1) Residential trade contractors

Residential trade contractors include everyone from carpenters to renovators to carpet installers. While it is not immediately clear why these professions are resistant to recessions (one might think people would spend less on home repairs in times of economic distress), the data show that this sector grew 4%, 4%, and 7% during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions, respectively.

2) Turbine & Turbine Generators

One defining trait of recession-proof industries is that they are often not dependent on consumer demand. That is, the industry in question produces something that is essential to business operations or things that have little or no bearing on consumer spending. Turbines and turbine generators are an excellent example of this, boasting 6%, 12%, and 2% growth during 1990, 2001, and 2007. The reason seems to be that turbines and engines need to keep working regardless of how the overall economy is doing.

3) Medicinal & biological products

Boasting 7%, 2%, and 5% growth, the medicinal and biological products industry thrives for one simple reason: people always get sick, even during recessions. The broader state of the economy has little or no bearing on how often people get sick or require treatments, which likely explains why it has continued to grow through the three most recent recessions we’ve experienced.

4) Medical equipment

For similar reasons, the medical equipment industry has thrived to the tune of 7%, 4%, and 6% growth during the most recent recessions. The market for defibrillators, diabetes testing supplies, and other medical equipment is more or less immune to economic dips and dives for the same reason any medical-related industry is immune: sickness still occurs regardless of economic vitality.

5) Pet and pet supply stores

Pet and pet supply stores are more or less impervious to economic downturns, showing 3%, 3%, and 8% growth during the most recent recessions. Much as our pets may love us (and dogs may be described as “man’s best friend”), they are not magnanimous enough to eat less or use less kitty litter because their owners’ wallets are feeling a pinch. For this reason, stores catering to pets still manage to do well in times of economic despair.

6) School bus transportation

Thanks to our compulsory public education which forces all children to attend schools until at least age 16, the demand for school bus transportation suffers little from economic downturns. In fact, school and employee bus transportation experienced 5%, 4%, and 4% growth during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions.

7) Passenger transportation

The economic principle of substitution states that when something becomes expensive, people will substitute other, cheaper things for it. This helps explain why passenger transportation (such as riding the bus) experienced 12%, 5%, and 4% growth during the most recent three recessions. Many people no doubt decided it was cheaper to ride the bus than continue insuring and fueling expensive automobiles.

8. ) Poultry processing

This industries 2% growth rate in each of the three most recent recessions can be summed up with the maxim “hey, everybody’s gotta eat!” As one of the staples of the American diet, poultry processing plants and companies have managed to hold their ground during times of economic uncertainty. While 2% growth may not be phenomenal, it’s far better than most industries manage during bad times!

9) Motor vehicle towing

It’s not alltogether clear why motor vehicle towing grew 6%, 2%, and 4% during 1990, 2001, and 2007, but there are several plausible hypotheses. One is that people spend less money on vehicle maintenance when cash is tight, leading to more breakdowns and thus the need for towing. Another is that high anxiety and stress levels of the masses lead to more accidents, thereby necessitating more towing services. Whatever the case, this industry has grown robustly during the 3 recent recessions.

10) Water and sewage

Like eating and pet care, sewage use is more or less constant regardless of the current economic state. In fact, there is reason to believe sewage use may actually increase during recessions. When people are laid off, it stands to reason that they are spending more time at home, using their own restrooms and water supplies rather than those of their employers. Perhaps this explains water and sewage’s 4%, 2%, and 8% growth!

11) Consumer lending

One of the obvious impacts of recessions is that money is tight and consumer confidence is low. However, consumers still want and need to buy things, which is why many of them turn to banks and financial institutions. Whether in the form of credit cards or outright loans, consumer lending has gone up 3%, 8%, and 9% during the three most recent recessions.

12) Financial transaction processing and clearing

For much the same reason, financial transaction processing and clearing experiences growth during recessions as well. Once consumers are approved for their loans and/or credit cards, they need to be processed and cleared, often by the same institutions who did the lending, but sometimes also by financial “middleman” institutions. This sector has boasted recession growth numbers roughly parallel with consumer lending, at 2%, 6%, and 8%.

