Smart Online Business Transformation

Smart Online
Business
Transformation
Smart Business Book Series

Smart Online Business Transformation (Smart
Business Book Series)
Title
Master Steve
Author
Somayeh Amiri, Tara Kamangar
Colleagues
Keyvan
Layout
Designer
Silk Road Publishing (Toronto, Canada)
Publisher
Printed Book: 978-1-990236-05-1
EBook: 978-1-990236-06-8
ISBN
www.MasterSteve.com
Website
Attributions:
Images Credits: Pch.Vector / Freepik
Note: The author of this book gives the right to use
the present content, provided that the source is cited,
to professors, educators, teachers, lecturers, and aca-
demic and non-academic educational centers, for an
indefinite period.
The copyright of this bookis internationallyregistered
for the author.

Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: Various Aspects of Online Business .....................6
a. Appeals of Online Business .........................................................7
b. Knowing the Target Market Before Getting in Online .9
c. Online Presence Through Website........................................ 11
Tips in web design.........................................................................14
d. Internet Domain ............................................................................16
e. Online Payment Gateway (IPG)...............................................18
f. Online Accounting.........................................................................20
g. Making Administrational Affairs and Contracts Online..22
h. Online Advertisement.................................................................23
i. Online Catalog..................................................................................26
j. Receiving Feedback from Customers................................... 27
k. Online Registering and Presenting ......................................28
l. Online Content Providing..........................................................29
m. Search Engine Optimization ................................................33
n. Online Customer Relations......................................................36
o. Loyalty Rewards System............................................................ 37
p. Social media.....................................................................................39
Chapter 2: Method of Selecting Professionals in the Pro-
cess of Online Business Transformation ................................42
Chapter 3: Recommendations for Progress.......................... 52

Introduction
Nowadays, it's inevitable for any business to come forward
online. Do you know anyone who doesn’t even do a simple
search on Google? By searching on Google, many people
find their desired products and services. The number of
these people increases daily.
If a company confined itself to conventional methods of
sales, it won't have any new customers and it will even lose
its old customers. It's because old customers also search
online to find new vendors, and when they can't find you
online, you will become gradually forgotten. Therefore,
online presence is vital for any business.
When we talk about online business, two modes can be
perceived:
9
First, you can transform your entire business into
an online business. In this case, there will be no such
thing as a conventional business anymore.
9
The second mode is when you launch the online
business along with your conventional-typical
business.
Online Business Transformation
4

Like other Smart Series books, this book also considers
the topic from various perspectives and educates you to
view things smartly.
In the following sections, you will learn the important
and practical items for doing and making a business on-
line.
5

Chapter 1
Various Aspects of
Online Business

a. Appeals of Online Business
In conventional shopping, the cus-
tomer goes to the place where the prod-
uct is being sold and passes through a
limited geographical range to find his/
her desired products. However, in on-
line business, geographical range has
no influence on the business, and the
target market goes beyond your location
and range. Quick access to numerous
stores and having a great number of cus-
tomers for vendors are possible at any
moment.
The appeal of online business
is elimination of geographical
range.
Various Aspects of Online Business 7

Being online helps you compete with
powerful competitors easily. The compe-
tition is on how to use the online environ-
ment better; it's not over stronger capital!
The owner of a large business
has a framework called moni-
tor, and you have it at your dis-
posal, as well. The winner is the
one who applies this frame-
work in a better way.
In online business, the audiences don't
catch a sight ofyourphysical place, but they
see your advertisement and performance
and they make conclusions accordingly.
Amazon is an incredibly huge, ev-
er-growing and constantly innovative
business. Its owner became Man of the
Year when he was only selling books.
When having a source of income, many
of us get stuck in a rut and believe that we
need to change our course of action only
when a problem comes up, whereas you
need to always consider changes and in-
novation to keep your business growing.
8

b. Knowing the Target Market Before Getting
in Online
To transform into an online business,
you first need to know your target mar-
ket and identify the potential customers
of your services and products.
By gathering information on your
customers, conduct the web design and
provide the contents of your online
presence according to your audiences'
characteristics.
Notice that we are talking about a business in
which you have been already involved.
Therefore, you have a general estimation of
your customers' characteristics.
Notice 1

