Verizon Small Biz Blog

[#1]

Depending on the report you read, roughly 40 percent of small businesses today do not have a website.  And those businesses that are slightly savvy with a website typically have one that is static which does nothing to help bring in sales or even engage with customers or potential customers online – another valuable channel to bring in customers.

(This is a good read from the New York Times small business blog featuring a limousine company that for years treated its website as if it were an online brochure… one day this business owner made some changes and today, 85 percent of his business comes from the Internet… his website!)

Today Verizon launches a new TV spot featuring small business customer Elizabeth Heins from Long Island and a mother of two teens and an eleven year old.  She recently opened a retail store selling unique clothing, accessories and jewelry.  The last thing on her mind was setting up a website for her business.

Heins said, “I knew I needed a website and had the resources from Verizon, but I thought the process wouldn’t be easy so I put it off…”

Coincidentally, Heins was randomly contacted by Verizon’s small business team inquiring if she had set up her company’s website with Verizon Websites powered by Intuit.  The call prompted Heins to give it a good look and she found it was very easy to set up her company’s website.  Click here to see Heins’ website.

At Verizon, we serve many business customers.  We’re seeing that with many small businesses, they are not embracing the web as a marketing tool.  This puts them at risk of becoming invisible to today’s consumer, who typically turns to the web first to find information on local businesses, products and services.

We know many of you are busy running your business and don’t have the time to figure out what easy to use and essential tools can quickly elevate your online presence.

That’s why Verizon offers a total solution of essential tools so you can focus on running your business and not on figuring out what online tools your business needs. 

Today, if your business subscribes to Verizon’s bundled solutions of Internet and phone or TV (or both) you'll get this powerful package at your fingertips:

-- Verizon Websites powered by Intuit (an easy do-it-yourself website “kit”)

-- Google Apps for Verizon with three free user accounts including a domain name and domain name email (i.e. @youbusinss.com)

-- Verizon Internet Security Suite (to help protect again virus, spam, malware and more)

-- Verizon Online Backup & Sharing (all data are backed up in the cloud)

-- free Wifi access

-- 24/7 technical support

Think of Verizon as your company’s virtual CIO here to help – offering up key tools, resources and more.

Should you have any questions for your virtual CIO, just enter it below in the comments section.

[#2]

It's hard to believe there are still companies out there that don't have a website. So many people look to the Internet to find information/companies and make a purchase. Not having a website means that nobody can find you!