Small firms missing out on £30bn market

I hope moderator will forgive me this but I have to comment because this is exactly the market that Terapad was designed for.

Terapad is a web publishing tool which can help SME's set up websites with web 2.0 technologies already integrated. This means that small businesses will be able compete with larger companies online like never before.

I won’t say anymore here but please check out the Terapad site to see for yourself.

Joshua Davidson

That is very interesting...I have been looking to set up online and had noticed there were lots of free or cheap ways of doing it, but I need my site to be quite complicated and have a blog and webpages otherwise there was no point really. Terapad might be the answer...will check it out. Thanks...interesting article as well.

Apologies for commenting on our own research but with the last post in mind I would like to point out that there is a free 30 day trial of the Amenworld.com e-Shop for anyone to try.

We would rather our customers be happy with our product and satisfied it suits their needs before buying it. At least this way small businesses do not waste time, and more importantly money, if the product does not suit their business needs.
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Visit http://www.amenworld.com
or call our UK office on 0870 950 3933

The wide number of ecommerce solutions, and the lack of real advice maybe part of the problem. Google for 'ecommerce solutions' or 'web hosts'. There are very many. Integration with the existing business is critical. Having to rekey accounting info may make the whole ecommerce trip uneconomic. I have not tried Amenworld so cannot comment on their offering, however the offer of a 30 day trial might help.

Perhaps the ambition level should controlled. Start off selling excess inventory on Ebay and see what words, products and prices work. Then move to your own ecommerce site. Ask your Accounts package provider what they offer or what they integrate with before opting for one of the many solutions.

Communities, such as this site, are where we are headed I believe.

The key fact here is that the writer obviously did a survey, understood may be an ample of the problem but decided to come up with a product to sell which is the lesser part of the bigger problem. The 30days issue is the same usual buy now pay later concept. Is all about marketing pitch which i do not care about so long as what you have to offer has a great value and that you are willing to provide risk control department and the also a problem solver department for people that decide to buy into your product.

WO RD OF CAUTION / SOLUTION (My Perspective)

1-If you want to do business online do your due diligence, and if you have not been in business before in your life, you need some etiquette here and personal & professional development to achieve the technical mastery of what is out here. How much have you saved up since your employment started with your J.O.B?

2-You need to have a personal growth before you can attain either professional / business achievement.

3-A better selling begins with a better you if you want to truly achieve something out there.

4- You need to have a compelling reason why you want to start your own business, if you do not have this i guess you need to go back to #2 &
#3 and get good at it.

MORE SOLUTION (5 out the 10 most important cornerstones to making it online)

1- Find a product people want! (If you need the tool to do these researches let me know?)

2-Write your sales copy that is quite compelling that smoothly converts visitors to your site sales page!

3-Set up your online Store! (Pick my brain on this)

4-Drive buyers to your site!

5-Drive more cheap (even free) traffic to your website!

The 5 left is the sudoku to the apex!
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These kind of reports, saying that there is gold in them thar hills, should be taken with a pinch of salt, since as with the goldrush days, the only people who were really making money were the service industries, people selling pick axes, and it was often them that were saying 'there's gold in them thar hills'.

The report is right to say that it is easier to create an online shop nowadays, the price of entry has come down and it is more of a level playing field. Ebay is a good example, anybody who has sold an item on ebay is an online shop owner to a certain extent. The problem is that if it is easy for you, then it is also for the next guy.

But just because it is easy to startup doesn't mean it is easy to make money, and that's where you have to forget about the e-technology and start thinking again in simple business terms, looking at your market, your competition, your products, your suppliers, your pricing, your costs (including shipping), your profit margins, your niche, etc.

As a company, ecommerce solutions are one of the services we provide too, but we are more the reluctant pick-axe sales people, as part of the consultation we encourage our clients to really think their business through before embarking on such a project, so that if they do decide to go ahead, they do so with open eyes and realistic expectations.
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Paul - www.awebapart.com - 'a web apart'
create, update your website today - the online professional site builder

That's an interesting article. We recently wrote a similar article based on the research compiled by the market research company Vanson Bourne.

To quote from our article:

"The reality is that creating a website does not equate to increased sales if no one knows where it is. It’s like spending a fortune on a fancy shop window and locating it in a desert!"

It continues..

"The report estimates 62 percent of UK small businesses are not investing in search marketing, even though 76 percent of those doing so have enjoyed an increase in sales."

Check out the full article here - Internet Marketing – Are You Being Left Behind?

BristolSEO
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About BristolSEO: Pay Per Click Management - Internet Marketing

There is a lot of competition in the online ecommerce sector, the main problem people encounter is they design their websites more around visual representation than content, then they wonder why they have limited presence on Google.
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