In an already launched business with
its own customers, the target market is
classified into three categories:
¾
First, people who are currently cus-
tomers of the business
¾
Second, the possible customers with
potential to be absorbed
¾
Third, people who are not potential
customers but it's possible to absorb
them through special methods
When you’re getting to know the target
market, be aware ofwhat these three groups
of customers need. Make a list of needs for
all the three groups and consider them in
your web design and content providing.
While these three groups may have
common needs, their demands greatly
differ from each other. However, you
need to make a separate list of needs for
each group because the strategy to ab-
sorb them is different. In particular, you
need to look for special plans for the
third group to absorb them.
Ask for cooperation of professionals at the
market research stage.
Notice 2
10

c. Online Presence Through Website
To have an online presence, you need to gradually
move the functions of all the departments in the compa-
ny towards coordinating with the new method in a way
that at least 10 to 50% of the company's systems become
online.
Transforming into an online
business requires applying
changes in many items even in
the way of thinking.
There are two major goals in any
business: sales and branding, and the
ultimate goal of presenting the prod-
ucts is sales. Having a website helps you
with branding and selling your products.
When a brand becomes recognized,
sales will also increase. However, the
process of sales sometimes doesn’t hap-
pen through the website.

Having a website doesn’t mean
your business is online, but it
is simply a showroom for your
products and services, and it is
of great importance in making
the business online.
There can be two objectives for web
design:
ƒ

Presenting products and services
ƒ
Sales
For instance, the major part of sales
is conducted online in large automobile
manufacturing companies. These com-
panies used to have quite interesting
catalog and they were proud of them!
Today, catalog has turned into website
and new options are added.
When entering these companies' web-
sites, you have all the choices at your dis-
posal. In an online shop, you can custom-
ize your products and add special options
to your order. You can then test your auto-
mobile when you go there in person.
12

Several software tools must concur-
rently be used to manage a proper web-
site so it can yield desirable results.
It is not possible to grow an
online business without using
digital tools and resources.
Highly successful North American
printing offices practically grew 1000
times as soon as they launched their on-
line order systems. They currently don’t
need paper orders and they also con-
stantly upgrade their online order sys-
tem. The growth of these printing offic-
es' businesses is due to the various tools
they have adopted.
There are major competitors in the
US, but these printing offices have suc-
ceeded in their work by using proper
methods of making their businesses on-
line. Their websites guide the customer
to place their orders without any com-
plications. This is what a customer ex-
pects from a website: saving time and
placing order conveniently.

Tips in web design
1.
1. Design your website user-friendly so it would be
completely convenient for the user to use.
2.
2. Surprise your website users with new options. You
can do that by regularly adding new options to your
website. This will turn them into your business's
permanent customers and encourage them to bring
other customers in.
3.
3. If you have a physical shop or store in addition to
your online business, you should put your phone
number, address, and information on how to access
the physical place in the right section of the website.
This information could be put below the pages so it
can be easily seen.
4.
4. Consider the back icon and allow the user to go back
to the previous pages.
5.
5. Use a good server in your location so your site can
have good load speed. Try the speed on various
browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome, and In-
ternet Explorer, and on phones; make sure your
website has a good load speed.
14

6.
6. Keep the information on your website up-to-date.
For example, below the website's webpage is writ-
ten "copyright 2008" while it's been years since that
date. Outdated information harms your website's
reputation.
7.
7. In your web design, observe for harmony. Don’t ap-
ply various types of colors and fonts as that could
get the users confused.
8.
8. The site must be comprehensible and readable at
first sight for all of its audiences.
9.
9. Due to their importance, address and link to social
media pages must be placed on the best spot of the
page.
10.
10. Before providing a web design for your business, look
around on the Internet to get a sample of desired web-
site design. You should then show a sample of your
desired designed sites to the web designer to reach a
common understanding. This will eventually yet ul-
timately help you get what you already had in mind.
11.
11. As the business owner, talk to the web designer about
the process of your business and the function of the
site. Let the designer decide what tools to apply.

