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Small
Business, BIG Marketing™
by Will
Dylan ©2004
CHAPTER 6 - THE
INTERNET
There
are Two Types of Internet Sites…
Having said that, there
are two ways to look at the Internet for your business:
1)
It’s like the yellow pages, a directory of web
sites. All I want from my website is for potential
customers to be able to find me , to briefly describe my
product or service, and direct customers to call or
e-mail me for more info.
2)
It’s my “store”. I sell my products through
it, receive payment, and communicate with my customers
with it.
If
you fall into category one, you might be in one of these
businesses: dentistry, plumbing, landscaping, catering,
cleaning, carpentry, auto repair, dog walking, child
care, and so on. Your business relies on the local area
for success.
Category
two means that you are likely in a business like resume
writing, collectible figurine sales, book sales, etc. If
your business is information based, or involves a
product that can be shipped out, the Internet would be a
great place to invest some money since anyone from
anywhere in the world with a credit card can buy your
product.
In
keeping with our categories, let’s have a look at how
Category 1 and 2 businesses can capitalize on the
Internet.
Category
1 – Local Business
Your
internet site will probably serve as more of a directory
site. It may only have one or two pages to it, and all
it does is lay out who you are, what you do, and talks
about your value proposition to clients.
To
build your site, you might want to consider looking into
a local college or university and hiring a “web
designer in training” to draw up your site for you.
Students from a reputable college will often have the
skills necessary to help you and will work at a very
reasonable price. You don’t need a Picasso, just a
decent functional site that points customers in the
direction.
Alternatively,
you can try a product like Microsoft Front Page. It’s
fairly simple to use if you are familiar with computers.
You could publish a decent web site after about 2 to 6
hours of work, depending on your comfort level with
computers.
Another
alternative is to find out if your town or city operates
a business website for the area. Many internet design
companies have deals with individual cities to build a
website to promote the services of local businesses.
You can usually advertise with these companies
without actually designing a site yourself. They will
prepare a one page company website for you with your
agreement to purchase one year’s worth of advertising.
Continue Chapter 6 >>
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