Specifications

E-commerce and Security
P
ART III
268
This chapter introduces some of the issues involved in specifying, designing, building, and
maintaining an e-commerce site effectively. We will examine your plan, possible risks, and
some ways to make a Web site pay its own way.
We will cover
• What you want to achieve with your e-commerce site
• Types of commercial Web site
• Risks and threats
• Deciding on a strategy
What Do You Want to Achieve?
Before spending too much time worrying about the implementation details of your Web site,
you should have firm goals in mind, and a reasonably detailed plan leading to meeting those
goals.
In this book, we make the assumption that you are building a commercial Web site.
Presumably then, making money is one of your goals.
There are many ways to take a commercial approach to the Internet. Perhaps you want to
advertise your offline services or sell a real-world product online. Maybe you have a product
that can be sold and provided online. Perhaps your site is not directly intended to generate rev-
enue, but instead supports offline activities or acts as a cheaper alternative to present activities.
Types of Commercial Web Sites
Commercial Web sites generally perform one or more of the following activities:
• Publish company information through online brochures
• Take orders for goods or services
• Provide services or digital goods
• Add value to goods or services
• Cut costs
Sections of many Web sites will fit more than one of these categories. What follows is a
description of each category, and the usual way of making each generate revenue or other ben-
efits for your organization.
The goal of this section of the book is to help you formulate your goals. Why do you want a
Web site? How is each feature built in to your Web site going to contribute to your business?
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