d. Internet Domain
¾
Ensure to select a rhythmic name for your Internet
domain that lingers in the audiences' minds.
¾
Using the acronym of a business's name for the In-
ternet domain makes it hard for the audiences to re-
member the business's name.
¾
Preferably, buy .com as the extension of your do-
main, and have .ca extension, as well if you are locat-
ed in Canada.
¾
Some extensions such as .org are not suitable for
business. .org suits organizations. At the end, .com
rules and it's the best extension for any business in
any location.
¾
Don’t use a long name for your Internet domain. As-
sume you want to launch an internet payment gate-
way somewhere. If you take Money.com, the pro-
cess will quickly move forward. But if this domain is
not available, you can register MoneyFastPay.com.
It's the proper function that matters.
¾
In the process of choosing a name for your Internet
domain, don’t acronymize too much. The search en-
gine optimization (SEO) method is much more im-
portant than a short name. People never type a long
16

name such as rayancomputerltd.com; they search to
find a suitable company. For example, they search
some keywords such as "computer repair services".
Have your service's keywords included in your do-
main name or description. What matters is to get
noticed.
The address for one of our websites is Canad-
abeautyandhealthcollege.com. The domain name
is quite long and people rarely type it. However, we
work on keywords and SEO so the website would
appear on Google searches.

e. Online Payment Gateway (IPG)
Providing an online payment gateway
(IPG) and the option of receiving money
from customers online is one of the chang-
esyou need to make to transformyourbusi-
ness into an online one. Make the necessary
changes so you can provide the conditions
for online payment.
Offline method is another way to
pay money. In this method, the cus-
tomer fills the form, registers neces-
sary information, and pays the money.
Since credit cards are not popularized
in Iran, this method is not possible
there.
There must be a trusting environ-
ment so the customer can fill the form
and pay later. In this method, the fi-
nancial transaction must be done, there
must be necessary guarantees, and pay-
ment security must be maintained. This
helps to fast track transaction and makes
businesses thrive.
18

Currently, there are companies that
have created online payment gateways
and are directly linked to banks.
The online payment system has re-
solved the problems of failing to depos-
it or cash paper checks as the payment
happens in real time.
Payment gateways have resolved the
issues of lacking mutual trust between
the vendor and the buyer.

f. Online Accounting
¾
Accounting is an integral part of any business, and
an online type greatly facilitates your job. This is be-
cause the sole purpose of creating a business is to
make profit. However, one can only make a profit
when the fund is well managed in a business. This
is where accounting comes in handy. Presently, the
cloud accounting system has found many applica-
tions and it's available everywhere.
¾
Most people confuse the online accounting system
with an accounting software tool. While software is
on a computer, online and cloud accounting is on
the Internet.
¾
Using online accounting is recommended because
of several reasons:
z
Quick and convenient access
z
Security
z
Ease of use
¾
In online accounting, all the transactions are en-
tered into the account online without any need to
enter separate accounts.
20

¾
Online accounting means that the computer con-
ducts all the written accounting. It doesn’t matter
where you are; by simply having an access to a com-
puter system and entering your username and pass-
word, you can enter the system and your accounts
will be right in front of you.

g. Making Administrational Affairs and
Contracts Online
Revolutionizing the administrational affairs and con-
tracts is another change you need to make when putting
your business online. This will ease your business and pro-
cess of doing business when your business is finally online.
¾
Have your marketing plan and your business plan
on the computer, update and modify them accord-
ing to the goal of online presence, and convert them
into something compatible with online conditions.
¾
Prepare all the order forms online so all of these
forms can be filled on the site.
¾
Close your contracts online. The customers read
and sign the contract at any time and in any condi-
tion they want.
¾
Transform all the paperwork processes into an on-
line process. For example, employees' routine tasks
need to be entered in the task list. In such condi-
tions, negligence and errors become absolutely un-
likely, and report and analysis become quite simple.
¾
Apply Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
software tools in the process of doing your business
online. This software comes in handy when you are
putting your business online.
¾
Designing a tracking system also facilitates the job.
Using this method, employees are fully aware of
where exactly in the warehouse the ordered goods
are placed. This is the business process automation.
22

h. Online Advertisement
Before becoming an online busi-
ness, any business can enter the on-
line world through advertisement. To
do so, you can use social media; you
can also use the advertising section of
some companies such as Google and
its partners such as CNN and BBC.
Google is the most important and
right environment for advertising any
business.
The online advertising strategy is
based on where the customer is going
to see you. When the customer notices
you on the first page of Google, at best,
only 10% of people will be attracted to
your site and the resting 90% will be
lost.

