By Tom Egelhoff

  I stopped for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants recently. I usually take advantage of this time to catch up on some reading. Forgetting to bring something with me I picked up a copy of our local Mini-Nickel®. In your part of the country it might be called the PennySaver® or some other name but it's mostly ads for cars, boats, property or folks that have something to sell.

  As I looked through the issue I did what I usually do, look at the ads and see how they are done from an advertising and marketing standpoint. As I looked closer I began to notice that many of the local businesses had web site addresses.

  I suppose the natural Internet response is, "What does a local small business need with a web site?" "It's not like they're going to do business in Switzerland." Then it hit me. We are so conditioned by mass media advertising that the internet is only composed of high profile companies that average a million hits or more per day.

  The internet is just one more weapon in our advertising and marketing arsenal. What's wrong with using the internet to reach your target audience of 5 to 10 thousand people. You don't need millions of hits per day to put your business in cyberspace. And, for what the internet can do for you far outweighs the expense. Let's look at the reasons why...

Small town web site advantages

  The internet isn't for everyone. There are some businesses that can really improve businesses while others don't see much in the way of increased business. Here are some of my reasons for small town businesses to consider a web site.

> There is no other media that I'm aware of where you can produce 4 color information about your business so inexpensively.

> It re-enforces the credibility of your business. It's hard to find a Fortune 500 company advertising on network TV that doesn't have a web site address in the ad. Having a web site often gives the impression of a quality company. Even people who are not on the net will have a higher level of respect of your company.

> You can provide company history, products, services and testimonials that provide a way for new customers to find out about your company quickly and easily.

> No other media can be changed so quickly. If you need to react to something your competitor's are doing you can do it in a matter of seconds.

> Use other media to direct people to your web site. For example, you don't have time to list all sale items in a radio ad but you can direct listeners to a complete list of sale items with pictures on your web site.

> Each day more and more people are tuning to the internet to find products and services. You can research prices, services and companies with more information than any yellow pages ad.

By Dan Bricklin

  Many people have been asserting that all small businesses should and will become eBusinesses, doing most of their selling, communicating, and computing using the Internet. They see an enormous, almost untapped market bursting forth right now. Others don't see broad adoption of the Internet by small businesses, or view the "notoriously fragmented" nature of this market and reluctance to spend, as reasons why there's no money to be made here. I believe that both of these views are mistaken. A large percentage of small businesses are clearly willing and able to spend large sums of money to use the Internet as part of their relationships with customers (and will benefit from such use), but only for appropriate purposes, such as a basic informational web site. For most, "being like Amazon", online catalogs with credit card transactions, reengineering their backroom processes, and keeping vast interactive databases about customer visits and preferences, is not that purpose.

  Those Internet-bubble-like assertions are mistaken. I've surveyed a vast variety of businesses and found that few fit the Amazon model -- yet the general market remains huge. Basic web sites are becoming a core part of the marketing mix for many small businesses. The business owners know they need one -- even if they are not sure exactly why. And the cost of basic Internet uses, such as simple web sites, fits well within the marketing budget of most small businesses.

  The next question is whether the cost of a web site puts it out of the range of those businesses. To answer that question, I looked to expenditures on similar needs for advertising, marketing, or customer support.

  Here are some examples of costs just for printing and distribution -- not including creating more than a basic advertisement or logo:

  Advertising in the Yellow Pages of a somewhat large city (Pittsburgh): $16/month for a regular one line listing, $110/month for a 1" space ad, $1,346/month for a half page ad; a bold, one-line White Pages listing runs $24.50/month.

  Ad in a small, local suburban newspaper: $10-$30 per column inch per insertion. (A column inch is about 2.062" wide and 1" high -- a regular business card is about 2" by 3.5": $35-$105 each time it appears.) Spot color can add $100 per color. Big city newspapers are much more expensive: $300 or more for a column inch.

  Printing business cards: $20-$100, stationery (letterhead and envelopes): $200-$300. Brochures can be much more expensive. Mailing is postage plus labor to address and stuff in an envelope. Including all the costs, a simple brochure can cost a few dollars each time someone requests one to be sent out.

