: these require regular
participation as a group member or contributing industry expert…
but can pinpoint interests
- Online
Newsletters/Editors: This is one of my most effective
channels… where the best relationship is having the other
editors promote your wares or services. (I’m a regular contributing
editor to over 250 online ezines)
- Hit
Exchanges: In this channel, web site promoters exchange
“views” of other site owners in exchange for ‘visits” to their
sites. For visual products that can produce immediate response,
this is a great channel. For most, it helps to build site
stats, and great opportunities to build affiliate sales channels
- Opt-in
mailers & Safelists: Most are not very effective for
– except for private solo emailings in paid subscriber only
safelists
- Affiliate
“Referral” Sales: This is one of most effective forms
of marketing, and can be initiated with a service like “Linkshare”
(requiring a full-service Internet Merchant Account) or by
hosting your own (ex: Affiliatemaster). This also requires
a Merchant Service Account
Recent Reference
Sites
Sandy Chiropractic:
Learn about chiropractics… do a Chiropractic “Self-Checkup”, set
an appointment, or save on a regular maintenance schedule, over
20 years established … http://www.sandychiropractic.com
Oregon Rustics:
A family owned business, originally in the lumber business, now
producing a line of nationally distributed high quality ‘rustic’
finished furniture, with a factory store in Sandy. Their national
site now offers a new ‘accessories’ line. At http://www.oregonrustics.com
*
Note: I host over 30 small business web
sites personally. Other recent sites under development include
(i) Fishboneglass – http://www.fishboneglass.com
(artist) and (ii) the Look AHead Shop – http://www.lookaheadshop.com
(eclectic glass & art)
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