Easy Internet Ecommerce for Beginners

Course Description:
Successive hands-on experiences would be simply presented to quickly build skills and concepts using the free Ecommerce tools, services and resources with emphasis on identification of existing successful models that are the most easily replicated, such as Ebay auctions. Local Ecommerce successes will be identified.

Course Goals:

To begin to become familiar with Internet Ecommerce concepts, key models, and available resources for learning more.

To identify existing local businesses using the Internet.

To identify Ecommerce opportunities, including training resources, your community might benefit from knowing about and/or replicating.

Lesson One - Take the short web tour below, taken from the full Web Tour at http://lone-eagles.com/entrelinks.htm . with emphasis on Ebay.com and Amazon.com. Buy something, and at Ebay read about how you can sell something. If you have a digital picture of what you want to sell, see if you can upload the image and put up your item for sale. (one hour)

Ebay
http://www.ebay.com
An auction site which has provided sustainable businesses for many home-based businesses in very rural locations.

Amazon.com's zshops
http://amazon.com
Free Ecommerce sites and a Merchant's Resource Center!

Lesson Two - From reviewing the following sites, identify three examples of Ecommerce that are relevant to businesses in your community and send the urls with 2-3 or more sentences describing them to your mentor. (One hour)

Review the entrepreneurship training resources available at:

Adult and Youth Entrepreneurship Training Resources
http://www.emkf.org/ 
The Kauffman Foundation has a billion dollar endowment for funding youth and entrepreneurship programs. To review their free training resources, select Entrepreneurship, then Entrepreneurship resources! Also hosting http://www.entreworld.org , listing extensive resources for entrepreneurs.

Small Business Knowledge Base
http://www.bizmove.com
Teach yourself how to start a business, marketing, financial management and international trade!

Entrepreneur's Edge
http://edge.lowe.org
Learn how to be a successful Entrepreneur!

Business@ Home
http://www.gohome.com
Making a life while making a living.

Cisco Systems, Inc. and the U.S. Small Business Association
http://www.sba.gov/classroom have teamed to offer six
free Ecommerce courses covering the basics for planning, marketing and more.

YoungBiz.com
http://youngbiz.com
Free Ebusiness sites and training for youth.

EBusiness for Teens
http://library.advanced.org/28188
A Thinkquest entry from Jamaica with lots of Ebusiness resources for teens.

Netpreneur.org
http://netpreneur.org
From Washington DC, the most electronically wired, educated, wealthy, and politically charged community in the world; here are sophisticated resources for learning how to grow an online business.

                    From the Federal Government
                    check out http://www.ecommerce.gov

       Lesson Three - Using your searching skills, (and keywords with your community name,
                 addresses, and local business names,) attempt to find as many local business web sites as
                 possible and determine how they are using the web to increase their business.
                
                 Who is doing the best job of listing your local business web sites?
                 Email your findings to your mentor. (one hour)

         Lesson Four - Optional: Review the many community development resources listed in your
                 handbook in Level Four (scroll down at http://lone-eagles.com/guide.htm )

                 Bonus Question: Just what IS "community networking?"

Lesson Feedback: Optional, but much appreciated.

You're invited to privately email your instructor:

       1. What areas, if any, did you have trouble with during this lesson?

       2. What questions remain now that you've finished this lesson?

       3. Approximately how much time did you devote to this lesson?

       4. What improvements would you like to suggest?