  Total newspaper advertising revenue in 2000 was $49 billion (national and local advertising) $4.2 billion more than broadcast TV. Local Yellow Pages advertising was $11.1 billion (national Yellow Pages advertising was $2.1 billion).

  Marketing costs for a full-service restaurant are 3% of sales -- $167 per seat. "Advertising services purchased from outside companies" among all restaurants were 2.4% of sales. In a supermarket, advertising is 4% of sales, the same as rent.

  According to the National Restaurant Association, about half of all full-service restaurants have a web site. "Such sites primarily offer consumers information about the restaurant and provide location details," they say.

  Compared to these expenditures, a $10-35/year domain name, $10-100/month web site, or even a $1000/year fee for special placement in a targeted directory web site, is not very much. That tiny home care, funeral home, or dance studio ad in the town newspaper next to the list of police activities or local high school sports could cost $300 per month or more. If they included a "See our web site for more information" instead of some of the text they could pay for the web site just in saved space. Also, like other forms of marketing and customer relations, web sites can be effective ways to spend money. They are good for reaching new customers, supporting current customers, and reducing costs associated with responding to other types of inquiries (e.g., telephone questions, including mailing brochures).

How do they see the Internet?

From my discussions with many small business owners I've found some other, anecdotal information:

  The small business owner mindset is often to lump all "Internet-related" marketing into one bucket. If you ask about their web site, they will often respond about their emails with customers. Their email address and domain name (which often come bundled with a web site) are very important. When they need to make new stationery, the email address and web site address are both needed. The desire to print new stationery can be a driving force to get the domain name (though not necessarily to author the web site -- it can stay "under construction"). Many companies buy a domain name/web site/email package and never bother to complete the web site. From a marketing viewpoint, to a very small business, all marketing that is done "when dialed into AOL" (or wherever, meaning the Internet) is one bucket, that done with a newspaper another, and through person-to-person networking another.

  Businesspeople are very concerned with being found in search engines and directories -- and will readily spend money to do so, often more than for the web site itself.

  Many small business people are willing to try once anything that sounds reasonable, that isn't a permanent commitment, and that isn't too expensive. Putting up a web site is in that category. Switching to eCommerce, eCRM, or eBackoffice, is not. The commitment in time and change in operation is too severe, with the benefits harder to recognize. Becoming a real eBusiness is much more complicated than just getting a web site. Most small businesses do not take credit cards, nor do they need to -- most only deal with customers they meet face to face and many do mainly custom work. Most businesses are not set up for 24x7 order taking or support. For example, I heard of one specialty food firm that needed to change all sorts of ways they worked when they tried to sell their wares from a web site. They needed to develop an entirely new relationship with a new vendor (an overnight shipping company) and figure out how to package their wares for safe transit (creating new custom boxes). Previously the products had been picked up by the buyer themselves. The company needed to change their entire way of working, and were forced to bring in consultants to help. Many small businesses are not ready or able to make such changes.

  Small businesses often get their value from their uniqueness and how they are tuned to the individuals who run them. Their Internet strategies will similarly need to be tuned by those individuals. Outsiders may not be sensitive to those differences and nuances, but the small business owners are. This makes the design of inexpensive "cookie-cutter" web services difficult.

Conclusion

  Small businesses are an extensive and varied market and have shown they will spend money on the things web sites and other Internet technologies can provide. To work with the vast majority of these businesses, we all need to stop thinking about serving little Amazons. Those that will dive fully into eBusiness will hire professional web masters who will buy and implement best-of-breed professional systems. But for the near future, there will be few of those. Think of what businesses need to run as they already do. Businesses are not just catalogs. Finally, as the use of the Internet becomes more and more ingrained in general society, different capabilities will become required for a minimal Internet presence. We need to track that carefully.

By Kim Komando

Let's start with this scenario: You need to buy something and you decide to do some advance research online.

