"I Don't Need a Website??" - Why Small Businesses are Being Left
Behind
Millions of people are turning to the internet to find local business and
use local services.
Is your business one of them?
Or have your competitors gotten the jump on you and are slowly taking
your business away from you?
It is estimated that 25% of all searches, that is over one billion a
month, are now local searches. In the next couple of years many of your
customers will be going online to locate and find information on local
businesses. They will type in "mechanics in Richmond, Melbourne" and expect
to get a list of reputable mechanics in their area.
The irony is that more than 50% of local businesses still do NOT even
have a website. The reasons may be that many businesses may not have
regarded having a website as being a critical part of their business or
perhaps their customers did not even expect them to have a website. Or worse
still, they may have been sucked in by a web design company and splashed out
$10,000 or more on a flashy website that brought zero results.
How much would you be willing to pay to stop the 'bleeding' - $1,000,
perhaps even $2,000? While this is a lot better than splashing out $10,000
for a 'bells and whistles' site it is not what I am talking about. As a
local business, there is an incredible window of opportunity available for
you to dominate your market with very little effort and with little or no
marketing budget. How would you like targeted advertising for free, get your
site listed in local search engines and take advantage of those local
customers looking for your business right now?
Old school hosting just does not cut it anymore. Likewise buying a domain
name for $3 and hosting for $5 per month will do your business more harm
than good in the long run not to mention the limitations of these services
and the hassle of changing hosting providers when (predictably!) you
discover it doesn't meet your business needs.
Having a website does not have to mean hiring an expensive webmaster to
design a flashy site. Nor does it mean much time being spent with the
technical aspect of updating a website. You don't have to be on the bleeding
edge to have a professional web presence at the same time you don't want to
be left behind.
By
Declan O'Reilly
Copyright 2006 - Declan O'Reilly
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Declan_O'Reilly
April 2006
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