13) Portfolio management

Recessions do not only affect poor people. Even (and sometimes especially) the well-off begin to get nervous when the economy takes a dive, prompting them to ensure that their investment portfolios are getting the most bang for their buck in the marketplace. This helps explain why portfiolo management services grew 6%, 2%, and 5% during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions. There is simply no tolerance for dead-weight investment during such lean times!

14) Investment advice

Going hand-in-hand with portfolio management is investment advice, a sector that has grown 4%, 11%, and 11% during the same timeframe. Investment banks and stock brokers are sought out for their expertise by investors who want to earn a higher return, and those who can provide such services are richly rewarded with growth in income at a time when other sectors are hurting.

15) Direct health and medical insurance

Medical insurers have grown to the tune of 7%, 2%, and 3% during the most recent economic plunges. One possible reason is the increase in stress and anxiety-related illnesses and disorders so commonly associated with recessions, as people fear for their jobs, homes, and livelihoods. Whatever the reason, this is one sector that can be counted on for growth during rough times.

16) Self-storage centers

A common cost-cutting measure taken during recessions is to move to a smaller home or apartment, which will cost less to heat, insure, and live in. However, most of us cannot make such a move without finding somewhere to store our excess belongings during the move. This is where storage centers come in and reap 4%, 11%, and 3% growth in recession economies where most industries are struggling just to survive. It’s the old adage of business: find a need and fill it!

17) Tax preparation services

Nobody likes taxes (regardless of how the economy is doing), but when consumers are feeling the pinch of a recession, they are more vigilant than ever about making sure they aren’t paying one cent more than they have to in taxes. Hence why tax preparation services have grown 40% (!), 8%, and 39% (!!) during the most recent recessions. These are astounding figures, but they underscore how resourceful the American consumer is in times of economic distress.

18) Process and logistics consulting services

When the economy is chugging along prosperously, it is easy for waste and inefficiency to be tolerated in the day-to-day operations of businesses. But when the economic picture darkens, businesses can seldom afford such sloth. For this and other reasons, consultants who claim they can eliminate inefficiencies and cut costs associated with logistics have reaped 3%, 3%, and 4% growth during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions. (This is a key point: any business or person who can help people cut costs is valuable and even more valuable during recessions!)

19) Veterinary services

Remember: our cuddly companions don’t know what the economy is doing, so they can’t eat less – or get hurt less often – when the Dow Jones takes a dive. And naturally, most pet owners aren’t going to let Rover suffer from heartworm just because money is tight. All of this spells relief for veterinary services, who have grown 6%, 4%, and 4% in recent recession years.

20) Security guards and armored car services

The security guard/armored car services industry has grown 3%, 6%, and 3% in recent recesssion years. Why? It’s most likely because shoplifting, vandalism, and other mischief costs businesses even more dearly during recessions than during normal or prosperous times. Most firms are having enough trouble staying afloat without such unnecessary hassles draining even more money from the budget.

21) Elementary and secondary schools

Remember: our compulsory government-run school system is immune from recessions. We are forced via taxation to fund the system and send our children to be taught by it. For this reason, it is hardly surprising that elementary and secondary schools have grown 3%, 6%, and 3% during recession years. Some of this growth no doubt includes private school tuitions as well, because after all, a recesson is no excuse for not educating one’s children!

22) Junior colleges

Recessions serve as a wake-up call to those who lack the skills or credentials to get well-paying jobs. This, in turn, motivates many people who chose not to get an education sooner to get one now. Could this be why junior colleges have grown 8%, 7%, and 7% during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions? It seems as plausible a reason as any.

23) Colleges and universities

More of the same here. Having a two or four-year college degree instantly makes someone more marketable in the job market, which is why college enrollment tends to spike during recessions. Accordingly, colleges and universities have grown 1%, 7%, and 2% during the three most recent ones. An economist would say this represents people taking steps to build their “human capital.”

