Danielle Zilliox - The get-started guide to e-commerce

Cover

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T H E

Danielle Zilliox

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Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the netLibrary eBook.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Zilliox, Danielle.
The get-started guide to e-commerce : getting online, creating successful Web
sites, order fulfillment, getting noticed / Danielle Zilliox.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8144-7117-X
1. Electronic commerce. 2. Web sites. I. Title.
HF5548.32.Z55 2001
658.84dc21 2001018176

This is a Leading Edge Press book.

2001 SMW Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Book design by Richard Oriolo

Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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To
Gail Williams,
for your unswerving support.

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THE
Get-Started
GUIDE TO
E-Commerce

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Back in the late 1960s, when computers were still the size of Buicks, the Department of Defense had a brilliant idea: Why not link several terminals in order to increase their power? The project was a great success, and during the next decade these newfangled networks experienced exponential growththey rapidly became both more complex and more practical. Before long, scientists and academics across the country were getting involved in this onetime military program, awed by its incredible potential. They began sharing information with one another, linking their databases and communicating via electronic messages. The Internet was born.

Throughout the 1980s and early 90s, the Internet matured. Programmers developed todays standard formatting and hypertext protocols, and the computers themselves became smaller, faster, and

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cheaper. Versatility increased as new applications began to flood the market. By the time 1993 rolled around, the Internet was poised to explode into mainstream Americaand it did.

Although the World Wide Web has only been a part of the publicconscience for a few years, it has already become a mainstay of everyday life. Most of us now deal with computers or the Internet on a regular basis. Yet even as they are changing the world for the better, they have also created a fundamental shift in the pattern of our lives. The truth is that the blinding pace of progress has left gaps in our comfort level.

Technology is a playground for the few. Most people still dont know quite what to make of computers. We can use them, at least to some degree, but it seems only an elect handful of programmers can actually understand and manipulate their inner workings. When your PC breaks down, the best you can do is bang on the monitor a few times and try some harsh language. In the end, youre probably forced to bring it to an expert and trust that theyll know how to fix it. You feel utterly helpless, and that can make computers intimidating. Unless you hold a computer science degree from MIT, youre pretty much stuck on the outside looking in.