From about 1997-2001, the Western-world economy saw the stock prices of newly-formed Internet-based companies increase with incredible rapidity. It was called the "dot-com revolution."

For a while, it seemed sure that "real" stores, called "brick and mortar businesses," would simplyfade into antiquated oblivion, and that we would become one big cyber-world dominated by fabulously successful companies that had the foresight to either found Internet companies or invest in them through stock purchases or by providing venture capital. Most of the new dot-com's founders were 20-somethings, some still in their teens, and lacked experience in business. This made plenty of economists nervous. They termed the new businesses "over-exuberant" and warned that there were no sound business plans or models beneath the companies' appealing websites. Still, investors poured their money into the companies, dreaming of the fortunes to be made.

"It felt a little like our wildest expectations about the transformational power of the net were being exceeded at a faster rate than we thought," recalled developer Tristan Louis in a recent Guardian article.

In the third quarter of 2000 and the first and third quarters of 2001, the US economy experienced negative growth-a less-scary way of saying "a mild recession." By 2001, the "dot-com bubble" had burst. The economists had been right in many cases. When the stock market took a turn for not just the worse but the worst after 9/11, investors in tech stock lost up to 85% of their money, and many of the dot-coms went bankrupt or were bought out by traditional companies or by other dot-coms that had remained profitable: Everyone knows and uses Amazon.com, Yahoo!, eBay, Google, and Paypal.

Is there still room for e-commerce entrepreneurs? Absolutely! In fact, they can learn valuable lessons from those who went before and failed.

A web-based business has much in common with a "brick and mortar" business. It is essential that both have a sound business model and plan. Both need to offer something that their customers want, and be able to give them a reason for buying it from them, such as low cost, high quality, guarantees, and so forth. Basically, both types of businesses will be involved in the same market-buy-sell-distribute pattern of doing business.

But virtual businesses have many advantages over "real" stores:

In order to use Internet technology to make money, your online business must have certain essential characteristics:

An attractive website.
Websites that look like they were created by someone who didn't know what they were doing are a complete turn-off to customers. The image projected by a professionally-developed site is well worth the cost because of its customer appeal. You wouldn't want to go into some sub-par-looking restaurant to eat, so would you want to go to a sub-par-looking website to do business?

Your website should also be easy to navigate. The customer should be able to easily tell which part of the site to go to in order to find the information he or she is seeking. At the same time, your server should be consistently dependable.

An easy and secure way to pay.
Credit cards and Paypal are the most commonly-used payment methods on the Internet. In addition to offering these methods, you must assure your customer that the information they provide-their credit card information, for example-is absolutely secure.

Value and service.
As at any business, customers are looking for good value for their money and good service. Selling shoddy goods won't fly. Because people who use the web are accustomed to things moving quickly, you should acknowledge the customer's order right away and then keep them updated on when to expect their order to arrive.

What's the Best Way to Use Technology to Make Money?
As you've read, some people took big risks and lost. You don't have to. When you start a home based business with a solid company, the company has already "done the homework" for you. Everything is in place for you to step into your role as business owner. The only "technology" you will need to worry about is a computer and a telephone. On of the best things about using technology to make money is that you won't be stuck in the 9-5 grind. You can say goodbye to long commutes and moody bosses and co-workers. You will decide when, where, and how long to work. Best of all, as a home-based business owner, you'll decide the size of your paycheck.

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