At home on the Web - designing a Web page - includes related articles on firms that do not need Web sites, picking a provider, the anatomy of a successful Web site and Web glossary - Internet

Home Office Computing, April, 1996 by Rosalind Resnick, Jim Sterne

"We've shipped chocolate all over the world--even to the Outback in Australia," Spindler says. "We'd never be able to afford this kind of international distribution without the Internet."

Servicing Your Customers Long before she'd ever heard of the Internet, Dorothy Litwin liked the idea of Lucy, Charlie Brown's friend, peddling advice from her homemade stand for a nickel a pop. In February 1995 Litwin's son Daniel brought his mother's dream to life by launching Shrink-Link, a Web-based advice service that invites people to submit questions via e-mail to a panel of five psychiatrists and psychologists. Daniel, a former Coopers & Lybrand consultant, and his wife, Georgia Chu, who handled public relations for Northern Telecom, rented Web space from a local Internet service provider and spent less than $2,000 to get it up and running. In its first month in business, Shrink-Link attracted 450 paid users and rang Up $9,000 in revenue--a small fortune by Web retailing standards.

Visitors to the Shrink-Link home page (http://www.westnet.com/shrink/) click on the hyperlinked words, Compose a Query. Instantly, they're transported to another page that lets them type in a 200-word question about their fears, anxieties, marital troubles, sexual problems, or anything else that's on their minds. Once the visitor finishes typing a query, he or she fills in an online order form with name and credit card number and expiration date, then clicks on the Submit Query button. The query is routed to the appropriate panelist, and within 24 hours (give or take), the questionner receives a response via e-mail and $20 is charged to his or her credit card.

According to Daniel, Shrink-Link has succeeded where other Internet retailers have stumbled because mental health advice is a service that can be delivered online even more effectively than when done face-to-face or by phone. Although many people grappling with psychological issues are reluctant to seek professional help for fear of embarrassment, asking a question online offers the ultimate in privacy. And the $20 fee is a lot cheaper than an hour of psychotherapy at $100 or more. Shrink-Link also delivers faster and more personal service than writing to a newspaper advice columnist or calling in to a radio show because the service answers all queries, not just newsworthy ones--and does so more quickly than Ann Landers ever could.

Making Sales Of course, the eventual goal of any Web site is to get more business. Fortunately, there's nothing tricky about making sales over the Internet that can't be solved with a little technology, a little legal advice, and a little international trade know-how.

Do you plan to take credit cards? If you're banking on online sales, be sure the Web server software you're using has encryption security built in. Virtual Vineyards safeguards its shoppers' online transactions with Netscape's Secure Sockets Layer encryption technology. This means customers don't have to worry about hackers filching their card numbers and loading up on chianti.