24) Educational support services

Since the schools have more money to spend during recessions, they are, in turn, able to spread that money around in providing for their own needs. This is partially why educational support services have some of the most robust recession growth rates of any other industry, clocking in at 10% growth during 1990, 11% growth during 2001, and an astounding 20% growth during 2007. As John F. Kennedy would say, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” When education (or any sector) does well, those sectors connected to it tend to benefit by association.

25) Ambulatory health care services

As we have already seen, medical and health-related industries suffer little (and in fact grow) during recessions. Whether it be due to stress-related problems caused by the recession or just the fact that people get sick and injured all the time regardless, ambulatory health care services have grown 6%, 4%, and 4% during the three most recent recessions. Kennedy’s saying clearly applies to the medical and health fields as well!

26) Physicians

As noted in part one of this article, healthcare and medical services are largely immune to the pressures of recessions. Physicians offices, for example, grew 5%, 4%, and 4% during 1990, 2001, and 2007?s recessions, respectively. Interestingly, the Bureau of Labor statistics indicate that mental health physicians are excluded from this figure.

27) Dentists

The inner workings of our mouths are blissfully unaware of the recession. Cavities form, gums bleed, and root canals need to be performed regardless of the how the Dow Jones or S&P 500 did last week. It should come as little surprise, then, than dentists achieved 2%, 2%, and 4% growth during the three most recent recessions.

28) Specialty therapists

Specialty therapists (such as behavioral therapists, physical therapists, and psychotherapists) enjoyed 15%, 7%, and 7% growth during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions. While the territory covered by those considered to be “specialty therapists” is too broad to draw truly valid inferences from, it’s worth noting that this sector has achieved significant and sometimes even robust growth in the face of economic adversity.

29) All other health practitioners

Other health practitioners achieved growth rates of 10%, 7%, and 8%, continuing the fascinating trend of health sectors being virtually immune from recession-related turmoil. By now, a clear signal should be emerging to job-seekers: if you have the skills, the health field will happily absorb you during good times or bad!

30) Podiatrists

Podiatrists (or “foot doctors”) have remained strong in the face of recessions, turning in growth rates of 7%, 3%, and 3% in each of the three recessions that statistics were collected for. It appears as though foot, lower leg, and ankle injuries do not slow down with the economy, as evidenced by the significant growth in this field!

31) Outpatient care centers

Hospitals and doctors offices aren’t the only healthcare sectors who seem to be a step ahead of recessions. Outpatient care centers (facilities used by patients who are not hospitalized overnight but whom need diagnosis or treatment) have grown by 4%, 3%, and 3% during the timeframe discussed. Remember Kennedy’s quote: “a rising tide lifts all boats!”

32) HMO’s

HMO medical centers have seen 5%, 2%, and 3% bumps in growth during the last three recessions. The types of people employed by HMOs range from doctors to nurses to secretaries, so don’t think that it’s just strictly medical professionals who benefit from this growth. Anyone who is employed by these places is no doubt sharing in the prosperity as well!

33) Kidney dialysis centers

Dialysis is a technique used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney functions in patients who have suffered renal failure. (For those who do not know, the kidneys are critical for urination and filtering our bloodstream.) Naturally, such problems do not stop happening due to recessions, which explains the 4%, 6%, and 2% growth rates experienced by kidney dialysis centers during the three most recent recessions.

34) Emergency medical centers

As we alluded to in part one of this article, there is likely a higher percentage of car accidents and stress-related injuries and illnesses during recessions due to the economic pressures being felt. Another upshot of this is growth in freestanding emergency medical centers and walk-in clinics, to the tune of 5% over each of the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions.

35) Medical laboratories

Medical laboratires such as those required to process blood work and X-Rays have also benefited from the growth of healthcare sectors during recessions, growing 4%, 3%, and 3% respectively. Again, this is an example of a health facility that would employ many non-health employees, such as administrative assistants, data-entry clerks, etc.

36) Home health care services

Employees working under this umbrella include assisted living personell, in-house doctors, and the like. While it is not immediately clear why this type of healthcare has grown (one would imagine that it is more expensive to have someone visit your house than to visit a facility), this sector has experienced tremendous recession growth – 19%, 5%, and 7% in 1990, 2001, and 2007, respectively.