Create a landing page for each ad so
the customer can be directed straight to
the page in question by clicking on the
ad's link. You may have tens of landing
pages.
The landing page design must be
consistent with your ad and product. For
example, let's say it's near the New Year,
and in the same theme, you advertise
a product which suits mothers. This ad
must have the hue and color of Norouz,
and fit mothers' tastes. In general, the
design and coloring of the landing page
must be pertinent to your ad's topic. The
audiences don’t become your customers
by simply viewing the first page of your
site, but they may become your custom-
ers if they visit the landing page.
Google provides services using which
you can yield the maximum results by
spending the least costs. Google is aware
that if it provides high-quality services,
you will be their lifelong client.
24

Google has extremely powerful re-
sources and tools. Using them, you can
check your ads' feedback and modify
your methods and change your key-
words accordingly.
Google tells you how your ads are
displayed if you intend your ad to be
displayed on smartphones. You see the
sample and you can change it. You can
even see the number of users who have
seen your ad on their phones or on their
desktops separately. For example, an ad
has been seen on phones 56% of the time
and on desktops 44% of the time. You
can even see when users have seen your
ad. For example, 76% of viewers have
seen your ad late in the evening. You can
define a schedule for your ad and even
plan to display it as sorted by locations
and days of the week.
The important points you need to ap-
ply in online advertisement include:
¾
Aim at a particular location
¾
Differentiate the audience you tar-
get in terms of various factors such
as gender, age, interests, and other
characteristics.

i. Online Catalog
¾
Professional designers must prepare online catalog.
It should be user-friendly and can be loaded quickly.
¾
Even if the designed site is an online catalog, it must
be compatible with any device such as computer,
laptop and phone that can be connected to the In-
ternet.
¾
A site's performance and appearance are two differ-
ent subjects. Appearance is related to coloring and
being user-friendly, while performance is related to
what happens after each click (whether for a simple
registration or other tasks).
¾
If you want to have an online business, you need to
collaborate with a professional team, and if you just
want to have an online catalog, a single designer will
be all you need.
26

j. Receiving Feedback from Customers
Online recording of the customers' feedbacks while
using your products and services is one of the items you
need to consider in your online business. For example, if
you have a mobile store, instead of giving out forms to be
filled by customers, you can invite people to participate
and give you their feedbacks.
The appeal of doing so is that:
1.
1. You can analyze the customers' comments and
opinions and the target market and apply the
necessary changes to optimize the market and other
necessary conditions.
2.
2.
You gather feedbacks and comments and offer them
to the customer. The points the customers make
about you are also advertising tools.
I shop from Expedia and observe its constant changes.
One of their moves is to get feedbacks and ratings. This, in
fact, is one of the reasons behind their success. For exam-
ple, I reserved a flight to Los Angeles in Expedia. After my
flight, this company emailed me and asked me if I were
satisfied with my flight, how the airport was, and if my
hotel was good. One of the secrets of Expedia's success is
that it constantly follows up on the customer. They hadn’t
asked for a direct feedback from me in their emails, but
rather, they had just asked me a bunch of questions about
the steps of checking in and boarding the plane.

k. Online Registering and Presenting
To register your business, use online tools in any coun-
try you are located. In this case, if someone searches the
name of your business, you will appear on Google's search
results.
Registering in online directories is a
technique to boost an online business.
Google has its own online directories:
Google Map and Google Directory.
Send others the link to your site. If
other sections of your site besides its first
page are also interesting, share them, as
well. This will make many people notice
your business.
Send others the link to the notes you
have written on various topics in your
site. Get straight to the point and send
the user a link to the useful pages.
28

l. Online Content Providing
In the virtual world, content rules, and this fact makes
everybody try and provide the best contents to grab peo-
ple's attention.
Follow a strategy in content pro-
viding and take occasions seriously.
For every occasion, have a plan and
offer consistent colors and designs in
various occasions and make harmo-
ny.
If you persistently provide
contents, harmony and diver-
sity will be maintained; this
means being appealing.
Google constantly observes you. It will
put you on the bottom of the search list
if you have out-of-dated contents and
avoid making changes to your pages.