You try one company's Web site. It's plain, but it lists pricing information, the models it services, and its contact information. Then you try another company's site. It makes you sit through a three-minute Flash presentation before letting you explore the site. (There's a "skip this intro" button at the top right, but the button is camouflaged.) And, instead of getting pricing information, you have to fill out a form and wait for a salesperson to call.

You're probably going to call the first company, right?

As you might infer by our second example, a Web site's elegance is simply not going to win over users. If your site is not easily navigable and doesn't contain relevant and up-to-date information, you're driving customers away.

That's where Web site "usability" comes into play. According to Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, an internationally recognized expert in this area, "Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use."

Here are six things you need to do to make your Web site "usable."

1. Help your customers find their way. How easy is it to get around your Web site? When customers look at the home page, do they see a clearly marked navigation system? Or do they have to roam around clicking things until something happens?

Think hard about whether you really need to be a navigation trailblazer. If your navigation system is radically different than others, you'll confuse your users. A simple drop-down or tabbed menu using words is fine. It may not look as cool or trendy, but your users will be able to find what they need.

Let's consider a small bookstore's Web site as an example.

Imagine using pictures of books on the left-hand side of the page. When you mouse over the picture, the book opens and tells you the genre. It's clever but impractical.

Your customers don't want to remember that the third book down is the home-improvement section and the sixth book takes you to romance novels. And they don't want to wait three seconds for the book to open to find where that link will lead.

2. Say what you mean, and say it clearly. It's so easy to get caught up in marketing lingo and buzzwords. But they may well confuse the customer. If you are selling a product or offering a service, state it clearly.

There are countless Web sites filled with warm and fuzzy slogans that never get to the point. What exactly does "providing solutions to problems" mean? What are the problems? How are they solved?

And a user shouldn't have to click on the About Us page (you do have one, right?) to figure out what your business does. That information should be on your home page.

3. Keep it simple. A splash page — which is a special landing page for product offers, sale items or special features, often with lots of graphics and color — may be a great way for Web designers to show their talent. But for many customers, it can be an annoyance. I say, dump it. But if you must have a splash page, consider giving your customers a "Skip this" link (if you have the same basic information on another page).

Keep pictures, large text, flashing banners and the like to a minimum. Those types of gimmicks generally cheapen a site. They also make the Web pages take longer to download.

For example, I have reviewed many products from one particular company (that shall remain nameless). The products offered are of high quality, but the company's Web site is a flashing, gaudy mess. It makes the company look like it's peddling junk.

Your Web site doesn't have to be barebones. But it shouldn't be obnoxious, either.

4. Provide information, not marketing-speak. Think about why people visit your Web site. They go there to get information or to buy a product. Make it as easy as possible to find the information they want — not just what you want to provide. I personally dislike lots of advertising puffery and grinning people. Please, just tell me what you do.

One sure irritant is pricing secrecy. Don't make a customer fill out a form to find out how much something will cost. You'd be annoyed if you walked into a grocery store and had to fill out a form to get the price of milk.

Obviously, if you sell insurance, you can't publish a price list. But you can set up a page that calculates several variables and provides free ballpark quotes. Customers want instant information. Give it to them.

It's also important to update your site regularly. It does you no good if the contact information for sales is for someone who left the company months ago. Unfortunately, many companies throw up a Web site and then forget about it.

5. Test your site — again and again. There is one simple way to attain good usability. Testing, testing and more testing. But you have to test with the right people.

Your customers and readers are the best people to test a site. They are the ones who use your site.

Unless your core audience is Web designers and tech-savvy users, avoid using these people as your guinea pigs. What's obvious to them could leave the true users scratching their heads.

If possible, be in the same room as the tester(s). And test individually. That way you can observe and write notes as questions and problems arise. Don't answer questions. If something isn't obvious to users, you'll have to tweak the design.

It may sound like testing takes a ton of time and money, but it doesn't. For a small site, it should take about 20 minutes or so per user. Four or five users is a good sample to get sufficient feedback. After testing, changes should only take a day or two. You can always offer a free product or service — or perhaps a gift certificate to a restaurant — for the tester's time.

