Both consumers and businesses are embracing the power of the web – finding what they need through search engines such as Google and Yahoo! – and buying through Amazon, E-Bay and Buy.com. People who think that these companies are benefiting only because they are huge and well-known and that small businesses can’t capitalize on the same strategies should think it through again.

While no company, in my opinion, has it all figured out in terms of e-commerce (no, not even Google), the same basic principles apply no matter what size the business. To quote a particularly good New York State Lotto ad slogan of the 1980’s, “You gotta be in it to win it.” Like anything else, procrastination and fear of the unknown often stop small business owners from getting started in uncharted territories such as e-commerce.

I know it's March and a little late for New Year's resolutions. However, here's a short-list of to-do’s for any small business owner thinking of implementing an e-commerce strategy in 2006:

1. Do your homework on your three closest competitors. What are they doing online?
2. Think of at least three things that completely bombed last year. How much time and money do you spend on them? How could those resources have been used to grow your online business?
3. Think of at least three things that were successes and brought revenue, opportunity or both back to your organization. Consider how sticking to this core-strategy for your online business could have made an even bigger impact

The Wb is here to stay. Certainly it’s not everything. It’s simply one more way–along side print, television, radio and other media–of reaching out to prospects and customers. The Web has quickly become the media force to be reckoned with. Ever if you’re not sure of the opportunity, sometimes you have to take a shot. Like my plumbing supplies client, not doing so could let profits go down the drain.

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