E-commerce sites that people recognize and talk about on the Web have what's called e-presence. E-presence is about more than just looking good, though that's a big part of it. These businesses are almost household words. You build this kind of presence, or brand recognition, in the Internet world by using the same principles (if different media) as in the traditional business world: marketing and advertising.

So how do you build your e-presence? Surf the Internet for a while and see how the other guys do it. You'll find that most major Internet commerce sites have a few things in common:

• Great design: The site has a professional-looking design, including a carefully planned layout, well-designed graphics, and a consistent look across the site. Your site should also reflect your traditional corporate image -- logos, colors, advertising campaign themes, and so forth.
• Memorable logos: The site prominently uses branding tools, such as logos, and proprietary features, such as Amazon's one-click shopping.
• Navigability: Customers have easy access to the various portions of the site.
• Recognizability: The site is advertised on other sites in the form of banner ads that reflect the brand.
• Incentives for customers to stick around: The main page of the site showcases special promotions of featured products and services and changes those promotions frequently.
• Current information: Publish news that means something to your customers, such as how your products and services make their lives easier.
• Up-to-date appearance: The site often has special graphics for holiday seasons, keeping the site's appearance fresh and up-to-date.

These are the features of an impressive Web site that customers believe is successful and worthy of their business.