Why Small Businesses Should have a Website

A website is the most cost effective advertising media you can have as a small business owner. There is just no other media which allows you to reach as many people with exactly what you want to say.

Finding an expert to walk you through the process and develop your site is no longer difficult either. There are many individuals and businesses that can develop a professional looking website for you – just search the web for them!

Here are seven reasons you should have a website – no matter what size your business is.

Educate / Inform
One of the main reasons people use the Internet is to learn about products and services before buying. Your site could include a short company history, information about your staff / management, interactive maps to your location, testimonials from satisfied customers, hours of operation, and more. Your site should include a listing and description of your products and services. Websites are unique in the world of advertising media because you can include as much or as little information as you'd like – there are no size limits, circulation limits or image limits.

A well planned, designed and laid-out website will foster trust in your business before your customer calls, visits or purchases.

Your 24/7 Employee
Your website is working even when you are not. It is always available – days, nights, weekends, holidays... always.

A website allows you to provide your customers with the information they want without interacting with a person. With time being such a premium thing these days, this is a benefit to both the customer and you.

Including a frequently-asked-question section on your site is a great way to save everyone time and money!

Customer Communication
As mentioned earlier, there are no limits to what you can present on a website. A professionally designed site can tell your customers you care about them, they are important to your business – even without ever meeting them.

You can keep in contact with customers through newsletters and special offers. Keep track of customers and their purchasing habits with a customer tracking system. Track customer satisfaction with surveys. Using a good balance of these methods shows a customer that you are concerned about their experience – you are concerned about them.

A website also offers a means of consistently keeping your customers informed about sales, new products, changes in services, etc.

Lend Legitimacy to Your Business
A well designed, well functioning, impressive website gives a favorable first impression to your customers. It demonstrates an investment in your business and increases customer confidence, thereby increasing sales.

Well done, professional websites level the playing field – you may not be as big as the other guy, but your products/services, customer care, etc. are, and a professional website can show that.

Research Your Market
With today's analytical tools, you can discover a lot about your market and potential customers based on their web activity. It's possible to track the time of day you have the most visitors to your site, the areas these visitors are from (generally), what pages/products they are visiting on your site, and more.

You can include surveys, questionnaires, and other forms of feedback to discover whether or not your business is meeting the needs of your customers. Using these methods you can also anticipate trends in your industry.

Customers Expect It
People expect a legitimate business to have a website – period! Have you ever been asked (or asked someone else), “what's the web address?” If you (or your current customers) can't give a web address for your business, you just lost business!

It is also very likely that your competitors have a website. If potential customers cannot find a website for your business, it's likely you've just made a sale for one of your competitor.

Most Cost Effective Marketing Available
Many people turn to the web first when searching for a business or service. According to internetworldstats.com more people go on-line to find businesses than turn to the Yellow Pages and newspapers combined! The Internet allows you to reach local, regional, and international markets in a way no other advertising media can.

An Internet presence offers a better return-on-investment than any other media as well. The cost of developing a very professional website and hosting that site for a year is less than a “boxed” Yellow Pages ad, less than a quarter page, one week run in a local newspaper, and less than a 1000 color brochures. And after the initial development, your cost is even less each year. There is just no other advertising media that is as versatile and cost effective as a professional website!

One Exception to the “You Must have a Website” Rule
It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"

Time to Switch from Internet Explorer?

Many of you may have heard of the China-based attacks on Google and other U.S. companies this week. The vulnerability behind the attacks is commonly known as the zero-day hole. And it is a vulnerability in the Microsoft browser only.

The effected versions of the browser are Internet Explorer (a.k.a IE) 6, 7 and 8. And all the most recent versions of the Windows operating system are effected as well... including Windows 7.

But even if you haven't heard of the China-based attacks, you may find out about the 'zero-day hole soon. That's because the code that exploits this vulnerability was released on the Internet this week. Yes, the bad guys don't seem to think they've caused enough trouble yet. So, they've put the code out there for every hacker to use. It is quite likely that we will see new attacks that effect the general public coming very soon. And Microsoft does not have a fix (patch) out yet.

This might be a good time to check out other browsers. My favorite is Firefox. Use this link (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html) to download Firefox. You will also be introduced to the many ways to customize Firefox. There are literally thousands of plug-ins and add-ons for this browser. And it is more secure and friendlier to use than Internet Explorer.

