Reasons,Get,Your,Local,Busines business, insurance 8 Reasons To Get Your Local Business Online

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If you're a local business owner, you've probably beenwondering what to do about the Internet. Maybe you alreadyhave a website, sitting out in cyberspace, dead as adoornail. Or maybe you're thinking of getting your business online, but you've heard it takes too much time and money. It's temptingto ignore the issue and hope it goes away, but there are somevery good reasons to get moving - and here are 8 of them: 1. GEOGRAPHIC TARGETING. Geographic targeting, or geotargeting, is the ability totarget consumers by geographical location. Using a combinationof I.P. address and/or zip code, ads can be presented to onlythose consumers to live in certain geographic locations. Localized advertising allows is very targeted, and can be used to quickly and cheaply test online campaigns. With the increasing availability of demographic data, the targeting capabilities and options are endless. 2. IT'S PRACTICALLY FREE It's so cheap to have a website now, why wouldn't you? Youcan get a domain name for $10, get a build-it-yourselfwebsite (more about this later), and you're in business for$20-25 a month. Compare that to the outrageous prices charged for yellowpage ads, which can range in price from $1,000 to over$100,000 per year. Combine this with the fact that a growing percentage of thepopulation is turning to the web for information every day,and you have a powerful marketing tool. And as I mentioned earlier, there are tools available now thatwill allow you to build your own website just by pointing andclicking. These aren't tacky looking cookie-cutter websites-- they're very professional looking, and actually look betterthan a lot of websites built by "professionals." So you no longer have to shell out hundreds or thousands ofdollars to get a great looking website. And as your businessgrows, your website can too -- add new pages, a message board,email marketing, ecommerce capability and more. You can addany or all of these features quickly and easily...all at theclick of a mouse. 3. IT'S A GREAT COMMUNICATIONS TOOL The Internet is the ultimate communications tool - fast andcheap. You can use it to communicate with suppliers,resellers, and of course, your customers. Some usesinclude: - Send discount coupons by email, reducing direct mail costs. - Get customer feedback through email or feedback form on website -- it's quick and it's easy, so you're more likely to get customers to participate. - Send product information or announcements via email or posted on website.- Send periodic newsletters with useful information and special offers, or just to stay in touch. To follow up with 1,000 customers through direct mail would cost $340 or more for the postage alone ... but with email it's virtually free. And being able to interact directly with a customer on a regular basis is priceless. - Put your brochure or catalog online, reducing printing costs. For some businesses, simply putting their catalog onlinehas saved them thousands of dollars a year in printing andmailing costs. Of course there will always be people who want printedcatalogs, and not every customer will have email. But interms of cost, you simply cannot beat the economics. 4. TO MAKE CONNECTIONS There are lots of business people online, including peoplefrom your local community. People from the same communitieshave a way of finding each other online... and as always,it's not what you know, but who. Just as you might pass out your card at a local chambermeeting, you can do the same thing online with yoursignature file - and a lot more people will see it. It's also a lot more time-effective than face-to-facenetworking. Rather than driving somewhere and sittingthroughanother boring chicken dinner, you can get online and meetprospects and colleagues at any time of the day or night. Also, you can develop a reputation very quickly online,adding to your credibility and opening even more doors foryourself - all without setting foot outside the house. 5. TO SERVE YOUR LOCAL CUSTOMERS. A website can be a worthwhile investment even if it's justan electronic version of the Yellow Pages: street address,phone number, business hours, forms of payment accepted,contact information. Put this same information in the YellowPages, and guess what happens if you move or change yourhours or get a new area code? You know the answer to thatone. But a website is dynamic -- information can be updated at anytime, plus you're not limited to 2 or 3 lines worth ofinformation. And there are so many great ways to interact withyour customers, which is more interesting for them andpotentially very valuable to you. Here are some very low- techexamples, very easily added to your website: - FAQ Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ, is a popular term on theInternet. And in real life, there are always questions youhear over and over from your customers. These are thequestions people have about doing business with you, andyou certainly want to make it as easy as possible. Why notsave everybody some time and post often asked questions -and their answers - on your website? - Visitor Polls Invite your customers to give their opinion about somethingof interest. For example, a business that caters to parentswho home school their children posed the question: "Whichquestion are YOU asked the *most* about home schooling?"This question is relevant to the target market andsomething they most likely have experienced. It invitesthem to participate and along the way, give their opinionabout something. But most important to the business owner, it can be asource of incredibly valuable information about thecustomer - and it's free. It also makes your website moreinteresting (as long as the poll changes often enough). - Discount Coupons What better incentive for someone to visit your websitethan to save money? Customers love getting a bargain, andthe great thing about coupons is the customer usually hasto buy something to get whatever goodies the coupon offers. Your coupon will especially motivate the prospect that wasalready thinking of doing business with you. If you'reusing a website building tool, it can easily be added atthe click of a mouse, and unlike a yellow page coupon, youcan change it anytime. These are a few simple examples, and this list can easilybe expanded: order status, press releases, productinformation, a searchable product database. Again, thepossibilities are endless. 6. TO GET PUBLICITY Every business needs exposure, and one of the best kinds ismedia attention. If your business is something new anddifferent, send out a press release that includes your URL-- you could get written up in the local paper. Even an ordinary business can get media coverage if you cancome up with the right angle - perhaps a follow-up to aprevious article? A human interest story? The media isalways looking for interesting stories and if you'recreative enough, maybe yours could be one of them. And whatbetter place for the public to get more information thanfrom your website? Perhaps you could sponsor a local event, or do somevolunteer work. Your business will get the credit, alongwith a mention of the website URL. The more places the public can find information about yourcompany, the better off you'll be. In our increasinglywired society, having a website makes it easy for morepeople to get information about your company. And they canget it more quickly and easily online. 7. BECAUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE ONLINE Did you know that 40-48 million adults went online lastyear looking for local content? The average local user iscollege educated, makes good money, and likes shoppingonline. They are more likely to make purchases thannon-users of local content, either online or offline. Thisdemographic market is every business owner's dream. As more local information becomes available online, peopleare starting to look at the Internet as something usefulinstead of a passing fad. Consumers are getting online inrecord numbers, resulting in a critical mass of local usersin top markets, and spreading across communities of allsizes. Chances are a number of your local prospects and customersare part of this desirable demographic - and that numberwill only increase. 8. SO IS YOUR COMPETITION Seventy-eight percent (78%) of all U.S. small businessesare connected to the Internet, and nearly 50% will continueto maintain active, purposeful Web sites this year. Analysts at http://www.emarketer.com have predicted that 72% of small businesses will engage in e-commerce by 2002, rackingup an impressive $230 billion in total revenues. Maybe you think nobody in your industry is using theInternet. But I guarantee you, whatever your business, oneof your competitors is online and using the technology topromote themselves - perhaps not locally yet, but it'sjust a matter of time. If your competition is there, youshould be too. ------------- So there you have it - 8 good reasons to get your localbusiness on the Web. (Notice I didn't include the reason "tosell something". Too many business owners have made that mistake - putting up a website just to sell something. You have to give before you receive. Nowhere is that moretrue than online.) If small business is to survive, business owners must learn toharness the power of the Internet ... or risk losing theirremaining market share to competitors that "get" technology.For those who choose to ignore the "elephant in the livingroom", hoping the Internet will go away, it's only going toget worse in the days ahead. Article Tags: Local Business, Business Online, Information About