As time goes by, more people go online to find local products and services rather than using the yellow pages or phone book. The internet is the fastest growing advertising and marketing tool becoming the information medium of first resort.

Benefits to your clients

• They can find out more about your business by visiting your site instead of the yellow pages
• They can "visit" your company at all hours of the day, when it is convenient to them, even when your store or office is closed
• They can learn about your services and products without having to get in the car and drive to your place of business
• They can receive further support by offering them information such as FAQs, troubleshooting procedures, product  specifications, how-to procedures, diagrams, and special help lines.
• They can view your products and services at their own pace without feeling pressure to buy, allowing a for a more pleasant experience.

Benefits to you

• No longer confined to your local area, the Internet allows you to break through the geographical barriers, and become accessible to a wider range of potential clients who are interested in your products and services.
• Communicate with customers and partners more efficiently by providing quick access to information about new products, services, or ventures your company is undertaking.
• Unlike printed materials, you can easily change information online.
• Interactive websites allow you to build customer databases and user profiles, providing you the ability to customize offers.
• Your company is virtually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Smaller businesses can look bigger than they are with a professional website design. Now the small guy is on the same playing field as the big guys!

By the numbers

• $233.4 billion: Projected 2007 online retail sales: Forrester Research
• 54% of US travel to be booked online in 2007: PhoCusWright
• 14% of all jewelry will be sold online by 2010: Forrester Research
• 15.9% of US households to buy movies online by 2008: Parks Associates
• 25% of e-commerce operators get 50% of revenues during holiday seasons: WebTrends
• 88% of retailers plan to focus on improving content presented on product detail pages: Forrester Research
• 33% of companies planning to invest more in live chat and 53% planning to enhance their guest checkout process within the next year: Forrester Research
• Online commerce will pass the $1 trillion dollar mark by 2012, Leadpile said
• E-commerce to total $329 bln by 2010, represent 13% of total US sales: Forrester Research