37) Blood and organ banks

A man waiting for type 0 blood or a replacement heart does not stop needing them because the economy tanked. This translates to significant growth for blood and organ banks, who clocked in at 5%, 8%, and 5% growth during the three most recent recessions. If you or someone you know is employed in this area, there is probably little need to worry!

38) Hospitals (general and surgical)

General and surgical hospitals are yet another beneficiary of recession-economy growth, although not quite as much as some of the other, more specialized sectors. Hospitals have turned in growth rates of 3%, 3%, and 2% in each the the last 3 recessions.

39) Substance abuse hospitals

A tragic reality of recessions is that some of those affected turn to hard drugs and alcohol to numb their pain. Those who lack effective coping strategies are more apt to overdose on painkillers or drink themselves sick than seek the help they need. This could help explain why substance abuse hospitals have grown by 1%, 3%, and 2% during 1990, 2001, and 2007.

40) Nursing care facilities

When the costs of independent living become too high (as they often do in recessions), senior citizens suffering ailments often opt to check into nursing care facilities. This would appear to be a driving force behind the 6%, 2%, and 2% growth nursing homes experienced during the past three recessions.

41) Homes for the elderly

Along the same lines as nursing home growth, homes for the elderly have seen 9%, 7%, and 3% growth rates during the most recent recessions. Once again, this likely reflects the desire of the elderly to get into some kind of secure living arrangement at a time when the economy is volatile and uncertain.

42) Services for the disabled

Here is another classic example of a service that cares nothing for the state of the economy: services for the disabled. Those with chronic ailments and illnesses need just as much help in bad economic times as they do in good ones, a fact that is reflected in the robust 8%, 11%, and 7% growth rate this sector has achieved in the last three economic collapses.

43) Community housing

An obvious problem caused by recessions is increased unemployment, which in the worst cases leads the less fortunate to lose their homes. This explains why community housing, emergency, and relief-based organizations have reaped 8%, 7%, and 3% growth during the last three recessions. Too often, these organizations are the only things standing between the less fortunate and living on the street.

44) Child care

Many adults try to pick up more hours and overtime during recessions in an effort to squirrel money away. (After all, it is never known in advance how long the recession will last and how far each dollar will have to be stretched.) A consequence of this has been 7%, 4%, and 2% growth in the child care sector. After all, somebody’s got to watch the kids while the parents do all that extra work!

45) Sports agents

Most athletes have one economically useful skill: the ability to play a sport. This means the athlete must strive to maximize his use of that skill while he is still young and able enough to do so, and this is especially true during recessions. Taking this into account, it’s no shock that sports agents achieve 7%, 7%, and 6% growth in recessions, when they are ultra-incentivized to negotiate more lucrative contracts for their clients.

46) Zoos and natural parks

During recessions, expensive forms of entertainment like movie theaters, pro sporting events, and vacations become unaffordable. Stepping in to fill the void are the many zoos and natural parks, which are typically priced far lower than the above activities. Such places have realized 6%, 3%, and 10% growth rates during the past three recessions.

47) Amusement parks

Interestingly, one entertainment venue that doesn’t seem to buckle beneath the pressures of recession are amusement parks. Places like Six Flags and Lake Compounce have achieved 12% (!), 3%, and 5% growth during the 1990, 2001, and 2007 recessions, respectively. It’s tough to explain this one, but there are a few anamolies in almost every statistical category!

48) Nail salons

Nail salons have turned in growth rates of 2%, 9%, and 9% during the last three recessions. One possible explanation is that women who have been laid off or whom are unable to find work have more free time and opt to spend some of it getting their nails done. Outside of this, it’s somewhat difficult to explain why this seemingly optional activity actually gets used more during recessions than in prosperous times.

49) Local government administration

Not surprisingly, municipal governments grow during recession. Since they are primarily staffed by careerists and bureaucrats (who are by definition concerned with preserving their status more than anything else), it can hardly be described as shocking that their activities grow 1%, 2%, and 2% during recessions. Some of this growth is also likely to to increased use of government services during recessions.

