I read an interesting article today from BIZREPORT magazine for online marketers. The article was titled “How Local Websites Are Making Money”. The following are the two quotes that really caught my eye:

“With more consumers logging on to the Internet to research products, buy tickets or get the daily news, marketers feel the Internet is the best place to convert researchers and window shoppers into buyers.”

“Researchers at Borrell Associates expect the local online ad spend to continue growth; they forecast a 50% growth rate for 2008. This is despite an apparent recession in the general US economy and a decline in retail sales over the first quarter.”

What does this mean to small business owners? It means that consumers are out there looking for local websites to shop at while they ignore brick and mortar retail. Online, they can find information and research to help them find the right product at the right price.

The way I see it, you can either have the expert site they find the information on and use that information to help guide them to the “right” (your) product, or you can let your competitor beat you to the sale. It’s entirely up to you.

And don’t think this lets B2B sites off the hook. If consumers find more value in researching and buying online at home, what do you think they do at work when the boss says find us a new phone system or screw gun or dough mixer?

HackingEthics

Originally posted 2008-05-30 19:58:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Configurators are hot new tools for small business websites Actually, website configurators are not new. But the idea that small business websites can have...
• What Makes the Perfect Link Building Tool for Small Business? The perfect link building tool for small business who want to do it themselves is...
• How I Got First Page Google... Image via Wikipedia ...for the keyword phrase Online Marketing Minneapolis. And let me tell you....

• Enhancing your Business with Blogging Blogging has become an extremely popular activity for businesses, and...
• Automated Cash - The Prospect Of Online Marketing Automatic Cash is a new and inventive technique of making...
• Online Marketing Options For Your Website - Read More Tips And Recommendations You are the owner of an online business and your...