Sales and branding require
high-quality content which includes
text, image, video, holding campaigns
and running contests. Image and vid-
eo are more favorable than a simple
text.
Recognize online trends of each peri-
od and use them in your content. For ex-
ample, Gif is currently very significant
in content.
If your content is 100% advertising,
you will lose your page's fans. In this
case, you may reach 20% of your goals
at best, and your page won't be followed
more than that amount.
30

Follow the Pareto principle; that is,
80% of the content you provide must
be dedicated to the topics pertinent to
the business, and 20% must be adver-
tisement. For instance, it is not cool for
a restauranter to keep complimenting
his/her restaurant and advertise it.
If you own a large company, you
should avoid publishing gossips and tab-
loids. However, small companies can try
this method on a temporarily basis.
Content must be appealing
and creative but pertinent to
your business.
Assume that your business is running
a restaurant. If your restaurant has an
interesting kitchen, use that place for
your benefit and report what happens
behind the scenes. Report what happens
there constantly and provide contents
by shooting videos and taking photos.

We had a cooking show and instead of
shooting the show in a studio kitchen, we
would go to big and famous restaurants.
This content was much more interesting
than bringing the kitchen to the studio
and shoot the show there.
32

m. Search Engine Optimization
You are one of tens of millions people who want to be
on the first page of Google. So, many people will lag be-
hind.
Have a strategy for search engine op-
timization (SEO) and use professional
and knowledgeable individuals so you
can always stay on the first few pages of
Google search results.
To appear on the first pages of Google
results, you can both use Google tools
and ask for web designers' help.
SEO services are expensive. You can
accomplish an important part of your
goal by providing great yet relevant con-
tent and using social media to share and
post your site's contents.

One of the cost-efficient methods in
search engine optimization is to offer
discounts and coupons online on web-
sites and social media.
Offering discounts and coupons
through conventional channels is cost-
ly; printing coupon and distributing
it cost money. For example, you have
printed coupons by spending 1000
dollars and you need to pay 500 dol-
lars to distribute these coupons. In ad-
dition, many of these coupons don’t
find their ways to the consumer. If you
offer these coupons online and sys-
tematically, you will spend way less
than 1500 dollars.
The page in which you put your discount
offer must be easily accessible and easy to be
shared.
Notice
34

Another method of distributing cou-
pons online is to use interactive emails,
providing that this option is designed
properly on your website. When you
have interactive email, you can send an
HTML link to everybody. Such email
has a small size and opens the landing
page via the link.
It must be very clear how to use the
coupon, and the buyer must imme-
diately realize which part of his/her
needs will be met. If you offer a special
discount or offer a gift in exchange for
making a purchase by the customer, the
buyer must quickly get the point. Fur-
thermore, coloring and design must be
appealing.

n. Online Customer Relations
¾
Email is one of the main strategies in online busi-
ness, not just because of marketing but also because
there is no better replacement for it.
¾
If you have a smart system and are connected to
various applications, you can establish a smart and
purposeful relationship with the customer. For ex-
ample, offer special and unique services based on
the customer's date of birth or his/her interests.
¾
Email service providers have tools that are recom-
mended to be used. Various businesses rent the tools
they need for their business and personally focus on
absorbing customers and increasing sales.
¾
Software tools and applications help you eliminate
reproducing, rethinking, and spending a great deal
of money to compete with large companies. In such
case, you will be relieved of these issues and you can
put your entire energy and focus on your business.
36

o. Loyalty Rewards System
The purpose of designing a loyalty rewards system is to
maintain the present customer and target potential cus-
tomers.
The customer loyalty rewards
system makes the customer a
permanent one.
Use the available applications in the field of customer
loyalty awards. Loyalty systems are mostly point-based
systems. In such systems, you give certain points to some-
one who purchases from you. For example, when the cus-
tomer makes a 1000-dollar purchase from you, you give
him/her 1000 points. This pointing system works for ev-
ery purchase made by the customer and points are valu-
able like money. For example, if you sell clothing, you
can give free socks to customers in exchange for certain
amounts of points.
Some systems have become way smarter. For example,
you can't get any product if you have only 300 points, but
by having 300 points and paying 100 dollars, you can get
a pair of trousers. Here, you have valued the 300 points
so they can be spent as money, and at the same time, ex-
tra points are given to the customer for 100 dollars he/she
pays. This method is a constant addiction, so the customer
won't leave the vendor.