If you decide to stick to IE, I would recommend extreme caution when browsing to sites you don't know. And update as soon as has that latest patch ready. (Of course that's always good advice with any Microsoft product).

Net Neutrality

“Net Neutrality” is all in the news again. And like many other things our senators and representativity in Washington are debating these days, this has the potential to greatly change our lives. But we might not even realize it.

What is “Net Neutrality” (a.k.a., network neutrality or Internet neutrality)?

Basically, it is a neutral network that is free of restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams. Well, that really didn't clear anything up did it? What that says is that if two people are paying for the same access, they should be able to connect to each other (or anyone else on that network) without restriction.

Well, that sounds good. So what's the debate about?

Up until recently this was kind-of an unwritten law. Service providers allow you to log on and go wherever you want on the Internet. You can read about your favorite actors, communicate with your friends on social networking sites, write you opinions in 'blogs, and share files (even music files). But, with newer technology has come the ability for service providers to control what you see / do on the Internet. Let me state that again. Your service provider HAS the ability to control the content you receive over the Internet. And this is why Net Neutrality becomes important to all of us.

So, let's say your business (or the company you work for) has spent a lot of money to have a very impressive website built. One that demonstrates the quality of the work performed at this business. They've even spent money to make sure that it performs well with search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

But, a competitor skimped on his website. It shows the potential customer nothing of the business, prices, quality, etc. Instead he pays the local service provider to re-direct all traffic from other sites to his site! Hmmmm, is this fair?

Looking at this from the customer standpoint... do you want your Internet service provider deciding what businesses, products, services you get to see and use? Do you want your Internet service provider to have the ability to stop you from seeing the product that has the best cost or the best quality because someone else paid them to re-direct / restrict your access?

This also means your service provider can charge you more for some things you do on the Internet and less for others. If you are downloading music, watching a TV program or streaming a movie, they may decide to charge you more – because you are using more 'bandwidth.' This may seem quite fair when you first look at it. But, what about sites that have 'heavy content' and you don't know it. Sites that use Flash animations, sites that include sound, sites with large quality photos or images. You could land on these sites after a search and be totally unaware of the bandwidth required to deliver their content to your computer. But, your service provider would still charge you.

If Net Neutrality is not made a law or an FCC regulation, your service provider will be able do this (and more) all in the name of an extra buck!

Don't think it could happen?

Well, it already has! Comcast was in the new recently for 'controlling' peer-to-peer services. And other providers have been found to be using deep packet inspection to slow or discriminate against peer-to-peer services, other file transfer services, on-line gaming services and more. So, don't be quick to believe the big cable and phone companies who tell you they won't do it.

And don't leave it to politicians to decide for you. TELL YOUR REPRESENTITIVES IN WASHINGTON THAT YOU SUPPORT NET NEUTRALITY!

Don't know who your reps are or how to get in touch with them? Use this link: www.congress.org. On the home page there is a place for you to enter your zip code. You will be shown a page with your federal and state representatives listed.

Want more info? Got questions? Disagree? This is a discussion, please feel free to comment.

What to Expect...

Hello! This is Russ, commonly known all over the web as "seveninstl" (I used to live 'in St. Louis'). I have been programming for more than 10 years. I started programming applications for the Windows operating system - usually programs that were to be used in-house by my employers. For the past eight years or so, I've been focused mostly on web applications, web page design, and increasing web functionality.

This blog will be about technology... computer related technology to be more specific. I hope to address some common questions about the Internet, web pages, programming, etc. This blog will not be targeted at hardware or computer repair issues. Although you may find some information scattered throughout the entries.

My goal here is to help non-technical people understand (hopefully in plan English) the terminology and workings of the Internet and more generally of computer programs. Each week I will post an article on some issue or aspect of programming. I also wish to invite the readers to ask questions. I will make every attempt to respond to each question asked.

I will begin next week (May 17 - 23, '09) with an article about 'net neutrality.' This is an issue that many have heard of but few understand just what it means to the average web user.

So please, check in next week for my first article. And if you have a question or subject you would like to have addressed, please use the 'comment' area below to make your request.

~Russ