Archive for April, 2007

I was completely amazed at a statistic I read today and that is 50% of all businesses in the United States do not have a web presence let alone a website!  Let me repeat that; 50% of all businesses in the United States DO NOT have a website!  Can you believe that?  I mean, what color is the sky in the world they live in because it is definately not blue!  How can a business in America be so naive to just dismiss the importance of the Internet?  Have they been sleeping with their head under a pillow for the last five years?  There are more than 200 million searches conducted on the Internet each and everyday and 55 billion searches per year by people looking for products, services, and/or information.  Can someone explain to me why a business would not want to try and capitalize on that?  Is it because they do not want to make money?   I mean lets be real here, having a website is a necessity in today’s business environment especially if you want to keep up with the competition.  Equally as important and worth mentioning is driving targeted traffic to your website once you get one with an online search advertising campaign (aka “pay-per-click advertising) such as Google AdWords or MSN AdCenter.  The two (a website and a PPC campaign) go together like a wink and a smile.  Here chew on this statistic;  in terms of dollars spent, it is expected by the end of 2007 that online advertising will surpass traditional magazine advertising.  Back in March of 2004, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave a speech where he said something to the effect of that in ten years, all  advertising dollars will end up online because the division between mobile devices, personal computers and televisions will no longer exist.  Having said that, to the business owners who have been asleep, I say, it’s time for you to wake up and smell the coffee.  If you are not doing business on the web, soon you will find yourself out of business.  Until next time my friends,JoAnn