Using the loyalty system, you
will owe the customer and
the customer will continue to
make purchases from you to
recover his/her debts.
You can also define discounts, but offer points so the
customer makes purchases again to cash his/her points.
Using reward system software tools is very suitable for this
job.
¾
The loyalty rewards system started when some
companies called Aeroplan Miles or Air Miles gave
points to their customers for making purchases.
These companies had a contract with airlines and
offered services in exchange for these points. Af-
ter that, many companies launched this system for
themselves. Currently, there are broker companies
which offer these services to various businesses.
The interesting thing about these companies is that
when you receive a point from the airline company,
you don’t need to buy tickets to spend the points.
With the coupon, you can go to restaurants or buy
other goods.
In my book, "The Customer Rewards System", I have
discussed this topic in great details.
38

p. Social media
¾
Someone who enters the realm of online world can-
not proceed without social media.
¾
You must pay for advertisement, but membership
and use of social media is free of charge. So, apply
this tool to establish mutual smart relationships.
¾
Use social media as a tool for your sales and brand-
ing objectives. These two goals must always be on
the top of your plan.
¾
The first usage of social media is engaging users and
accompanying them. Engage users with your con-
tents.
¾
Have an active user account and an enticing page.
Offer prizes and run contests; upload videos and
images.
¾
Bring the audience into the circle of your business's
fans and look for ways to make the audience attract-
ed to the contents of your site and page. That way,
they will talk about you in various places, make pur-
chases from you, and share and repost your con-
tents. That's how you use someone who is engaged
with your social media activity.

Instagram and Pinterest are currently some
of the effective social media platforms.
¾
Know various social media platforms. It is important
that you don’t confine yourself with what you hear
about them. Know Facebook, Instagram and Twit-
ter's audiences and their different beliefs and points
of view. Gather information about the audiences
and plan your strategy accordingly.
¾
When we talk about social media, the most import-
ant matter is analyzing your own and your compet-
itors' performance on social media. People usually
either don’t do this part of the job or refuse to take it
seriously, and eventually, they offer their own per-
sonal insights, bias as analysis.
¾
In the modern world, there are numerous applica-
tions and tools for analysis. You are not omniscient,
so, you must adopt these tools.
¾
Facebook offers you many tools to find out what
percent of audiences have been engaged with your
contents. Some tools also analyze your page if you
pay a monthly and yearly membership fee.
Notice
40

In 2016, we advertised an event in Facebook and
it resulted in the attendance of thousands of people in
the event. Next year, we spent more money, but not even
a tenth of that number of audiences attended the event
through Facebook. At first glance, I thought all the money
we spent was for nothing, but before I finished my line of
thought, I changed my mind and wondered that maybe I
was wrong and the advertisement of that year had been
more effective. And actually, it was the case. In attracting
audiences, quality is much more important than quantity.
The number of followers doesn’t matter. What matters is
that what percent of them are engaged with our activities.
This fact can be elaborately clear using analytics applica-
tions.
¾
To critically evaluate the quality of participation by
the audience, you first need to see how many people
visit the page, and then check what percent of your
viewers do business with you.
¾
Have an efficient analytic system. Jumping to
conclusion is acting emotional, and there is no
place in business for such behavior. You are not
an analyst on your own. This task requires dia-
grams and algorithms and is conducted by special
applications.

Chapter 2
Method of Selecting
Professionals in
the Process of
Online Business
Transformation

I'm talking to people who want to do their businesses on-
line. To do so, you need professionals. If you want to do
your business online or move it online, you first need to
ask what conditions the professionals you want to select
have.
Using professionals is of great importance in making a
business online; these professionals are individuals who
can help you in different areas such as web design, website
support, and change in business structure to make your
business online.
Nowadays, performing technical tasks has become
much easier when comparing to the past few years. In
the past, when you are about to begin the process of
putting your business online, you would think, "What
should I encode? Who is going to write the code?
Who is going to launch the application?" but present-
ly, there are prepared detailed plans for anything you
may need.
To know how to select these plans, you first need to
make a list of individuals who offer the services you need.
Then, compare your budget with their proposed salary/
wage.
Method of Selecting Professionals 43

Let's say you have ten (10) individuals in your list and
they all are adequately qualified. So, after comparing their
requested salary with your budget, you end up with, say,
five (5) individuals. You interview these five (5) people to
see if they are capable of the job or not.
In order to do so, you can create a table and record in
there all the information you need. Then, you can select
the most suitable person by analyzing the table and scor-
ing each individual.
1.
1. Create a table like Table 1.
2.
2. In the first column, put the list of all the individuals you
think can resolve the needs of your online business.
3.
3. In the next columns, write down the important cri-
teria in your opinion for selecting the suitable per-
son. Then, insert a checkmark in front of the name
of the person who meets each criterion.
¾
Evaluate others' comments on web designers
and see which designer is given positive feed-
backs. You can also request to see samples of
their previously completed jobs to determine
if they are a good match. Assess their resumes
and check what customers think of them. See
which one has had a more successful portfolio.
¾
It completely depends on you and the type of
your business to consider which criteria. The
columns in the table differ for each business.
44

