According to studies done last year by IDC about 46% of small businesses still don’t have websites. So basically this post is dedicated to business owners who don’t believe the internet can significantly improve their businesses – the only problem I have here is how am I supposed to reach them when they are never on the internet? Small businesses owners: If this post magically reaches you some how or you finally decided partake in this modern marvel (The Internet) that launches businesses to new heights, here’s what you need to know:
1. 24-7 Service: The Internet can serve as your 24 hours 7 days a week store, orders can be placed anytime of the day without the need of employees.
2. Marketing: When your small business has a website you can market all over the world with a couple of click on the mouse, and customers that you once thought where out of your reach suddenly become accessible.
3. Target Audience Expansion: Like I mentioned above the internet can expose your business to a whole new market, it can also expose you business to a whole new target audience. Groups of people that where never interested in your product or service to begin with can have a change of heart when there’s a sudden craze for it on the internet. Facebook for example was meant for just college students, when the creators notice grandmothers and high school kids pretending to be college students, they granted access to all.
4. E-products: The internet also gives you access to certain products that totally eliminates physical delivery; products like E-books and MP3s can simply be downloaded from your website.
5. Man Power: With the use of the internet you can decrease your man power and still be efficient at the same time. The internet offers one person the ability to multi-task with ease, FAQs easily takes care of customer service issue, email auto responders deals with any other issue, and online chat sorts out the more complicated.
6. Communication: You can communicate with your customers easily with the internet, information about products and services can be announced to a mass audience within minutes. Having a website is also a great way to receive feedback from customers about the service you offer.
7. Easy Payment: Credit cards are automatically charged at the point of purchase before any product is shipped or service is offered. This also eliminates the unwanted bargain tactics usually performed by customers; the price you see, is the price you get.
8. E-mail List Builder: Websites today rarely allow customers transact without their information being stored on the site, this allows you the opportunity to make routine contacts with customers and also inform them personally about any new product or service.
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