Now, with the emergence of low-cost, easy-to-use web building tools, sellers and SMBs suddenly have a compelling third option: They can quickly and affordably build professional-looking and search engine-friendly sites no technical skills required. The result is a gradually growing field of website owners ranging from graphic designers and dog breeders to jewelry makers and artists who could not previously afford to build websites. Taking advantage of this new market, a slew of startups has popped up to provide search and email marketing services tailored to SMBs that have only recently found their digital footing.
The we-commerce network
We-commerce, a term used to describe an ecosystem of consumers interacting, buying and trading with each other via their own personal websites, is giving the power back to individual sellers to define their online presence. No longer must they adhere to the strict guidelines enforced by eBay and its ilk.
Until recently, structured marketplaces like eBay were good places to be. They funneled visitors to sellers' product pages in droves albeit at a price. But changes in consumer behavior have made traditional marketplaces less appealing. Now, internet users start their searches for goods and services by typing queries into search engines like Google, not by going directly to e-commerce sites. These engines' search algorithms used to favor results from major marketpaces, but now they're more likely to turn up long-standing small business pages than pages that only exist for five-day auctions.
Only lately have small businesses been able to tap into the power of Google and other search engines to direct customers to their products and services. Not so long ago, maintaining a search engine-friendly website was cost prohibitive for these companies. Now, as more emphasis is placed on local search results, and search engine optimization features are built into free web-building tools, SMBs benefit even more.
But we-commerce is about more than having the freedom to sell things independently. It's about creating virtual networks with other merchants. For example, website owners may want to link to other sites to create an association of interconnected merchants with complementary interests. For example, a graphic designer and a web developer could link to one another to cross-advertise their offerings.
Leveraging the social graph
Merchants can also integrate their websites into their personal and professional social networks to promote their products directly to all of their contacts. This capability fills a major void in the marketplace by allowing sellers to monetize their existing networks of friends and acquaintances. Furthermore, it meets the needs of many buyers who want to purchase goods from sellers they know either directly or through others. Social networks are already epicenters of trust and reputation online. Applying this "social graph" to day-to-day online SMB transactions will add reputation and credibility to the we-commerce model.
The development of tools like Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect will accelerate the integration of websites into existing social networks, and will greatly assist in building community and trust around small businesses and independent merchants.
Democratization of economic activity
By further democratizing the means of online economic activity, we-commerce will open the playing field to new business models that are only just emerging. Given the current economic climate, tens of millions of unemployed people are looking for easy, feasible ways to make extra money. History has proven that these are the greatest periods of disruption and change to the status quo. Welcome to the age of we-commerce.
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