4.
4. In the last column, write down the salary these indi-
viduals have requested.
Designer's
Name
Good
Command
of Various
Programing
Languages
Familiarity
with SEO
Punctuality
Offering
Support
Services
Requested
Salary
A ✓ ✓ ✓ $3000
B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ $5000
C ✓ ✓ $2500
---
Table 1: evaluating the required professional- web design
5.
5. After creating the table, pay attention first to the last
column and the requested salary.
Eliminate from the list every designer whose
salary is above your budget, but if they have high
scores, archive their information because you
may need such individuals for upgrading your
work in the future and you may be able to pay
more salary.
If your designer requests a high salary and has
scored low in your scoring system, forget all about
this individual and eliminate him/her from your
list.

6.
6. The way the system of scoring designers works is
that you consider 10 points for each skill that mat-
ters to you and that the designer has.
For example, in Table 1, the designers A, B,
and C have scored 30, 40, and 20 points, respec-
tively. The designer B is evidently the most suit-
able candidate for your job, providing that you
can afford to pay the requested salary. Let's say
the budget you have considered for this job is
$4000, so you can't close contract with the de-
signer B. However, as mentioned before, you
archive this designer's information because this
designer got a high score and you may want to
work with this individual in the future if need-
ed or possible. Now that the designer B is elim-
inated, the highest score goes to the designer A
and this designer's requested salary is less than
your budget, so you can close contract with the
designer A.
¾
During the interview, the first thing you need
to pay attention to is to see whether the pro-
fessional has a needs assessment question-
naire either in verbal or written form. It means
there should be a reasonable but professional
conversation between you and your design-
er before you begin the project. This is im-
portant so you can start on the right foot. For
example, as a professional, the web designer
46

must put a questionnaire in front of you and
find out your needs according to the answers
you provide for the questions.
7.
7. In the next step, you check the questionnaire and
assess whether the professional realizes the con-
cept of online presence or he/she simply intends
to design a website. See whether the tools this pro-
fessional adopts are suitable and resolve your needs
or not.
8.
8. Overall, consider a score for each professional
and select some individuals at this stage of eval-
uation.
9.
9. At the end, take a test from the web designer on an-
other level of evaluation.
10.
10. Finally, select the desired individual based on
these selections.
Fig.1: the process of selecting a web designer
Evaluating the
Selected Designers'
Portfolios
Interviewing the
Selected Designers
Taking Test and Asking
for a Working Plan
Form the Selected Designers
Selecting the
Final Designer

Don’t explain the job description from the
beginning to the professional in question.
¾
Someone who wants to do a task for you must ask
questions and reach a common understanding of
your needs during your conversations. If you knew
what you needed, you wouldn’t need to select a
professional. You need a professional so he/she
does the right thing.
If the web designer doesn’t realize or under-
stand your needs, he/she will be eventually
unable to do a good job for you and will not
be able to help your business in getting the
relevant online presence.
¾
The web designer may carry out your project, but
you may find out later that the result is not what
you wanted and you are not satisfied with the
money you have spent. The problem is that the
designer hasn’t properly understood your busi-
ness's needs.
Note 1
Note 2
48

¾
The professional must understand your demands
and identify your business's needs. Assume that
someone has already designed a website for a restau-
rant and you own an automobile repair shop. You ask
the designer to design you a website. If such design-
er lacks any special offer for your niche and doesn’t
know that the customer for a repair shop differs
from the customer of a restaurant, you shouldn’t
work with this individual.
¾
Findingaprofessionalweb designeris not an easyjob.
The main global problem with developing a website
is that many designers have designing knowledge
but don’t understand the customer's needs and only
look for designing an elegant and flashy website for
the customer. They have the technical knowledge
but they are not familiar with the business-related
subjects. The web designer shouldn't be confined
to coding. Coding is just a tool.
¾
Many web designers aren’t aware that making a
business online requires a different process than de-
signing a website.
Before delivering the work to the web
designer, several groups of various levels
must prepare the website plan to clarify the
web designer's needs.
Note 3

