And is it enough to just be on the Internet? Not any more. You must be able to conduct business there, too. E-commerce in the United States is growing 30 times the rate of the overall economy. Over 53 million US adults are Internet users and many of them are not just browsing – they are buying and selling goods and services online.

How can businesses make certain they have a strong, functional Internet presence? Get an expert to help. If your site was created for $500, it probably looks like it, too. If customers can not purchase in a secure, fast, reliable environment – they won't purchase at all. Remember, your competition is literally just a mouse click away.

What will experts do for you? They can make certain that the key elements of infrastructure, customer experience, and site design are well implemented. Infrastructure is critical, as many web retailers discovered last Christmas when they could not handle the traffic their sites were generating.

Experts will plan for scalability and tight integration into your accounting and fulfillment systems. In combination with your company's talents and available resources, they will construct your site with an eye to the future.

Customers will leave a site that keeps them waiting more than 20 seconds and will never return to a site that can't deliver what they ordered in days rather than weeks. Customer experience is critical. Product information, simple and quick steps to purchase, and available customer service are all a must. Your site should compel people to return because you have given them value. A poorly designed site will drive people away from your business. Your site is your face, and sometimes your only face, presented to the customer.

Experts can thoroughly explore your business communication needs, and based on that research, define the project, complete with technical requirements, timelines, and budget considerations. Experts will focus on brand, content, trust, reliability, security, privacy, and knowledge management.

Before you call an expert, though, you can always do some research on the web yourself. Some of the top sites based on "unique visitors per month" (users are counted once no matter how often they visit) are Yahoo!, Amazon, Blue Mountain Arts, eBay, GO, Microsoft, Lycos, and AOL (Media Metrix, June 2000). They obviously are doing something right – take a look and see for yourself.

SIDEBAR

Consumers will spend a total of $6 billion online during this year's holiday shopping season, up from last year's $3.1 billion, according to analysts from Jupiter Communications.

Jupiter analysts say the $6 billion figure is "just a fraction of the future opportunity, as online shopping is expected to grow to $78 billion by 2003."

Gartner Group estimates that business-to-business e-commerce is 12 to 15 times greater than consumer markets.

What gets purchased most online? Books, music, software, airline tickets, clothing, videos, electronics, stocks, sporting goods, and cars are the top categories.

Business used to make sense. There used to be rules. If you followed those rules you'd succeed. But today the rules are gone. They are in the process of being written, erased and rewritten, over and over by bold, innovative companies and individuals who are challenging conventional wisdom in every industry, capturing the imagination of the marketplace and finding new ways to create wealth. It's the "Wild, Wild, West" of opportunity and risk.