6. Be a usability advocate; it can pay off. Having a Web site with strong usability could boost your bottom line.

The Nielsen Norman Group (www.nngroup.com) conducted a study on the return on investment of 42 redesigned Web sites. Owners of those sites spent an average of 10% of their Web budget on usability. After redesigning the sites, site usability increased by 135%, the sales-conversion rate increased 100% and traffic increased 150%, according to the study.

Yes, it's easy to see why you need usability. But I will be the first to tell you that it's also difficult to attain over time, especially if you have a Web site that changes, grows and evolves. This is something that I struggle with on my own site. I am continually updating it based on user feedback.

Web usability does take time, money and attention. But it pays off in the long run.

By Jim Hopkins, USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Millions of small companies continue to snub the Web — potentially limiting their growth and that of e-commerce and the economy.

Nearly 70% of small businesses don't have Web sites, says an annual survey by Verizon Communications. That's on par with 1999 — the first year the telecom company did its survey.

Many companies, hobbled by the economic downturn, are wary of investing in e-commerce projects that might not boost revenue. And unlike at big companies, a Web presence isn't always seen as a marketing must-have.

Craftex Protective Coatings in Tuscaloosa, Ala., says its custom-made industrial parts are aimed at a niche market. For new business, it relies on referrals from existing customers, often engineers who are unlikely to shop the Internet, owner Ronny Rhodes says.

The USA's 5.6 million small employers are the nation's economic engine, producing a majority of new jobs and often leading the nation into economic recovery.

Trailing in tech

Yet, their growth could be pinched if they fall behind in adopting technology such as Web sites, especially in an increasingly global economy where foreign competitors can more easily dip into U.S. markets through the Internet, says Bruce Phillips, senior economist at the NFIB Education Foundation.

Why small businesses are slow to adopt the Web:

Reality trumps fantasy. Many companies in the late 1990s dot-com boom mistakenly thought they could launch a site and become the next Amazon overnight. "There was this irrational thinking about what they should be doing online," says Patrick Marshall, head of marketing for Verizon Information Services.

Now, companies realize that a Web site is just one of several ways to reach customers — not the only path to fast growth, Marshall says.

Investments get closer scrutiny. More small companies, like big corporations, don't want to spend on Web sites and other tech projects that don't guarantee a payoff. That's a shift from the go-go 1990s, when businesses poured millions into tech based on untested promises of big profit and productivity gains.

Such skepticism might be warranted. Verizon, while mostly bullish on the value of Web sites, says fewer than half the companies in its survey had revenue gains after launching a site. The figure was even smaller, 24.4%, in an NFIB survey last year.

Verizon surveyed companies with fewer than 50 employees; NFIB surveyed those with fewer than 250.

Just 30% of small firms surveyed last month by the NFIB plan any kind of capital investments soon. That figure hasn't budged for three consecutive months.

"Profits, an important driver of capital spending, are still in the tank," says NFIB chief economist William Dunkelberg.

Companies with Web sites in the Verizon survey typically spent $500 developing them, and $112 a month on maintenance. Costs can be much higher, depending on the site's complexity. About 11% of companies in last year's NFIB survey spent as much as $10,000 for design and $500 or more on monthly maintenance.

Scant expertise. Most small companies, unlike big corporations, don't have technology managers or marketing directors to focus on e-commerce.

Display Structures in Troy, Mich., has as few as six employees building store fixtures for retailers. Co-owner Diane Dearing handles bookkeeping and husband Steve manages production. "Neither of us have any sales or marketing know-how," says Diane — and no e-commerce background. "I don't have a (tech) person on staff who knows anything about this."

Also, the company doesn't have a lot of cash to invest. Many of its customers are in the Detroit area's automotive sector, which has been hard-hit by the downturn, costing Display a lot of business. Annual revenue this year will be no more than $500,000 vs. a high of $950,000 in 1997. The Dearings might launch a site next year if company finances stabilize.