¾
You are the one who knows your business. So, learn
how to explain your business's characteristics to the
professional during the interview. Let him/her know
that it's not possible to be quite familiar with all types
of businesses. Professionals must look for a formula
to extract your needs during the conversation they
have with you. Also, it would help if you found a for-
mula to explain your needs and make them known.
This part of the job is carried out during the stage of
doing research.
¾
A designer may harm your business by designing a
website in a wrong manner. Assuming a significant
growth in his/her business, a business owner pays a
great deal of money but faces grave problems when
there is no common understanding.
¾
There are several reasons behind the inconsistency
between the business's demands and the job web de-
signers do:
ƒ
Improper documentation of needs
You need to make initial documentation of
certain points so when you give this report to
the design team, they can recognize your needs
and resolve them. The web designer must be a
smart individual. Paying too much attention to
the website appearance turns it into an online
catalog.
50

ƒ
Unknown nature of the business for business
owners
Most of the times, business owners neither
know their own business nor feel like explaining
things. They just want to receive the website fast-
er, and sometimes, they don’t even know what
they want. More than 90% of people are unable
to elaborate their business for someone else, be-
cause they don’t properly understand their own
business in details.
The solution to this problem is that the web
designerprepares a questionnaire, so the practical
answers get extracted during the time of talking
to the business owner. The business owner also
needs to raise his/her own questions so both of
them can find a proper structure for the web de-
sign according to these questions' answers. This
process is essential even for an ordinary website
which is limited to an online catalog.

Chapter 3
Recommendations
for Progress

z
Don’t forget about reading no matter at which lev-
el of the business you are
Reading books and articles is extremely beneficial
and helps you to develop a broader view of things. As
the manager or the owner of a business, you must read
various books regarding organizational behavior.
z
In business, don’t confine yourself to geography
and borders
When working online, you don’t need a visa!
That is because an online business works all
around the world without any limitations and
borders. Eventually, if you succeed, others will
use your business. You will find partners in the
world and they will look for you.
z
Expand your work enough to absorb investors
If you know your job, you will never be in fear
of losing your investment and liquidity. Even if you
Recommendations for Progress 53

have a ton of food, it will eventually run out. You
need to learn fishing and process this fish in a way
that you can keep it for a long time.
z
Forget about the problems
Instead of making excuses and focusing on the
problems around you, solve the internal issues you
and your organization have. You should always be
up and running.
Online environment is a new opportunity and
it's the best thing ever. No one can stop you from
your online activity.
z
Don’t count on anyone but yourself
While depending only on yourself, don’t miss
others' opinions and analyses. Whatever you sell,
whether it's service or product, should be valu-
able in the eyes of others so they can gladly pay
for it.
z
Have financial management and planning
Budget is one of the important topics in the
business plan. Providing financial resources is of
great importance especially for startups, and stage-
by-stage working strategy and management of fi-
nancial resources are required.
54

I have personally began virtually everything in
my life without any money. Having clear objectives
and workable plans is more important than having
money.
For example, when you define your online
business plan, you need to specify whether you
need someone as the social media director or want
to outsource the job. Have a strategy for using so-
cial media. When there is no strategy, the budget
eventually runs out and nothing can be achieved.
z
Do team building
It is essential to use team-building strategies.
Most startups get nowhere because teams are usu-
ally disbanded right at the beginning. A startup first
needs to prove that it has a team capable of doing
things. Simply having ideas doesn’t matter. By hav-
ing a team, you have many capable hands that can
help your business grow
Build teams and create business. Don’t say "I
had an idea but someone else entered the market
and took over". When the idea has occurred to you,
it has also occurred to other hundred thousand peo-
ple. Hundred people have seriously thought about
it, tens of people have followed it up, and a bunch
of people have executed it. When you are unable
to implement your idea, others do it. Only when
you make your dream or idea a reality is when you
Recommendations for Progress 55

can have a successful online business. You must
be ready to experiment and implement your idea.
Also, you should never be scared of failing as fail-
ure can eventually help you succeed.
z
Launch the job, sell it and move out
A job shouldn’t be kept forever. You need to
bring it to a point where you can become success-
ful by selling it and move out of the market. It is
important that you innovate and adapt to time.
z
Provide high-quality contents
Startwith Instagram and Facebook Marketplace
and get to the point where progress is achieved.
Tear down the fences of geog-
raphy and expand your busi-
ness.
56

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