IF YOU HAVE A SMALL OR HOME BASED

IF YOU HAVE A SMALL OR HOME BASED

BUSINESS HERE IS HOW A WEB SITE CAN

INCREASE YOUR PROFITS!

By S. Hunter

If you've got a small or home based business and aren't on the web than you are missing out on an extremely cost effective method to reach a global market place, showcase your products and services 24 hours a day, increase your customer base and increase your profits!

Look at just some of the advantages a web site can offer your small business.It's a great way to generate leads for your business at a lower cost Send your newsletter or product updates to your prospects electronically in less time and for less cost. You save money on printing, shipping, mailing costs!

Your business gains exposure to a global marketplace that may not otherwise been accessible due to high costs using traditional forms of promotion and publicity.

Publish your sales materials, product information, etc at a fraction of the cost by making them available at your web site or by sending qualified prospects an e-mail message.

Establish e-mail aliases and achieve a larger look for your home based or small business. This works by having several alias e-mails forward to one or two accounts. The result is that your business has the appearance of being large with various departments when in actuality, all of the e-mails can be forwarded to one or two people. Example: service@kmv.com or pricing@kmv.com etc could all forward to one central e-mail address. Your business can look "Big" without being Big.

You don't have to pay employees to "man" your Internet store. Shoppers can come and go at their convenience and have fingertip access to your service and product information.

Communicate more effectively with both customers and prospects through e-mail Your Internet store and products are on display and open 24 hours a day worldwide!

Ability to track who is accessing your site with tools such as Guest Books, Feed Back Forms, User logs etc. Your customers can order your products and services instantly right off your web site! You make more money faster, and your customers enjoy the convenience that online ordering offers.

Potential for site upgrades as your business grows with possibilities such as: video, voice presentations, music, database information, search features, archive areas, and secure access areas for established customers only. As web technology grows, and the number of users increase, so too will the business applications

For those of you new to the web, you should know that are basically two methods of putting your business on the Internet.

1. Purchase a web site within a mall or service provider site. This means that you purchase space on someone else's domain. An example is Worldprofit Malls, where you place a web site under their domain name and get a web site address that reflects this. This method allows you to have a professionally created web site within a high traffic mall.

Advantages

-Your business can test the Internet waters at a lower price. Cost under $250/year

-Your site gets the benefit from traffic the mall or provider generates since small business often doesn't have the advertising budget to generate the necessary traffic to the site

Disadvantages

-pay per each item or service; extra pages, maintenance fees, often labour charges,

- you may experience delays in uploads of new files, since you rely on a technician to make updates to your site.

-URL or web site address is often long, difficult to remember, non-sensical and does not reflect a professional image or company name. Example http://www.advertising/customers/smith.htm

2. The second option is to purchase your own domain. This means that you purchase a web site that reflects your company's name and you store your web site by purchasing space on the server (computer) of an Internet Service Provider.

Advantages

-You own the domain therefore you have greater control over your site.

-You can maintain the site yourself allowing you to upload or delete files at will, and avoid labour charges for work to the site. The alternative to this if you can't maintain your domain is to hire someone to do it for you.

-Your own domain name reflects a professional image and can make a small upstart company look bigger than it is. Example http://www.KMV.com or http://www.CraftInc.com

-You have access to more detailed information about your site so you can track useful features. With specialized software you can track the number of visitors to your site, from which country they arrived, traffic patterns, the effectiveness of certain pages or banner ads, most popular site pages etc. This is extremely useful information and can help you create a more effective site and have access to tools that traditional retail merchants have only been able to achieve with expensive market and consumer surveys. With your own domain, and the right software you can generate these customized user reports daily, weekly or monthly.

Disadvantages

-higher cost to have your own domain then to place your web site within a mall service provider due to space requirements, maintenance, etc. Cost approximately: $5 -$800/year -$35 fee each year payable to InterNic to maintain ownership of your domain name

-you are still required to promote your web site on the Internet and in traditional print to generate traffic and interest in your site

-if you aren't technically skilled to maintain the site yourself you will have to pay someone to maintain your site for you.

We should mention that there is one other way to put your business on the web, but it is expensive and likely not the most prudent for small business owners. This would be to purchase your own server to store your web site but the price tag for this can easily push into thousands of dollars.

Which method you choose depends primarily on the following factors:

Your budget to make the initial purchase and pay for ongoing maintenance or labour fees. Your technical abilities to maintain the site yourself.Your ability to promote the site both on and off the Internet and therefore bring in traffic.

If your budget is small and your technical skills non-existent, opt for choice # 1 and purchase a web site within a mall or service provider's domain. However, if you've got more money to work with consider purchasing your own domain and either maintaining the site yourself or contracting to have someone do the work for you. A quick note about maintaining your own domain, it's really not as difficult as you may think. There are some excellent software packages available that make web page creation as easy as typing a letter. Microsoft FrontPage is one example of a complete web developers package that someone with very little computer expertise can easily master. (www.microsoft.com/frontpage)

Here are some basics for an effective web site

Customer Centered

User Ease

Offer Online order options

"Content" rules

Promote your site to maximize your traffic flow

Provide several ways for customers to contact you; e-mail, toll free number, phone, fax, mailing address

Keep it Simple. Don't overdo your site with excessive graphics, animation, sound files, video, Java, Active X, etc. Your site should be appealing but not overdone with the latest technical wizardry that some viewers simply will not be able to access due to slow connections, or incompatible browsers.

If you must have all the bells and whistles, be sure to offer alternative viewing options for folks who may be frustrated rather than appreciative of the fancy stuff on your site.

If you operate a small business it's a wise move to set up shop on the Internet. Don't think or let someone tell you have to spend a lot of money to do so either. Shop around for a competent, established provider who can provide professional service that meets your budget.

Sandi Hunter is Co-Founder of Worldprofit at http://www.worldprofit.com

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