TITLE : E-ENTREPRENEUR: A RADICALY SIMPLE AND INEXPENSIVE PLAN FOR A PROFITABLE INTERNET STORE IN 7 DAYS!

E-commerce(electronic commerce): the question is not whether you need to know about it. The question os whether this book is for you.

The answer is yes if:

- You're a small operator who sells things. You feel you could sell more of those things online, where countless people from all over the world can visit your shop at any time of the day or night.

- You hope to sell something and figure that getting started on the Web would be faster and cheaper than renting, decorating, equipping, and staffing a shop and then stocking it with inventory. In fact, you suspect that setting up shop on the web could be cheaper than renting a downtown parking space in certain metropolitan areas.

In both cases, you are correct.

This book is not for you if, say, someone handed it to you between one of the many meetings you've been attending as your corporation gears up for its big e-commerce push, probably through a subsidiary created just for that purpose. Millions are going to be spent on software integration to existing corporate information and accounting systems, and data mining. We wish you lots of luck.

Returning to our target reader: Don't worry. You don't need to do what he is doing. For you, most of the necessary integration can take place inside your head, and we can take data mining to mean "deciding what to do next."

In fact, we'd like to call your attention to how thin this book is. We are assuming that you already know most of what you need to know and have the equipment you need to launch into e-commerce. This includes:

- Knowing what the World Wide Web is and how it's organized, with Web sites and search engines.

- Knowing what a web browser is and how it works - Possessing an Internet access account - Possessing a personal computer with a modem and browser that you can use to access the Web. - Having enough computer literacy to know what file format means

Notice that we have not said anything about:

* Servers * ISDN, xDSL, or T1 lines * Points of presence * Domains * Multiplexers * Routers * Shopping-cart software * Firewalls * Operating Systems

That's because we are going to show you how to find and hire third parties to handle these background details - inexpensively. Just as you already use an Internet service provider (ISP) to handle the many technical details involved in getting you connected to the Web though a phone line, you will learn how to use an E-commerce service provider (ESP) - no psychic jokes allowed - to host your e-commerce site. They'll supply the order-taking and credit card processing functions. You'll supply (directly from your personal computer) the Web site pages that sell the product - and, of course, whatever manufacturing, shipping, and service is called for by the sale.

So just by being online, you're already well on your way to being an e-commerce merchant - about seven days away, as we'll demonstrate while we walk you through the process.

Meanwhile, the other reason this volume is so thin is that we will not bedevil you with any of the 50-cent terms with which the field of e-commerce - despite its youth - has festooned itself. In case you were wondering what you were missing, here's a rundown:

DISINTERMEDIATION

Yes, that's 17 letters long. It means "the state of removing the intermediary." (It seems that demiddlemanizing was too sexist to catch on.) Anyway, the word embodies the fear among box pushers that e-commerce will let the consumers buy directly from the manufacturers, leaving them (being no more than intermediaries) no way to justify their existence. As a social trend, it has remained invisible. But if you were already prone to worrying about how to justify your existence, you might as well go on and worry about disintermediation, too.

BOTS

That's short for robot, but simply using the word would not be with-it enough. It implies web-browsing software that would shop for you, surfing e-commerce sites until it finds the lowest price for what you want. And it signifies terror to those who depend on marketing hype to move their wares, because a bot won't be pulled in by flashy graphics - typically, pictures of ethereal young models staring wistfully at the camera, perhaps wishing it were a forbidden hamburger.

AVATAR

An avatar is a fancy bot, one that will keep your quirks in mind while shopping on-line. Alternately, the word is Sanskrit for "the incarnation of a deity." (Obviously, there are people who take e-commerce far too seriously.)

TRADING PARTNER

This term refers to someone with whom you do business, as a customer or supplier or whatever. But somehow you can't just call a customer a customer anymore, or a supplier a supplier.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The infrastructure refers to all that stuff around you that you don't miss until it breaks down: roads, bridges, sewers, power lines, the phone system,your computer, and so on. Because you were able to make it to the store and buy this book, we'll assume you infrastructure is adequate.

CULTURE FORCES

Yes, there are people out there who don't like to use computers. And there are people who won't drink Coca-Cola because of its supposed alcohol content. Get over it.

Of course, as we proceed, we will have to use specialized terms that do not amount to gilded jargon. We will highlight their meaning and present timely tips and advice, using these devices:

DEFINE THIS This is used to introduce new terms (or new uses of old terms) that would probably be unfamiliar to the average reader.

20/20

These are mini-case studies highlighting the real-world experiences of e-commerce veterans.

EXPERTS SPEAK

These are snippets of wisdom, encouragement, and advice from e-commerce experts or distilled from multiple sources.

CHEAT SHEET

These are chapter-specific fill-in-the-blank sections to build names, passwords, notes, numbers, and other important pieces of information the user will have to track during the task of mounting an e-commerce site.