E-COMMERCE IS GROWING FASTER THAN PREDICTED
Up Over 1800% In The Past 3 Years

FACT: The US Department of Commerce reports retail e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2002 were $14.4 BILLION, UP 28.2 PERCENT from the forth quarter of 2001. FACT: The number of internet users will climb to 80% of the USA population, or roughly 240 million individuals in less than three years (by 2005). FACT: Pocketsize computers with wireless internet access are now available.

Online shopping has become universal - anything you can buy at a store can now be bought online. Cars, computers, clothes, sporting goods, gifts, appliances, books, music, antiques, pharmaceuticals, travel, jewelry... the list is endless. By 2004, more than 80 million U.S. households will buy on-line, growing Web revenues to $210 billion -- representing a 69% CAGR. Homes will have computer access in several places, allowing the whole family to be connected. It is estimated that 17. 40% of all purchasing will be done on the Internet, during the next 3 years. On-line retailing is no longer a question mark. Our interviews with 100 on-line merchants reveal that sales are at least double what merchants projected a year ago -- 31% of retailers that disclosed profitability are in the black.

1. Be Open For Business 24 Hours a Day
Your business is open to the world 24 hours a day, 7days a week with no labor costs to watch it. An online store never closes. And a website faces no time zone barriers.

2. Reach New Markets With a Global Audience
Internet is the most cost effective way to trade nationally and internationally. A website will broaden your base of customers, members, distributors or suppliers. You can generate more and more clients for your business without doing additional marketing. Today, more and more customers are making purchases through the Internet. Why should you limit your business to your immediate locale when the whole world may be your potential market? Thanks to the Internet, it is as easy to sell halfway across the world as it is to sell across the street.

3. Nerve Center for the Global Economy
The Internet has become the nerve center for the global economy. Many world leaders are realizing that those organizations will thrive in this global Internet economy who will grasp its importance before their competitors do. A well-designed website is not only an Internet identity for your organization, it is an essential part of the success and future of your company in the 21st Century.

4. Present a Professional and Credible Image
Your organization must make the leap into the 21st century if it is to be perceived as professional in today's marketplace. Today, customers, employees, and suppliers expect to be able to find and communicate with a business online. It is very much like being listed in the Yellow Pages, if you do not have a listing, potential customers will not be able to find you and trust you? Organizations that still do not have a Web presence are inadvertently making a statement about their ability to embrace technology and adapt to change in today's dynamic environment. For a small business, a well-designed website is a great way of creating credibility and looking bigger than you actually are. You can look like one of the big corporations at a very small cost. When one compares the cost of establishing a website to what it costs to promote a business on the traditional media (newspaper, radio, television), it is evident that a website is the cheapest form of marketing ever created.

5. Improved Customer Service
You can provide 24 hours customer services without hiring any additional employees. Your customers are better served when they can access information about your product or services immediately via your website rather than waiting for a mailed brochure or a return telephone call. In today's fast-paced market, how quickly and conveniently customers can access the information or purchase the product is frequently the factor that determines who will win the sale. Provide answers to frequently asked questions on your website. Information requests can be processed immediately via online forms and autoresponders whether someone is in the office or not.

6. Save Money on Printing and Distribution Costs
A website is your online brochure or catalog that can be changed or updated at anytime at a much cheaper and faster rate than print material. It saves you money on printing and distribution costs.

7. Create A Product Or Service Showcase
Provide photos and detailed descriptions of your products or services. Explain why your products or services are superior to your competitors. Show them how your products or services can help them in their personal or professional lives.

8. Automation, Productivity, and Profitability
Through Internet automation you can increase productivity and profitability. Online automation can reduce costs for advertising, sales personnel, and other support staff. A website increases your company's productivity because less time is spent explaining product or service details to customers since such information would be available 24 hours a day on your website. A website saves costs by allowing users to download invoices, proposals, and other important documents. Your website can also allow the customers, employees, and suppliers to have their email address added to your mailing list. Sending an email to your entire email list can be done at virtually no cost.

9. Sell Your Products and Services Online
Selling through your website is much cheaper and a great way to supplement your offline business. Providing secure online ordering is very affordable today. That explains why the online commerce has surpassed $188 billion by 2004.

10. Stability
You may move your place of business, change your phone number, or even change your hours, but your website address never changes, and your website is always open.