Incomplete deployment. Many businesses launched Web sites that didn't let customers place orders and pay, limiting their use, the NFIB survey found.

Just 24% of small company sites let customers order online, leading the NFIB to warn that such sites were little more than a "dangling appendage without purpose."

That's partly why Go West Courier, a delivery company in Washington, is relaunching its Web site with features that will let customers track order status, much as they do with big corporations such as FedEx. Go West doesn't expect to get more customers from the revamped site. Still, owner Gary West says, "It's another way that I can keep my clients happy."

Certainly, some businesses say information-only sites have benefits. Anderson Communications, an Atlanta marketing firm that helps Fortune 100 companies reach African-American consumers, uses its site to showcase work during sales calls. That helps it compete against bigger competitors.

"We're always fighting the recognition battle," founder Al Anderson says.
Growth possibilities

Companies that design and host Web sites for small firms see lots of growth potential.

Annual spending could hit $1.2 billion by 2006 vs. an estimated $273 million this year, says Matthew Berk, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. That's attracting more attention from companies such as Yahoo, which make money from development and services such as help with order processing.

Affinity Internet in Fort Lauderdale, which says it's No. 3 among Web-hosting companies, says there are as many as 16 million firms, including those without employees, that could have sites. "It's a vast marketplace," says Jim Collins, chief operating officer.

Verizon says 26% of companies without Web sites in its survey say they likely will launch one next year. The telecom's SuperPages.com online directory sells Web development services to small and midsize companies.

by Deborah Whitman

So, you're ready to bring your small business to the Internet. It's time to create your online presence — your Web address, your corporate e-mail address, your business Web site; in other words, your marketing face in the online world.

Lots of businesses have walked this path already.

Here are 10 common mistakes many companies have made, but that you can avoid.

1. No-name nobody's: Many small businesses choose to set up shop in the online world with a Web site name or URL on Geocities, Angelfire, Tripod or MSN, rather than having their own Web address. Which company would you feel more comfortable buying from — www.members.tripod.com/loudinismagicshop or www.loudini.com? (The latter is a real Web site, specializing in magic accessories.) I don't think I'm the only online shopper who feels reassured by "real" business Web addresses. I've recently bought several gifts from an online company with a "no name" URL, and I'm wondering if the products will really arrive. A strong, easily recognized Web address is affordable for even the smallest business.

2. The same is true for e-mail addresses. If you are running a small business, it's a great idea to set up an e-mail address that uses your business Web address. When you send messages to potential clients, to your bank or to suppliers, joesmith@coffeespark.com (not a real site) looks far more professional than joesmith@aol.com. Bypass deadly sin No. 1: Make your Web presence a professional one by finding a good Web address for your business and using it for both your Web site and business e-mail.

3. Pokey pages: Many small-business Web sites load far too slowly. I've checked out small-business Web sites that have taken so long to load that my computer froze for more than five minutes. Most sites aren't that bad, but if your Web pages take more than 10 seconds to load over a 28.8K modem, you run the risk of losing visitors to your site. Photos and graphics with large file sizes are usually the culprits when a page loads slowly. Use Photoshop or OptiView to reduce the file size of individual graphics and photos on your Web site to no more than 10K.

4. Picture paucity: You wouldn't send out a marketing brochure that's all words and no pictures. So why do so many companies create Web pages without graphics or photos of any sort? If a single picture paints a thousand words, use a judicious number of them on your Web site to communicate volumes. Photos of your store or office, your products, your employees — these images make your business feel "real" to online visitors. Images give you a tangible presence and let visitors get a sense of the kind of business you run. Harrell Remodeling, in Menlo Park, Calif., uses high-quality photos of actual projects and of the business team to convey a clear image.

Mind you, using pictures doesn't contradict deadly sin No. 2. It's important to use photos on your site, but it's equally important that the file sizes are small enough to load quickly on your Web page. The other key is to use only high-quality photos, which often requires a professional photographer. Again, you wouldn't send out a marketing brochure filled with cheesy photos, would you? Because it's likely to be seen by many more people than most paper brochures, your Web site should be the best marketing brochure your business has ever created.