50) Local government transportation

The 6%, 4%, and 2% growth in local government transportation seems to indicate that government employees are using their work vehicles more during recessions. This could either be the employees using government vehicles for personal use (to save gas, wear and tear on their own privately owned cars), or that they are using government vehicles more because of increased use of government services, or a combination of both.

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1. Make sure there is a market for what you’re selling

By now, you’ve probably heard a lot about finding your online niche. If you did your research properly, you should have found a market that has a problem that you can provide an answer for. That’s probably the most important part of your business.

If you haven’t done the proper research yet, get started now. Use a keyword tool like Nichebot or Wordtracker to find what people are searching for online. And visit the forums to see what people are talking about and what problems they need to solve.

Don’t skip this step. It’s important that internet users are going to want what you’re selling or your whole business is lost before it even begins.

2. Make sure that you’re selling something that solves their problem

If you’ve found the right niche, then you should have some idea about what their main problems are. Do some research to find out what they need to solve that problem, then offer it to them. That’s the formula in a nutshell. Don’t let your product stray from the main topic. Solve their problem, and you’ll have success.

3. Make sure you’re getting enough traffic

It’s difficult to make a good decision about how effective your sales process is if you haven’t had enough traffic to your website yet. I recommend waiting until you’ve had at least 1,000 visitors. Anything less and you won’t really have enough data to work with. Be patient.

4. Find out where your traffic is coming from

It’s important that you are getting targeted visitors to your website. Make sure that if you’re using pay-per-click advertising you’re bidding only on words that are right for your market. If you’re selling cell phones, you don’t want visitors who are searching for land line phones for their office. Remember who your visitor is.

5. Test different headlines

Your headline is the first thing your visitors see on your site. Make sure it’s compelling and gets them to keep reading. How do you do that? Simply by testing different headlines and seeing which one works best.

You can do that by rewriting it every now and then and checking your stats, or you can split test your headlines using Google’s website optimizer. Website optimizer is part of your Google adwords account. If you don’t have an adwords account, you can get one free at adwords.google.com.

6. Make sure your sales copy is effective

The last thing you want to do once you have a visitor reading your sales copy is to distract them with something that isn’t leading directly to a sale. In other words, leave out any links to other websites, forget about adsense and banner ads, and don’t start talking about things that don’t relate to your subject.

Concentrate on your sales message and proof elements, and dispelling any doubts they may have about giving you their money. This includes using testimonials if you have them, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and good strong sales copy that keeps them interested all the way through to your “buy now” button.

7. Test different price points

It’s hard to know what’s the right price for your item right off the bat. You may have it at the price you’re willing to pay, but that may not be the price everyone is willing to pay. A lot of people will expect to buy something in your market within a certain price range. If your price is too high, they’ll shop elsewhere. If your price is too low, yes too low, they might think that what you’re offering is of poor quality. You can answer this problem by simply trying out different prices to see what works best.

8. Make sure your order processing works properly and is easy to use

Test all of the links from your “add to cart” buttons all the way through to your “thank you” page. You can normally run a $0 test before you go live with most shopping cart and merchant account systems. Obviously, if your ordering system isn’t working right, you’re not going to see any sales.

Also, make sure that it’s easy to use. Get a friend to run through it for you. It may make perfect sense to you, but that doesn’t mean that it will for everyone. Let some other people try it out and see if they get stuck anywhere. Chances are good that if they do, then others will too. If everything isn’t as easy as possible to use, then some people will just leave rather than trying to figure it out.

About the Author: Mark Yarrobino is the president of Maroon Enterprises.

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SMO As Guerrilla Marketing

The nature of Social Media Optimization is such that it could be considered form of guerrilla marketing. Website owners and blog owners have the choice of either investing money or their own skills and time in order to generate traffic from social sites. As long as your efforts are directed appropriately, the more work you put in the more reward you will reap.

SMO As A Link Building Technique

Social optimization also has a happy side effect – it helps to build your link profile so you will usually gain search engine traffic in the long term. Becoming a part of an online community is essential to your social optimization and this, in turn, will naturally provide links to your website. The links will usually be from relevant pages based on a similar topic to that of your own page. The more popular social sites are also given a lot of weight by certain search engines.

