BusinessTN

From the $580 million sale of the social networking Web site MySpace to the $1.65 billion price tag attached to the sale of YouTube, it’s no secret that money is definitely being made online. But you don’t have to be a mega-corporation to take advantage of the Internet’s marketing value. All you have to do is upgrade from a traditional business into an e-business. It’s not as hard as it sounds, and it just could be the most crucial aspect of your company’s success in the coming years.

It’s important to recognize that not having an Internet presence can be detrimental to a small business’ welfare, according to Darrell Freeman, president and CEO of Zycron Inc., a Nashville-based IT staffing and outsourcing company. Last October, Freeman led a seminar at the Nashville Minority Business Center during Minority Enterprise Development Week entitled “How to Avoid the Seven Deadly Sins that Kill Small Business.” One of those chief sins? Not having an established Internet presence.

According to Jupiter Research, an independent research firm that analyzes emerging consumer technologies, the online population in the United States has nearly doubled since 2001, jumping from 141.5 million in 2001 to 210.8 million in 2006. As people grow more dependent on the Internet, they’re bypassing traditional methods of searching for businesses, i.e. the Yellow Pages, and turning to search engines such as Google to find the products and services. Plus, according to the same research firm, online retail, or e-commerce, peaked at an estimated $130.3 billion in 2006.

Simply put, that means that companies without an Internet presence are not only missing out on attracting new customers to their business, but they’re missing out on actually doing business with those would-be customers online—a double whammy that many small business just can’t afford.

“As hard as it is to believe, there are still some businesses out there without even simple, business card Web sites,” says David Tiller, public information officer for the Tennessee division of the Small Business Administration. “And that’s a very big mistake.”

Many businesses when entering the Internet sphere start with the basics: owning your own Web domain and e-mail address. And that’s for all businesses—not just ones that actually sell physical goods.

Having a simple, memorable Web address that’s fitting to your company makes it easier to find, Tiller says. Having your own e-mail address—“yourname@yourcompany,” as opposed to a Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL address—can instantly add another level of authenticity to your company’s image.

“The efficient use of the Internet, starting with your own Web site and e-mail, is about establishing credibility in the marketplace,” he says.

The rapid pace of technology and changing trends in Internet use have made it so that television advertising has gone from being the end-all, be-all of marketing to being more of a prompt that leads people online to investigate further, especially when it comes to big-ticket items or high-priced services like health care.

“If you’re a dentist or lawyer advertising your services on television, that’s fine,” Tiller says. “But if someone can’t go online while they’re at work and investigate your track record, you might lose business.”

Establishing a basic online presence—creating a Web site that introduces your business and outlines the products and/or services that you offer—isn’t as difficult or as expensive as it may sound. Depending on the type of small business, it can be just as easy as a few clicks of the mouse. Sites like Network Solutions (networksolutions.com), Yahoo, and Go Daddy offer Web-hosting plans for as little as about $10 per month. With many of the packages you get access to your own domain name, as well as a certain number of e-mail addresses.

These same sites also offer options for small businesses who wish to become involved in e-commerce such as selling goods over the Internet using electronic shopping carts, credit cards, and/or online payment services such as paypal.com. Of course, added services such as those cost more, anywhere from about $50 to hundreds of dollars per month, depending on the volume of business a company does and the level of security it needs for its transactions. There are also marketing packages available that allow businesses to ensure that their sites are listed on popular search engine sites, many of which charge the business only when its particular ad is clicked.

So in essence, there are several options available for Tennessee small businesses that wish to establish some sort of presence online. And few of the more basic options require any complex technological skills. It’s all a matter of researching which packages and services are the best fit for each individual company.

Increased credibility, coupled with the opportunities for more streamlined marketing make it a win-win situation that’s pretty much essential in today’s business climate.

“If you do a good job of targeting your audience over the Internet, it actually costs less per customer to market your business,” says Ken Russell, vice president and co-founder of ISDN.net, Tennessee’s largest independent Internet service provider. “If you want to reach outside the local community, there’s really no limit to how far you can stretch your business’ reach. It’s called the World Wide Web for a reason, and any small businessperson would be nuts not to take advantage of that.”