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This Week's Quote
If you don't drive your
business, you will be driven out
of business.
- B.C. Forbes
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WHOIS
Regarded as a database and a tool. As
a database, it is maintained by a domain
registry which contains pertinent
information about domain names, their
registrants including Administration and
Technical Contacts, date of Creation and
Expiration and Name Servers which identify
the location of the respectful web site.
As a tool, WHOIS is used for accessing the
various databases owned by the Registrars to
see if a requested domain name is available |
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 Put
Me on the Map
Before the explosion of commercial
application in the Internet, and before home
and office Internet access was the rule
rather than the exception, a wide variety of
local businesses in any given market could
have argued that there was no need to have a
web site. That has all changed today!
If you own a local pizza shop, auto
maintenance garage, party and novelties
supply store, or perhaps a service like
accounting, cleaning, property maintenance
and so on, the way in which people make use
of the Internet, and the way in which people
depend on the Internet suggests some great
arguments for having even a small and simple
web site.
In that last sentence, the operative word is
'depend'. People today depend on the
Internet for information - local and
otherwise. This change in the
consumer's habits dictates the change in
strategy even a local business with a local
market should adopt in order to to be easily
sourced by existing and new customers.
Marketing studies show that people are more
likely to make use of the Internet to find a
local phone number, or a local service to
meet their needs. Yellow pages and
newspapers are loosing ground. You
will be making it much easier to be found by
those looking for you by name or by the
nature of your business!
Another benefit of having a web site is that
you can be found in local searches by
ensuring you include the name of your town
or city in your content. Your web content should also
include the names of neighbouring towns and
municipalities which form your target
market. Keeping in mind how important
text is to search engines, information like
your street address, postal code and phone
number must be included, and it is this kind
of information that should be on your main
or landing page. Consider instructions
for driving to your location and placing an
easy to view map on your site as well.
Of course as we've stressed in earlier
newsletters how your web site should also
contain information about your products and
services, information about your business,
testimonials, your hours of operation and so
on. When people have landed on your
site, you have their attention, so make the
most!
Finally, when you compare the price of
having a small site designed and hosted for
a year to the price of regular newspaper
display advertising and yellow page display
ads you would be pleasantly surprised at the
savings. And where this print media is
confined to your local market, remember the
web is not.
Unlike print advertising, you have the benefit of changing
your web copy instantly to
reflect changes, sales and new product or
service offerings.
If you operate in a
tourist related town, remember that people
planning to travel to your town often use
the Internet to source and research what
products and services can be found in your
community. Let people know you are open for
business.
In today's world, having a descent web site
just adds more credibility to your business.
Your customers expect it.
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