E-commerce: make your presence known: it's expensive to have a Web site, but today's business shouldn't be without one.

• Author: Colby, Kent L.

In retail, the timeworn adage of "location, location, location" is as important today as it was when the first Main Street in Downtown USA was paved. The retail establishment in a garage on Shady Lane just doesn't have the exposure as a store fronting the main drag in a thriving community. In today's terms, the garage would be a brick and mortar business, or simply "brick."

Taking the analogy a step farther, a business that is set up on the Internet (a "click") will remain oil Shady Lane until traffic is directed to it. Just being on the Internet does not guarantee traffic. The surfers of the Internet super highway will forever be oblivious to your site's existence if it is not moved to downtown or a shopping center.

"Advertising to get people to the Web must be done off the Web," says Dave Bailey, vice president of Mikunda Cottrell Information Technology in Anchorage. Adding e-commerce to an established brick business is not a task that should be taken lightly. A quality e-commerce site could cost $35,000 if done correctly. A super e-commerce site might hit the $100,000 mark. Adding all the functionality required to do good business on the Internet packs a price tag of $10,000 to $15,000.

Spending that kind of money to entice new business through the door or down an Internet portal deserves more than just a simple posting of the Web site and waiting for the business to come.

Bailey recommends advertising to existing customers: In the store (brick), on print and electronic advertising, on letterhead, business cards and even on statements. All should list a company's Web address. He says most Internet business comes from existing customers. It is imperative to make sure those customers know how to find your business on the Web.

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are worthy investments to help the casual or serious surfer to find your Web site. But they come at a price. Bailey says buying into one of these search engines will cost from $30 to $1,000. Even then, climbing up the hit list over the Internet's e-commerce giants is difficult.

CLIMATE IS RIGHT

Almost two years ago, Alaska Business Monthly addressed the issue of e-commerce in the state, noting then that industry watchers considered the state prime for e-commerce. At the time, we noted there were no 800-pound gorillas or "big" companies using Alaska as a warehousing and shipping center. Alaska's proximity to the rest of the world (Anchorage is within nine hours of 95 percent of the developed world) and the available bandwidth to Alaska's population centers are both open invitations for the state to host national and global...