Every conceivable type of business can profit from having a website. If you have a business, however large or small, a good website can only be a bonus to you. Many small local businesses question whether or not they need to be visible to the entire world, but selling globally is not the only reason to have a website.

Let’s take the hypothetical example of a small picket fence manufacturer who does business within a limited range. Our business owner, Stan, manufactures picket fences in a small factory and delivers and installs them only in suburbs that lie within a fifty mile radius of his factory. Stan was on the road almost every day chasing leads and was becoming increasingly frustrated because only about a quarter of his leads turned into sales.

He was talking it over with his employees one day and one of them offered to make a website for him. Stan agreed. The employee got his digital camera and make a kind of online scrapbook album that included photos of the factory, the manufacturing process and a collection of photos of completed work. There was nothing fancy about it, but it worked!

When people called Stan to inquire about his fences, he encouraged them to look at his website first and if they liked what they saw, he went out to their homes and spoke to them in person. As a result, Stan got a far higher percentage of sales from his initial home visits. He didn’t make more sales, but he was able to use his time more efficiently and profited from that.

Deeply impressed, Stan asked his employee if he had any other ideas. The employee suggested that Stan get in touch with other local businesses and, if they agreed, exchange links with them.

Stan made a few phone calls and it didn’t take long before a nearby home decor accents business nearby happily agreed to do a link exchange. To Stan’s surprise, within a short time he was getting quite a few more leads. Over the course of a few months, he saw his profits increase by ten percent, thanks to an inexpensive website and a single link exchange.

Then he got his big break. A home developer was just getting ready for a new property launch and agreed to do a link exchange with Stan. They had nearly completed a development of over a hundred homes. Everyone who went to their website saw Stan’s link and when they purchased their home, they remembered him and called him first when they wanted to fence in their house.

Stan never made any big changes to his website, but it continued to pay off for him. His business doubled in size and profitability. That’s how the internet can help even small businesses!







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