If you are working in a company that does not offer its services or products online, then you're definitely living in the Stone Age. Businesses today realize that in order to stay competitive, they have to communicate with today's audience who do business primarily online. Running an online business means that you can participate in the global market. And having a global audience means that your store is up and running twenty four hours every day and seven days of the week. While your customers from New York might be sleeping, those from Beijing would surely be awake. Therefore an online business is one that never sleeps. It is one that is always on call by customers. As such, an online business must be manned 24/7, keeping a close watch on potential business.

In managing an online business, communication is important. Using email and instant messaging as a form of communication between you and your staff will surely be beneficial. There are also different technologies such as the VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) that enables you to talk with your business partners and your staff from all over the world quite effortlessly. But since you and your associates live in different time zones it is important to set up a specific time of the day when you can communicate with them about the updates and different issues that your business face today and what they need to do about it. You should make sure that they follow your instruction and schedule strictly.

Meetings are also a must for online businesses. Meetings are where you'll know the issues hounding your employees and problems that the business is facing. To be able to save on time and effort, online businesses today can meet in an online virtual conference room. This will eradicate the need for physical space and manual preparations. "Increasingly, conferences and other collaboration projects are moving from the brick-and-mortar world to the online realm, where video and Web technologies are reaching new heights in convenience and usability." (http://www.pctoday.com May 2007 Vol.5 Issue 5)

Another way to survive online is to build up your brand! Yes, brand is important even though you're on the World Wide Web. Building your brand means providing good products, fast services, and pleasant experiences to your customers. Yes, you'll definitely want your customers to have pleasant experiences. Remember, word spreads fast on the Internet. If you have one customer who had a not-so-good time in dealing with your online business and spreads the rumour, then chances are your business reputation will be ruined. Jeff Bezos, the founder of http://Amazon.com understands this when he quoted "If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful."

Don't forget that your website is the face of your online business. Surviving in the online world means that your online business must be able to keep up with the latest technology. And in designing your storefront always keep navigation in mind. A potential customer would not want to click through twenty different web pages just to buy a certain product. The keyword for an online business on website design is Simplicity.

Surviving your online business is challenging. Everyday, there are thousands of companies going online and millions of individuals setting up an online business. Ultimately, the key is to success in this endeavor is to love what you do. After all, not everyone gets to touch lives in a global scale.