Optimize Your Existing Site

Create genuinely interesting, intriguing, or informative pages. Includes images, links, video, and collaborative tools so that visitors really get involved when they do visit your site. SMO is basically digital word-of-mouth and if your website doesn’t offer some kind of appealing experience to your visitors, then it simply won’t attract the positive word-of-mouth that you want.

Add new pages, if necessary, so that you can include more information. However, don’t just add pages for the sake of it – ensure that each page really does have something unique to offer. A website still needs to be well structured.

Get A Blog

Add a blog. Every website has potential blog posts in it so find yours and start blogging regularly. Blog posts tend to attract links from other blog posts and those in turn will spread the word of your website. The more popular your blog becomes, the more value it is perceived to offer and the more visitors you will continue to get.

Be active in those blogs that are within your industry and use your link where permitted and relevant. Don’t spam because that will lose you more friends than it will make but if you offer relevant information and a forum or blog allows you to link to it, then offer an insightful comment and provide a link.

Be Active

Being active is a vital part to your whole SMO campaign. Simply registering with social bookmarking sites and content sharing sites is not enough. You need to be involved, post regularly, and generally become a part of the community. If you don’t have the time or the inclination to do this then find somebody else to do it instead.

Some Social Sites To Join

You really do reap what you sow in terms of SMO. Determine the sites that are most suitable to your website, join them, and become an active member. Choose some broad topic sites as well as some that are specific to those interested in the industry in which you operate or topic that you cover. Look at social news submission sites, content sharing sites, bookmarking, and networking sites and try to get a broad coverage of all of them. Here are just a few of the sites you should seriously consider using:

Social News/Media Sharing Websites

* Reddit – Reddit is a very popular social news website that boasts a lot of subscribers and covers a wide range of topics.
* Digg – Initially, Digg was reserved to technology and related topics but is now a broad topic news site that again has a lot of subscribers and regular readers.
* Newsvine – Not as popular as the two above but offering a slightly more formal tone to its content. Again, a good range of topics are covered.

Social Networking Sites

* MySpace – It may be largely riddled with spam but there are still too many genuine users for you to ignore MySpace. You don’t have to be an unsigned band to take advantage either.
* Facebook – Has caused quite a stir and offers users the chance to create and distribute their own applications as well as content. Another very popular site. * LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a social networking site dedicated to professionals and businesses. It can really help to build a huge network of partners, customers, and other useful contacts in a business network.

Social Bookmarking Websites

* del.icio.us – Register, store bookmarks that you find useful, and include a bookmark to your own website and use a public profile.
* Stumble Upon – Same again. Alternatively you can add a Stumble icon to each of your pages, blog posts, and other media and let your readers do the walking for you.

Buttons For Your Pages

Many social websites offer a button that your readers or visitors can use to automatically add a page. Bookmarking and content sharing sites, in particular, have these buttons and if you’ve ever read a website or an article site then you will have seen the Digg This and Stumble buttons at the bottom of each entry. Users registered with these sites can click the button and quickly add your page. The most popular websites are usually displayed on the high traffic home pages delivering yet more visitors to your site.

Offering Quality

The Social Internet has opened up a whole new avenue for promoting your business, but it needs to be done properly and carefully. Simply tagging, bookmarking, and sharing every page you have regardless of its quality will not bring you the desired results. You may find that it does you more harm than good in the long run.

About the Author: WebWiseWords is a web content writer offering appealing and professional web content.

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1. Competitive Pressure: Your competition has websites. While this alone may not drive every business decision, knowing what your competition is doing is a healthy part of self-evaluation. Do they know something you don’t? Have they or are they experiencing something you might not yet have realized?

2. Forever Fresh: A website is the only form of advertising that works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and doesn’t have peaks and valleys like print advertising. When you buy an ad in a newspaper (or even the yellow pages), there is a cyclical effect. A six-week run in the paper, or a six-month run in the local five-and-dime, all eventually end as the paper becomes stale and people move on with their lives. The website is always fresh, always inviting, and always ready to serve.

