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We are in a connected world today. The internet, along with smart phones, has changed the way business is done. Here are some ways to run a successful online business. Organize Your Web Assets This extends much further than just organizing your business. Your web assets are everything from your website to your social media profiles to your hosting account. These need to be in order. All relevant assets should be optimized for your brand. For example, your social media and webpages should have the relevant keywords. They should fall into an integrated marketing plan. And they should be completely updated with the latest information about your company. Maintain Customer Records Safely One problem business owners have is that they need to be able to keep records safely. You have a legal obligation to protect any customer information obtained online. For example, you should store information on separate devices and have a number of secure backups. Your systems must be kept updated and controls should be implemented and access should be restricted only to specific employees. You should have a system in place to destroy things like credit card details securely when they’re no longer needed. Do you know your competition? Any good business will know its competition. You need to know who you’re competing against so that you know why customers choose you over others, or vice versa. Nowhere is this more important than in the online world. You should be aware of social media channels your competition is using. And you should inspect keyword usage from all your competitors using the variety of tools Google provides. Protect Your Brand’s Online Reputation Online business is all about reputation. The slightest mistake can taint your brand forever. The key is control. Setup a Google Alerts notification for your brand. That way, you’ll be able to inspect any mention of your brand. Have a firm set of branding and social media guidelines, so anyone posting on behalf of your brand is aware of what you expect from them. Learn to deal with customer complaints and adopt a mindset of solving problems; even if the customer is wrong. Invest on a good internet connection If you are online, you need a good internet connection. Sometimes, I’ve sacrificed on a good internet connection, only to realize I couldn’t act fast on important orders. Without a fast internet connection, you could miss out on orders and customer questions. In short, your business could be paralyzed.

The Supreme Court has handed state governments a multibillion dollar windfall by overturning two previous rulings from decades ago that made internet sales largely exempt from sales taxes. The ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc upheld a state law that made online sales subject the South Dakota sales tax “as if the seller had a physical presence in the State.” The law applies to any seller that delivered more than $100,000 of goods or services into the South Dakota or made more than 200 separate transactions in the state in a year. The phrasing of the South Dakota statute was intended to set in motion its challenge to ruling by the Supreme Court ruled in 1992 -- two years before the first documented online sale -- that mail order sales were not subject to sales tax unless the seller had a "substantial physical presence" in the state where the purchase was made. Related: Your Ecommerce Business Might Owe a Ton of Taxes You Don't Know About Sales taxes account for an average of 46 percent of state revenue, according to the National Association of State Legislatures. South Dakota contended it has lost $48 million and $58 million annually to untaxed internet sales. The ramifications nationally are big. In 2017 ecommerce accounted for 13 percent of total retail sales and 49 percent of the growth. The majority opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. Chief Justice John Roberts in a dissenting opinion said Congress should decide the issue. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined the dissent. Kennedy, in the majority opinion, wrote that the requirement of a "physical presence" to collect sales taxes was questionable even in the previous rulings and "is a judicially created tax shelter for businesses that limit their physical presence in a State but sell their goods and services to the State’s consumers, something that has become easier and more prevalent as technology has advanced."

Predictably, the decision is being hailed in the 45 states that collect sales taxes but Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon which has no sales tax, vowed to overturn the decision with new federal legislation. Related: Why Internet Sales Tax is Bad Public Policy (Opinion) “The Supreme Court has given the green light for states to establish an underground, nationwide, privatized tax-collecting bureaucracy," said Wyden in a statement. "I’ll do everything I can as the top Democrat on the Finance Committee to protect Oregonians -- and small business everywhere -- from being harmed by this catastrophic decision.” Many large online retailers already collect sales taxes but, with an estimated 12,000 juridisdictions collecting varying sales taxes, the ruling could prove burdensome to small online sellers. Kennedy, in his opinion, dismissed those concerns, noting the South Dakota law carved out exemptions for low-volume sellers and that the companies challenging the law "are large, national companies that undoubtedly maintain an extensive virtual presence (in South Dakota)."

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