11. Your Own Internet Identity
Your own domain name (www.yourcompany.com) establishes a strong online brand identity, and allows you to set up email addresses specific to your own company. Today, email is the most common way to communicate efficiently and professionally with the rest of the world.

12. Promote Your Services
Lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, entertainers, realtors and all service oriented businesses should take advantage of the massive reach of the Internet. Millions of users are logging on to the Web to compare various specialists and practitioners before they purchase a specialized service.

13. Customer Feedback
You can gather information about your existing and potential customers by using online forms and surveys. Provide a feedback form to make it easy for your customers to send their input. Conduct surveys to find out how you can improve your products and services. Your site statistics can also help you understand how your visitors and customers use your site.

14. Worldwide Exposure
There are numerous ways you can promote your website to enhance prominence, drive targeted traffic, and get worldwide exposure for your business. You can register your site with various search engines and directories that reach more than 560 million Internet users around the world. Most of the search engines and directories allow free registration of websites. Leverage the massive reach of the Internet and the precision targeting of the search engines and directories. You can send press releases to news media about your website that features unique aspects of your organization. You can also promote your site through free banner advertising on various link exchange networks.

15. Many Money From Your Site
You can also earn revenue for sales, leads, and traffic driven from merchant links and ads placed on your site. Take advantage of free access to various affiliate networks on the Internet.

16. Great Recruiting Tool
You can post job opportunities with your company on your website. Your website is a great recruiting tool for building your business.

17. Transfer Information to Branches and Affiliates
Transfer of documents through your website is cheaper and faster than by UPS, FedEx, etc. You can password protect your files if security is needed.

18. Viral Marketing Without a Marketing Cost
You can have your satisfied customers refer you to their friends and relatives through an online form on your website.

19. Improve Your Advertising Effectiveness
Your website address on all of your promotions will give your company a cutting edge corporate image and it will encourage the viewers to check your site for additional information. The addition of your website address on your ad increases your exposure without adding any cost.

20. Educate Your Customers
Your website can offer free advice about your services and products including ideas and suggestions for maximizing the benefit of your products.

Why a Professional Needs a Website

All types of professionals and freelancers can achieve the same above-mentioned benefits from a web presence. Lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, entertainers, realtors, and all service oriented professionals and freelancers should take advantage of the massive reach of the Internet.

10 Reasons Why an Individual Needs a Website

For an individual, a website and a personal domain name can be useful in many ways.

1. Permanent Identity
A domain name is your personal and unique identity on the Internet. You can set up a personal or family website that may feature your family history, resumes of family members, family photos, travel photos, etc.

2. Personalized Email Address
You can have a personalized email address such as Chris@SmithFamily.net. Your personalized email is lifelong as long as you keep your domain name and website. You never have to worry about updating friends and family with a new email address when you change your job or Internet service provider.

3. Make Contact/Keep in Touch With Family
Your website can help you establish and maintain contact with others and network with your peers. Many families are spread across the country and around the world. Family members often miss out on precious moments such as new babies, first steps, graduations, birthdays, weddings, etc. If you have a website, you can post pictures and videos of your family on your site so that everyone can keep up to date.

4. Showcase for Your Hobby or Craft
Set up a website around your hobby, sport or craft. You can feature your work or collections. It may even be the beginning of a home-based business.

5. Club or Community Organization
Set up a website around a community organization or a club you started.

6. Children's Website
Give your children a head start in the information revolution by giving them their very own website.

7. Domain Name as an Investment
You may keep your personal domain names as an investment. Many common personal domain names will become scarce and valuable assets that are likely to increase in value. The personal domain name registration rush has begun. Most of the common first and last names in the world have already been registered. You may still be able to get some variations of your name or your family name for your domain. Act now before it's too late.

8. Share Information
On your website, you may post information that would be helpful or interesting to others around the world.

9. Worldwide Exposure
There are numerous ways you can promote your site to get worldwide exposure. You can register your site with various search engines and directories that reach more than 560 million Internet users around the world. Most of the search engines and directories allow free registration of websites. You can send press releases to news media about your website that features unique aspects of your club or hobby. You can also promote your site through free banner advertising on various link exchange networks.

10. Make Money From Your Site
You can also earn revenue for sales, leads, and traffic driven from merchant links and ads placed on your site. Take advantage of free access to various affiliate networks on the Internet.