Reasons to Put Your Home Business Online

A Home Business Article Contributed by Jenni Mckinney

Should You Put Your Home Business Online?

If you are one of the thousands of people who run their own business from home, perhaps you should consider putting your business online. Statistics show that nearly two out of every five adults are internet users, and that number doubles for teenagers. This means that at least half of your market in the world today is expecting your home business to have a presence on the internet. Many times, this market share equates an online presence with legitimacy and success.

Putting Your Home Business Online Expands Your Advertising

It is common knowledge that advertising is the key to successfully selling a business's goods or services, because advertising means "spreading the word." Unfortunately, almost every advertising campaign that is affordable for a small home business to undertake will inherently have limits: flyers can only be distributed within certain neighborhoods; business cards can only be handed out personally; and even radio and TV commercials are typically only reaching a segment of the country at most.

But putting your home business online is an advertising scheme that can potentially reach across the nation and even across the globe without costing you your life savings. To stand as a solid competitor in today's market, your home business cannot afford to lack an online presence.

Putting Your Home Business Online Increases Your Customer Retention

If a customer buys your goods or services off the internet, you have a legitimate need to gather a lot of their personal information, including their address and phone number as well as their credit card numbers. In addition, with an online purchasing software in place, you can even track buying habits within certain regions or age groups, and you can offer to send email newsletter to your customers in order to keep them aware of any sales or discounts your online home business may have.

In this way, you are not only continuing to expand the reach of your advertising dollar, you are creating repeat customers by learning their specific habits, needs, and wants. And by offering personalized service through the use of cookies, you can make your business appear to cater to each customer, increasing their level of comfort and familiarity with your business in turn.

Ask Questions before Putting Your Home Business Online

Typically, you will be hiring a web site designer to create your web site, but before you actually enter into a contract, here are a few questions you should ask yourself. First, exactly what are you expecting your web site to do? Are you looking for a simple internet billboard, or are you wanting a completely interactive site where customers can place orders and pay with their credit cards? Second, how much can your budget handle?

Generally the more complex a web site you want, the more expensive the designer's costs will be. Third, how much time will you or the webmaster be able to invest in updating the site on a regular basis, and how often should updating occur? When you've answered these questions with the help of a designer, then you are ready to give him the go ahead in creating the perfect online presence for your home business.