Leverage Your Website to Survive

2008-11-25T23:23:00-05:00

Sacramento, CA (Gawkwire.com) OneWebHosting.com, a leading web hosting provider for small-to-medium sized businesses, today released 5 tips designed to aid small-to-mid-sized business owners weather the economic downturn. As the economy continues to sink, many business owners are struggling with how to survive. Despite the flailing economy, OneWebHosting.com is thriving.

"My brother and I founded OneWebHosting.com during the .com bust," said Tem Balanco, co-founder and CEO of OneWebHosting.com. "Unlike other local web hosting companies that went out of business that year, OneWebHosting combined web-savvy, creativity and cost-efficient services to survive and thrive during economic downturns. We have experienced triple digit growth since that time."

Taking tips from lessons learned from the last recession in 2001, Tem created the following "5 Key Tips for Business Owners: Using Your Website to Survive the Economic Downturn" to help fellow business owners weather the storm:

1. Automate administrative business processes using your website
Most businesses have back end administrative processes that they use to run their business. These processes often involve customer input collected through registration forms, application forms, surveys, and other tools. Use your website to automate these processes by placing them online. By automating manual administrative processes using your website, you'll reduce the amount of time needed to manage this data, freeing you to focus on more important things like sales and marketing.

2. Use your website to expand beyond your geography
The geographic reach of the internet is often overlooked. For the first time, small businesses can compete nationally, even globally, with much larger businesses. If your business is geographically bound, you might think about offering a product that is not. This can diversify your business and increase the return on investment for your website.

3. Create and maintain a dialogue with your customer base
Take advantage of new communication tools the web provides like forums, blogs and email marketing. Businesses that maintain a dialogue with their customer base fare much better during downturns. For example, you can use a company blog to share tips and advice about running your business. By maintaining regular contact with your customers, you remain on customers' minds when they decide to buy again.

4. Take advantage of macro trends like "death of the phonebook"
These days, more people are using Google Maps to find local services. Google Local (google.com/local/add) has the largest reach. List your website with the local online directories. By being listed on local directories, you can capture your share of local searches at no charge and profit from the "death of the phonebook."

5. Narrow your focus
If you are new to e-commerce, narrow your focus. Small business owners often want to get all their products online and spend too much initially getting started. Start with a small sampling of your most profitable products. This will allow you to test the waters for your product online. Once your website is producing revenue, you can reinvest the profits to expand your website. http://www.gawkwire.com/business/leverage_your_website_to_survive.html

SoftLayer Sponsors Microsoft Developer Network Conference

2008-11-25T09:29:00-05:00

Dallas, TX (Gawkwire.com) SoftLayer Technologies today announced its sponsorship of the Microsoft Developer Network Conference (MSDN). The MSDN conference is a multi-city tour that features single day conference events with multiple tracks. These tracks cover emerging technology subjects such as cloud computing, development tools, and languages. SoftLayer will be a Platinum sponsor—the highest level of sponsorship available—for the event in four cities.

The conference’s focus on key industry subjects such as cloud computing and Microsoft’s Internet services platform make it a valuable experience for development professionals. Featured speakers will discuss the future of the Microsoft Application Platform, giving attendees a firsthand look at Microsoft’s vision for integrating computer services to extend the reach of existing resources.

SoftLayer’s sponsorship covers the following cities:
ï‚§   Orlando, FL – 12/11/08
ï‚§   Washington, DC – 1/16/09
ï‚§   New York, NY – 1/20/09
ï‚§   Boston, MA – 1/22/09

“We’re excited to be involved with the MSDN conference,” said Nathan Day, SoftLayer Chief Technology Officer. “The conference is an exceptional opportunity for industry professionals to share ideas. And, as Microsoft offers some of the industry’s best development technologies, it’s the perfect host to bring everyone together.”

For more information on the 2008 MSDN Developer Conference please visit:
http://www.msdndevcon.com/pages/start.aspx.

For more information regarding events that SoftLayer is sponsoring or attending, please visit our website at: http://www.softlayer.com/events.html.
http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/softlayer_sponsors_microsoft_developer_network_conference.html

Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

Leverage Your Website to Survive

SoftLayer Sponsors Microsoft Developer Network Conference