I spoke to my mother a while ago on the telephone (she just got online). Mom was telling me that my Aunt had been considering putting her small business on the web. I said she should! Well, then mom said something that I hadn't considered, or at least, had forgotten. Mom explained that my Aunt, although hooked up online, knew nothing about internet marketing, or the advantages of having her business on the web.

Why should my business be on the web?

There are several reasons why you might want your business on the web....
Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that a home computer is fast becoming a regular household item, much like the television and VCR. Not so long ago it was inconceivable that everyone, even the lower income families, would have a television in their homes. Home computers are being installed by the hundreds every day, all over the world. "Look it up on the web" is becoming an oft used phrase. Every year, the amount of shopping on the internet has gone way up, and more and more businesses are doing their major sales this way.

Your sales are limited in your area. On the internet, you can sell to people all over the world, not just your town, county, or even your state.

Locally, more and more people every day decide who they are going to call for a service by checking their business out on the internet. The yellow pages only hold so much. A website can hold pages and pages of information and selling techniques. Rather than get on the telephone and call all the businesses about their service and prices, people will look up the business on the internet. By viewing a web page, a potential customer can learn more about the business, the service, the product, and the owner. There is only so much you can say in an ad in the yellow pages! With a web page, you can say everything you always wished you could. For instance, a Pet Groomer can promote their quality service and caring staff with the right words and pictures. A picture of a happy and beautifully groomed beloved pet can say so much.

In the business world, being on the internet is part of being competitive, a business has to keep up. More and more, all over, people are going to ask you, "so, what's the URL to your website?".

Check out these sites and statistics

eMarketer' - Extensive statistics and resources. Simply one of the best, and a must read for businesses on the web. Statistics include Methodology, Ad Revenues, Usage Patterns, Geography, Market Size & Growth, Demographics, eCommerce, eTrends.
"How big is eCommerce today? How fast is it growing? How are businesses really using the internet today? What are the hot online categories? The leaders? The losers?
These questions, and many more, are answered with tables, charts, graphs and analysis in eMarketer's first semi-annual eCommerce Report. The findings of this report will help you make better, more informed decisions about e-commerce."

From International Data Corporation : IDC's Internet Commerce Market Model® Predicts Buyers on the Web Will Increase Nearly Tenfold by 2002. Latest IDC Research Indicates Commerce on the Internet to Reach More Than $400 Billion by 2002.
U.S.small businesses accessing the Internet increased dramatically from 19.7 percent in 1996 to 41.2 percent in 1998. Small businesses are overwhelmingly accepting the Internet as critical to the operation and management of their business, enabling them to compete much more equitably with larger, more well established companies. The embrace of the Internet by small businesses confirms a significant opportunity for new information technology products and services. IDC's new study, U.S. Small Business on the Internet, shows Internet usage among small businesses gaining momentum with penetration forecast to approach 4.3 million small firms by 2001.
Visit International Data Corporation for all your marketing statistics and needs. For more than three decades IDC has identified customer needs, analyzed vendors, assessed technology, and interpreted market trends to support the strategic planning, business development, and marketing requirements of the industry. Extensive customer surveys, in-depth competitive analysis, broad technology coverage, and high-level market analysis make IDC your best source for information on the IT industry.

CyberAtlas is the reference desk for Web marketers that provides readers with valuable statistics and Web marketing information enabling them to understand their business environment and make more informed business decisions. CyberAtlas gathers online research from the best data resources to provide a complete review of the latest surveys, technologies and products available.

Promotion

I had a conversation with someone. He has a small page up on the web. He told me that he had gone to several search engines, and even after typing in the name of his site, nothing came up about it. I asked him, "Did you submit your site to the search engines?". No, of course, he had not. Surprisingly, many people just assume that if your site is on the web, and looks good, people will visit. Sorry, it doesn't quite work that way.

First, you have to build your website for the search engines. Search engines are all different, like individuals. Some search meta tags or spider your site for the first paragraph on your page, some don't even spider your site; you provide the keywords and description when you submit your site. There are many different search engines, and they all work differently. A good site must cater to all the search engines or miss being found. Next, you have to make sure that the search engines know your site even exists. You have to let them know. You have to submit your site to them.

Keywords are very important. Keywords are the words people will use to search for something on the web. If you wanted to search for sites about dog breeder's, you would enter the words "dog breeders". If a site called "Charlie's Chows" was a site about a Chow Chow breeder and his dogs, and he didn't have the words 'dog breeders' or 'breeder' in his keyword list, it won't come up in the search for many search engines, and not at all if he doesn't have those specific words in the top part of his page introduction.

There are other ways to promote a web site. This all takes hard work and a lot of time. When I create a web site, I also submit it to the search engines for the client, and help the client learn how to promote his site. That comes with my packages. For motorcycle related sites, I also submit the site to my established contacts and major motorcycle directories, and advertise it for free on my own Harley site.

I can also promote a web site in other ways. This would require a slightly higher fee for my time and work.