With the rapid growth of the Internet economy, would-be entrepreneurs are now faced with a tough question: should you go online or traditional brick-and-mortar? Even existing traditional companies are faced with the decision whether to get on the Internet bandwagon.

Sometime in the early 1990s, only a handful of companies foresaw the potential of the Internet. Few cared whether your company has the dot.com address (majority of the population haven't even heard of it). Five years later, the business environment changed, and companies started to see the importance of having their presence felt on the Internet.  

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With the great advantage of reaching out to such a vast market with the possibly smaller capital outlay, getting into the Internet business to augment a steady and stable operation begun to be the trend for everyone -- from the small mom and pop operation to the big time store chains. Some owners of traditional businesses shut down their storefronts to take advantage of the perceived strengths that Internet has to offer. The potential of offering to a wider array of customers, not only within your own district but throughout the world, lures most entrepreneurs to e-commerce. Internet operations got a big boost with the recent introduction of the secure server technologies to support credit card payments for Internet transactions.  

Lately, people tend to not just look at the company name but also look for the website address. There seem to be a feeling of bigness and modernity when they see the dot.com address together with the telephone numbers and physical address of the company. True, there is a big difference between staying in your far corner of the mall dealing face-to-face with grumpy customers and paying monthly rents, and sitting in front of your computer transacting business through emails with customers on the far side of the planet.  

Should you go the dot.com route? Before you go, one word of caution: There is no clear formula that will ensure your success if you make the shift from the traditional world to an Internet business. However, there are some rules that could make your shift from your old world to the new web world easier:  

Learn to do it by doing it – First and foremost, you need to understand your business and see whether it fits the Internet business model. Whether online or offline, your business model should be poised for success. You cannot change the way you do business and be a web wonder overnight. Some companies may have achieved stellar success on the Internet, but many more fell on the wayside. Understand how an Internet business can enhance your operations. The Internet is the most efficient and cost-effective communication tool -- learn how to take advantage of it.  

Create a new Division – If you decide to enjoy the best of both worlds and create an online presence while retaining the offline store, understand that the two worlds are different from one another. Processing and fulfillment processes are more likely to be dissimilar. It is better to create a new company solely dedicated to take care of the online business, with separate people, offices and funding. Let the brick-and-mortar experts handle your offline store, while leave the online store to those who understands the process of e-commerce.

Make Use of your Resources – If you have the funds and have access to more capital, you have a better advantage than the starters. Spend your money intelligently to put you in the fast lane in the web.  

Sacrifice or Be Sacrificed – Your new venture in the web will have the tendency to shadow part or all of your existing business. It is up to you. If you stick to the old model, you are risking obsolescence or you can make your own old operations obsolete. It is better to sacrifice than to be sacrificed—even it you are sacrificing your own.