Area business owners can learn to tap into the world of Internet trade during the next three months.

Monday, January 08, 2001

Area business owners can learn to tap into the world of Internet trade during the next three months.

Ohio University Southern Campus and the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation are hosting a series of seminars designed around principles of e-commerce.

"DOT COM: Business in the New Economy" seminars will train participants in conducting their business on the World Wide Web, LEDC officials said.

The seminars will be held January through March at the Center For Business Development (the Academic Center) at OUSC in Ironton. Workshops will be each Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. This series consists of eight 2 1/2 hour seminars, each covering a different content area. The following seminars will be presented in January:

– Jan. 12: Introduction to E-Commerce. This seminar will provide participants with an overview of e-commerce techniques and will provide information about how small business owners can find a viable way to take business opportunities to market via the Internet.

– Jan. 19: Defining and Organizing Your Business. This workshop will help participants understand different ways to set up an e-business and help answer questions that need to be addressed as a entrepreneur defines their particular business.

– Jan. 26: Marketing Strategies: Retail. The purpose for this seminar is to discuss how a producer or wholesaler can sell a product via electronic commerce to retail customers.

Cost of the first seminar is free, with each additional seminar $25, or $150 for the whole series.

Topics for additional seminars include: marketing strategies; business to business, Feb. 2; market research, Feb. 9; security issues, Feb. 16; payment systems, Feb. 23; and growth and success, March 2.

Other sponsors for the workshop series include the LEDC’s Procurement Outreach Center and the Southeast Ohio Small Business Development Center.

For more information about the events in January, or to obtain a brochure about future e-commerce workshops, contact OUSC at 533-4547 or the LEDC Procurement Outreach Center at 377-4550.