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Home::ECommerce
How Big Websites Help The "Little Guys" Grow
Author : Jim Edwards
Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards
One of the most frequent questions I get goes something like
this:
"I don't have a lot of money. How can I start an online business
or expose my existing online business to the world without
spending a fortune to do it?"
Basically, people want to know how they can exploit the power of
the Internet to grow their businesses with the least amount of
time, energy, effort and money.
My answer: Ride the coattails of the huge websites who've done
all the trailblazing you'll ever need to kick-start your online
business.
According to Alexa.com, the following websites rank among the
Top 10 sites on the Internet out of the billions and billions of
websites available today.
As I list them, pay attention to how they can help any
"bootstrapping" business, no matter what size.
1. Yahoo.com - This perennial search giant not only helps you
research online, but can help get traffic to your site. Most
notably their advertising subsidiary, Overture.com, can attract
visitors to your site starting as low as a dime per click.
2. MSN.com - Microsoft's portal site can lead you to free email
accounts (Hotmail.com) and free instant messaging
(Messenger.MSN.com) to make online communication free and easy.
3. Google.com - Currently the Web's most popular search engine
and all-around media powerhouse, Google can help you, among
other things, buy clicks starting at about a dime
(AdWords.Google.com) and expose your full-length, full- motion
videos to the world free of charge (Video.Google.com).
4. eBay.com - The Web's #1 online auction site, eBay.com gets
millions of visitors daily, all of whom want to spend money on
something. You can spend less than a dollar to put up some used,
damaged, or older merchandise from your business to gain
exposure to new customers and create a new revenue stream.
5. Passport.net - Passport.net is related to MSN.com and should
get grouped with #2.
6. Amazon.com - The Web's largest bookseller is also one of the
largest online retailers of consumer goods. You can grow your
business by targeting Amazon's millions of visitors with your
own books, CDs, DVDs and more for surprisingly little cost.
Also, the Amazon Marketplace makes it easy for you to sell new
and used merchandise directly through Amazon.
7. MySpace.com - Allows you to create a website that's part
blog, part chat room and part networking space. MySpace.com
provides a fast way to post and share information with
associates online.
8. Microsoft.com - Besides providing the vast majority of PC
operating systems in the world, Microsoft.com also boasts one of
the largest available clipart and photo collections on the Web.
You can quickly find and use these professional images in Web
sites, brochures and more.
9. Google.co.uk - The popularity of Google's United Kingdom site
demonstrates that if you sell anything online, figure out a way
to sell it to people in England too! You can automatically
advertise on this site through Google's AdWords program (see #3).
10. AOL.com - America Online's portal site enables you to get an
email box with 2 GB of storage along with their classic AIM (AOL
Instant Messenger) to facilitate all your online communications.
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