The "if I build it, they will come" delusion: One of the most common mistakes small businesses make is to assume that if there's a business Web site, customers will suddenly start flocking to it. Don't wait to start marketing your firm online. As soon as you are happy with your Web site, get going with the basics of online marketing. I recommend at least five marketing efforts when you launch a Web site. You can tell how strongly I feel about each of these marketing efforts because I've devoted an entire column (or two) to nearly each one.

* Be proactive in listing on search engines.

* Start an affiliate program to encourage and reward other businesses for sending you online customers.

* Be proactive in finding sites with which you can trade links.

* Consider joining a banner exchange like bCentral's Banner Network or SmartAge's SmartClicks.

* Start collecting visitors' e-mail addresses on Day One, so that you can lure them back to your Web site.

Using these five steps, you can set up an online marketing effort that will help ensure that customers come to visit the awesome new Web site you just built.

5. Phoneless in cyberspace: Don't forget to put your phone number prominently on your Web site. Many small-business executives have said the way their Web site is most frequently used is a customer looking at it while calling the company. Customers will refer to something on the Web site, but they actually buy products or order services on the phone.

Unless you are working out of your home, it's also a good idea to put your mailing address on the site. It adds to the comfort level of knowing you are a "real" business.

6. A barrage of banners: Joining a banner exchange can help bring traffic to your Web site, but putting two, three or four banners on a page, along with buttons for Amazon, Netscape and five or six other affiliate programs just makes your site look busy and cheap. You'd never find a large-company Web site with multiple banners on a page (OK, don't send me examples . . . I'm sure some big company makes this mistake, but don't follow the lead).

If you join affiliate programs such as Amazon.com's, you'll probably find that you get much better results if you provide links to specific products in context, rather than a generic button to those companies' home pages. For example, if you run a Web site selling Raggedy Ann dolls, why not show a selection of books about the history of rag dolls and link to Amazon.com so that customers can buy them? You actually get a larger percentage of the sale from Amazon this way. And you provide a service that makes sense for your business, rather than another distracting button on your Web site.

7. Disappearing acts: I am floored by how many small-business Web sites are here today, gone tomorrow, and back again next Tuesday. It's been a real issue for me as I write these columns. More than once I've had my editors drop me a note asking why they can't find a particular small business's Web site, when I've visited the site only days earlier. It may sound obvious to say that it's incredibly important that your Web site is up and running when customers go looking for it, but the disappearing act is a mistake that many small businesses make.

How to make sure your site is up? Either assign an employee to check the site several times a day, or use a service that will notify you if your site goes down.

8. Antique information: You'll want to keep the information on your Web site current. I've seen small businesses that have forgotten to update phone numbers, showed daily specials that were months old or offered online coupons that expired weeks earlier. You've got to maintain your Web site to keep it current. Make sure someone on your staff is responsible for the Web site's information and checks and updates it routinely.

9. Background noise: For some reason, many small-business Web sites use busy background wallpaper. You'll find gray embossed company logos, wild patterns and other distracting background designs on many small-business sites. People think the designs add interest and panache to the sites, but all it does is interfere with the messages. Stick with a basic color for the site background, one that is consistent with your site's image. A white background doesn't have to be boring.

10. You do what?: The final deadly sin is to have a Web site that doesn't quickly convey the kind of business you are in and the products and services you offer to customers. Sounds like another no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many small business Web sites leave you looking at them for minutes while pondering, "What do these folks do?"

The front or home page of your Web site should include a short statement of your business mission. Consider augmenting that statement with a photo or graphic that makes it clear what you do. One site that does this well, despite offering a service that's not familiar to many of us, is Brown Plumbing. The front page tells you that Brown Plumbing repairs pipes, and if you don't completely get it, the next few pages offer clear graphics about how they repair pipes.

We all might as well learn from the mistakes of others. These are 10 mistakes worth avoiding. (And you thought you only had seven to worry about.)