Self-employment A North American economic reality. Today, over 2.5 million Canadians and almost 20 million Americans are self-employed. By the end of this decade, it is expected that 20% of the Canadian work-force will be self-employed, while in the United States the figure will exceed 45 million! Whether you are an entrepreneur by nature, or for some reason you have been forced to start a business, then you understand what it takes to operate it from your own home - at least in the beginning. Why should your business be on the internet? Well, for at least one of the following 20 reasons...   1. To establish a presence.   2. To network.   3. To make business information available.   4. To serve your customers.   5. To heighten public interest.   6. To release time sensitive materials.   7. To sell things.   8. To make pictures, sound and film files available.   9. To reach a highly desirable demographic market. 10. To answer frequently asked questions. 11. To stay in contact with salespeople. 12. To open international markets. 13. To create a 24 hour service. 14. To make changing information available quickly. 15. To allow feedback from customers. 16. To test market new services and products. 17. To reach the media. 18. To reach the education and youth market. 19. To reach the specialized market. 20. To serve your local market.

web advertising info If your business is located in North America call us direct at 1-604-777-2077 We are located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. If you are in business, you need to make sales. If you want to make sales, you need customers. And, if you expect anyone to lineup at your door, or your phone to ring, then you need to spread the word around. Right now someone is looking for you on the internet and, if you're not there, all your potential customers will find someone else: your competition. WHY DON'T YOU CHANGE THAT?

Now, let us get to the substance of things...

There are several issues that you need to understand before you decide to get your business online. The first one is, of course, its overall cost. Usually, most web design services like to engage in large projects which - no matter how you look at - eventually, will lighten your wallet by a few thousands dollars. But you already know that, and the fact that you are now here and reading this, proves it.

When you decide to put your business online it's not just the web design that you pay for. Typically, when you get a website you also need to register and pay for a domain name (annually), find a hosting company - which you pay monthly - and, to say the least, when your site is up-and-running, your "troubles" are only beginning. Besides, a website needs ongoing maintenance. Do you really want to 'babysit' a website - that is, to troubleshoot it, update its content constantly, manage email accounts, etc. - all that, instead of actually taking care of your business? If you decide to pay someone to do it, then add his/her salary to the monthly advertising budget plus the site's hosting fees, and then substract the result from the revenue that your website generates for a month. Speaking of which...

Just because you put your business online, your website does not feel a sense of obligation to make you money. An ongoing, professionally managed, systematic and effective web marketing campaign will cost you thousands of dollars per month - you pay for the actual cost of advertising, plus the fees of a web marketing party.

So, what are we saying here, that a website is a bad investment? No, not at all! A website is, in fact, an excellent investment. But remember, you are running a home-based business? Can you afford the cost of developing, operating and marketing a full website now? You need to understand that running a website properly is the equivalent of managing an entire marketing department. What we are actually saying here is that as a home business - that most probably operates on a small budget - you do not necessarily need a full website in order to advertise your services. Definitely not, if you're just starting.

Now, please don't confuse the above statement with "In fact, I don't need a web presence at all 'cause I'm gonna buy ads in the local paper" sort-of-thing. Sure. Do you know for how long a $200, twenty-word small print ad will run in the paper? For about a week (if you get to publish it during a special offer). Do you know what kind of impact that ad has on your business? NONE! (other than the fact that you are now $200 lighter).

So, if we're so smart, exactly, what is it that we propose?

What we propose is that you take your online ad program beyond the presence of your website: use an effective, straight-to-the-point summary of your business which tells people that you are there and have the services and/or products that they are looking for. By doing so, not only will that bring your message across, but it will also keep your advertising budget to a minimum, the return on investment to a maximum, and your time trouble-free. Learn all about business profiles here.