No Web Site? Are You Crazy??
Many small business owners want to be on the cutting edge in their industry, but they are content with being in the stone age technologically. They think having a web site is too expensive, you time consuming, too complicated, or worse. They assume those things without ever really checking things out for themselves. The internet has not only helped owners evolve in the way they conduct business, but the internet itself has evolved greatly over the years. Things which were extremely costly yesterday are free today. Things which were impossible just a short time ago are now routine. So, it would do owners well to update their information and get a web site for their business.
Eve Tahmincioglu has been covering small business and entrepreneurship for more than a decade. She regularly writes about small business issues for the New York Times and BusinessWeek’s SmallBiz magazine. She also writes the Your Career column for MSNBC.com. She is the author of “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office.” In a post on msnbc.com, Ms Tahmincioglu writes these words–
“A website can only enhance your business.
“My opinion is that any way for a small business to get online is good,” says Matt Sarrel, the Tech Advisor for AllBusiness.com.
“Many small businesses ask me if they really need to be online. What if they are a small retail store in a small town? My answer is that customers turn to the Web today find goods and services the same way that they turned to the yellow pages 10 years ago. If you’re not on the web and your competitor is, then you just lost a sale.”
He’s big on free Web products, especially for smaller operations.
As for Microsoft’s product, he thinks it’s OK and basically like “an online brochure. It’s not the best way to go, but it is a start and it is better than nothing.”
A step up would be a low-end hosting product offered by companies like Yahoo or GoDaddy, he adds. “For under $10/month a small business can set up a fully customized website. Something like this will look much better, especially if they hire a web designer to make it look good and work well,” he notes.
But if you’re going to be buying and selling stuff online and want serious ecommerce capabilities, get ready to pay upwards of $50 a month, Sarrel maintains.
Here’s link to a webcast he gave on why small business should get into cyber space already.
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