3. Two Words Say Everything: A website is the most in-depth information that you can give the public, usually in a word or two. By promoting your website, on the front door (when you are closed), on your business cards, on the telephone to someone looking for your location, in your radio advertisements, on your yellow pages ad, everywhere – you can essentially “tell” everything about your operation with that simple word: MyBusiness.com.

4. No More Yellow Pages: People don’t use the yellow pages as much as you think. Almost every employee in the country that gets paid more than $30,000/year has a computer at their desk. Few have a copy of the yellow pages nearby. Habitually, they will type in “gift shops Indian Harbour Beach” in Google — long before they hunt down the one copy of the yellow pages that was left in the breakroom.

5. Time is Money: How much time do you spend on the phone giving out trivial information? Directions, what you carry, what you don’t carry, what hours you are open, directions again, the price of some service, how one of your services “works”, directions once again, and yes you’ll be open until 6pm tomorrow night. If you could hire someone for just a few hundred dollars a year to take an increasing number of those calls for you – so that you could concentrate on running and growing your business (what you do best) – wouldn’t you do it? You’d be surprised how much your website will take off your shoulders while simultaneously driving business to you.

6. Repeat Customers: Your repeat business is your whole business. I’ll say it again. Your repeat business is your whole business. If you can’t keep people coming back to you once you’ve finally acquired that customer, you might as well lock your doors today. When your customers are reminded of you more frequently, they’ll be in to see you more frequently. They don’t get reminded by any other advertising method you use – those are all to acquire new customers. They get reminded when you invite them to sign up for your monthly specials at the checkout counter. Did you want to mail those specials (at considerable time and cost to you), or did you want to email those specials to them (at no cost and little time to you)? Most of your clients (even seniors!) will prefer an email – you will be surprised if you haven’t been doing it. Don’t let those clients discover somebody new. Keep them coming back to you!

7. The New Word of Mouth: Some business owners say, “Most of our business comes from word of mouth”. Isn’t that great? Of course, the business has little choice to grow any other way if the owners aren’t pro-actively soliciting new clients. Word of mouth is the only way anyone will find out about it. But the New Word of Mouth is email and the internet. So even though your business reputation carries on the wings of a dove, the wings of an eagle is a website. When people can look at their receipt, their bag, your business card, and shoot an email to 35 of their friends at once and say, “I just love the service at XYZ, Inc” and point to your website – that is Word of Mouth that goes much further than you could buy.

8. Existence is Everything: Without a website, you simply don’t exist. Now before you look back at all your success and dismiss this idea, consider this simple exercise. It’s 3:00pm, Friday afternoon. I have to get my hair done this weekend. (Or find a kennel for the dog, or an auto transmission shop, etc…) I type in my favorite search engine at work: “Palm Bay hair salon”. The first three links all look promising. I look at their hours, their locations, read a little about the owner of one (Wow – she’s been doing this for 23 years!) and pick up the phone and make an appointment. But guess what I didn’t know. I didn’t know that you run a hair salon six blocks from where I’ll be having lunch tomorrow. I didn’t know that – because your website didn’t come up. For me, you didn’t even exist.

9. The Future is Automation: Even though you aren’t selling things online, you can highly automate some parts of your business online – even today. You could give your customers the option to pay for their storage unit online. You can automate furniture deliveries to them. You can post your craft class schedules online and have them close registration automatically once filled. You can allow them to book appointments with your salon online – or make restaurant registrations. You can give customers the option to be notified that their dry cleaning is ready for pickup. And it is only getting easier and more convenient for customers to shop at places that serve them around their lifestyle.

10. Inexpensive and Almost Risk Free: All the above benefits are great. In the past, these benefits would have been costly. But while every other advertising medium has increased in price over the past decade, website development and hosting has decreased significantly. For a few hundred dollars a year, you can obtain all the benefits above. There is virtually “no risk”. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars and wonder if you should have bought a bigger yellow pages ad. You can guarantee a new beginning for your business today for a very small investment in yourself and your future.

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