It’s estimated that around half of the small businesses in the United States don’t have a website. Without a website, these businesses are missing an opportunity to widen their exposure and get more business.

Maybe your business doesn’t translate to online. However, if you sell any type of products or services, you may also be able to offer these online. As long as your products can be legally shipped according to postal regulations, you can take your business worldwide.

Here are five reasons why you should consider building a website for your business:

1. Provide information about your products and services.

A website is far more than a brochure. You can provide extensive information about your products and services including descriptions and photos. You may also want to provide additional information about your industry with articles or news. News about your business is also good to include.

2. Sell products and services directly.

With payment processors like Pay Pal and Google Checkout now available, it’s easier than ever to sell online. All you have to do is create a page about your product and a payment button, and you can start selling in minutes.

Make it easy to shop on your site. Process orders promptly, and let your customers know when they can expect to receive their shipments.

3. You can reach a global audience.

You are no longer bound by your local audience. You are able to reach millions, possibly billions, with what you sell. Anyone who is on the internet will be able to see your offers.

Even if what you provide is local, you will still find those who contact you for more information because they need your service. A good example of this is someone who is relocating and needs a real estate agent, a home inspector, or more information on services provided in the new community.

4. Your business is open 24/7.

You don’t have to be there for your website to be working for you. Barring any type of outage, your website is available for customers to visit at any time. They can do so at their convenience and don’t have to worry about getting to your physical location by a certain time.

5. It’s less expensive than having a brick and mortar business.

In fact, many businesses are run completely online. Other than a home office, many businesses are only available on the internet. This decreases the costs of doing business because building and hosting a website nowadays is pretty inexpensive.

Regardless of what type of business you run, if you want more business, or you just want to expand your presence, building a website is the way to go.

Thinking of relocating your business? If so, you are in the right place. There are quite a number of reasons as to why you might feel the need to relocate your business. Perhaps you might be running out of space or might feel the need to expand your business or better still, you might have spotted a better opportunity for your business within the state or outside the state. Whatever the case, you will need to complete the move as fast and efficiently as possible so that you can get back into full operation. To help you with that, the following is an overview of some of the best tips for relocating your business

Evaluate your business

The first step would be to make a thorough logistical evaluation of every part of your business. This will give you the opportunity to decide what needs to be moved and more importantly, in what order so as to make your moving experience as smooth as possible

Make a to-do-list

Relocating your business can be quite hectic and as a result, some things tend to be overlooked. To avoid this, ensure you come up with a to-do list that encompasses every stage of the moving process. When creating your to-do list, it would be in your best interest to first break the tasks involved into major tasks under which you should create some minor tasks so as to make the process as efficient as possible

Hire professionals

Relocating a business entails quite a lot and in view of this, it would be in your best interest to acquire the services of a professional so as to ensure that everything goes smoothly. For starters, you might require some professional help during the moving process as well as the remodeling of the new premises. If relocating to a new state, you might also be required to register your business afresh. In view of this, ensure you enlist the help of professionals so as to make the relocation process as smooth as possible

Update your clientele

Between one and three months before you relocate, be sure to get in touch with all your customers and vendors and update them on the anticipated change of location. Adjust your shipping and billing address a few days before making the big move and also take time to update your business cards, online profiles and even websites

By putting into practice the above mentioned moving tips, you are assured of having the best experience when moving

The wave of technology has hit hard and wise people are taking advantage of it to create business opportunities. This is for the purpose of earning an income and improving their standards of living in any possible way. With technology, comes great opportunities to earn and save money. Technological devices and gadgets have been introduced in the quest of making life easier. However, technology’s greatest gift that seems to have changed the world is the internet. It definitely has opened doors of opportunities that people hadn’t even realized there were.

With the emergence of the internet, people; Buyers, sellers, the government, churches and even schools have found great use for it. Research shows that businesses have recorded massive growth after positively utilizing online platforms. This might explain why it is encouraged that people venture into online businesses in the quest of earning an income.

Since creating websites and creating business pages on social platforms is easy and takes only a few minutes of your time, people assume that that’s all it takes. Quite on the contrary, there still are some legal obligations that you have to adhere to. Remember, your taxes help keep the economy afloat and subsequently improve the country and its citizen’s statuses.

If you have an existing business, taking it online will expand its boundaries hence earn you even more profit. You stand a chance of winning even more customers and that comes with even more responsibilities. Setting an online business takes more than just creating a website and making sales.

Just like any other money making venture, online businesses should be taken seriously. You need to apply tact in setting it up and even determining the kind of merchandise to trade in. Some of the questions that you should ask yourself is;

What am I good at? Art, music, culinary arts, web designing, fashion, writing. Doing what you love is more likely to lead to success

Who are my target clients/audience? If they are the young, establish ways to grab their attention.

What marketing platforms should I use? If your target audience is the young, advertising through the social media may yield result.

Sometimes online workshops require clients to disclose personal information in the ordering and payment processes. If disclosed to careless online business owners, the client may be at risk of identity theft and account hacking. Sensitive factors such as security, copyright, privacy and taxation are your responsibility. Your clients’ information needs to be protected at all times which makes it a legal issue.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a primary federal agency that regulates e-commerce activities. This includes the use of commercial emails, consumer privacy and online advertising. The rules and regulations stated by the FTC are available on hard copy and online hence accessible to all.

Sales tax is a means for the government to earn money for the state through business owners. If you decide to set up an online business, you may be required to pay taxes. This depends on whether you have a physical store in any of the states. If you have a physical location, you are allowed to charge taxation on the prices of your goods. However, if your business does not have a physical presence then charging a sales tax is not necessary.

In 1992, a supreme court ruling was passed in regards to grounds of taxation. It was ruled that sales tax should not be pursued on mail order businesses and, by extension, online businesses by the state. It was reasoned by the court that exerting the over 7,500 rule on business people would strain their businesses as well as the interstate commerce.

If you intend to charge a sales tax, you need to familiarize yourself with the laws that govern it. It is important to note that not all states have the sales tax rule, for instance, Delaware, Alaska, Montana, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Oregon. Some states are also exempted on sales tax especially on particular products such as clothes and food. In this case, charging a sales tax in Alaska would be illegal. It is noted that most online business owners use the cart service to handle their transactions. Such a service is programmed to calculate the sales tax rates for you. It makes the stress of determining which sales tax to charge less cumbersome.

Copyright and Digital Rights

With an online business, personal data is not the only thing that you have to protect. Digital works which include text, movies, art and music are copyrighted and protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It protects the information released on the internet as well as other types of electronic information. This keeps both yours and your client’s information safe from intruders.

This also prevents internet service providers from copyright infringement liability. However, it is advisable that you, as an online service provider, remove material that seems to invoke copyright infringement from your website.

The Copyright and Digital Rights measure also makes it illegal to circumvent anti piracy measures that are built in most commercial software. It also makes it illegal to produce, sell and distribute devices that are used to copy software illegally. It also requires web-casters to pay up licensing fees to record companies.

These legal requirements are mandatory and only prove that broadening your business boundaries to the online platform takes more than setting shop and making money. However, sellers who do not have a physical store experience less financial obligation to the government as opposed to those who do.

With the high level of unemployment, citizens, both young and old are encouraged to take advantage of the online trading in the hopes of making sales hence earning a living. The advantage of online businesses is that one does not require special skills on how to go about it. Starting an online business is fast and easy and doesn’t require much of your manual input. Most importantly, one can conduct their business wherever and whenever. As long as you have your laptop with you, and of course internet connection, you can possibly do business at your convenience.