Many small business owners think if they are only going to sell locally, they don’t need a website. Think again.

Today many people don’t ever open a phone book. If they need to find a new business for a service or retail item, they are going to look on the Internet for that type of business in their area. If your company doesn’t come up, they are going to take their business to someone else.

There are also a number of other reasons why your small business needs a website and why you should be shopping for a free website builder to bring one to life.

Credibility

When potential customers use the Internet to find goods and services they don’t just want to find the items they are looking for. They are also looking for information relating to those items.

You can use a free website builder to build a website that customers trust.

By having a well designed, information-filled website, you will not only be able to show potential customers that you have what they want, but that you know your stuff and are a credible company.

Your website can build up your credibility and help you make more sales.

Size Perception

Even if you have a small company with just one or two employees, you can look like you are a force to be reckoned with if you use a free website builder to have the right type of Internet presence.

When someone logs onto a website, that online presence gives them an impression of the company they will be dealing with.

You can look as big as the corporate giants – as long as you have a website that clearly shows what you have to offer to your customers.

Window Shopping

Even if you have a product that you are sure can only be sold in your store, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the idea of having a web presence.

While customers may have to come into your office to seal the final deal, many people these days like the convenience of browsing and ‘window shopping’ online before they make the move to go to a location and make a purchase.

Use a free website builder to upload pictures and descriptions of your products and services.

Financial Backing

You should think beyond your customers when you think of why you should put up a website.

Plenty of other people are out there surfing the Internet. In addition to getting the attention of potential customers, using a free website builder to develop a well designed and informative website is also a good way to get potential partners and investors to notice you.

Getting That Site

When you are ready to boost your company to the next level with a business website, make sure to do it right. Your website is your first impression – you need to make it a good one.

While it was once an impossible task to set up a website, these days it is much easier.

Computer technology has come a long way, and now building your own website is almost as simple as filling out a few forms about your company. There are plenty of free website builder services on the market that will help you get up and running without paying a fortune.

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The small business needs to take advantage of all the resources that are available to them. This all begins with the company you choose to host your website. Although there are a number of hosting solutions on the market, not all of them are suited for small businesses. In order for your company to succeed, you need a special set of tools to market your brand, keep in contact with clients, and establish your online presence. One tool that can enable you to do all this and more is a unique program by the name of Fantastico.

What is Fantastico?

As a feature of the cPanel control panel, Fantastico comes with many web hosting plans. This third-party software offers convenience to the user by allowing them to install a variety of scripts and programs to add instant functionality to their website. The program simplifies the installation process dramatically, allowing someone with no programming experience to implement powerful software with a mere click of the mouse. This offers great convenience, as Fantastico makes administering and creating a website much easier.

Hosting with Fantastico has become a popular option for small and medium sized businesses alike. This program is feature-rich and offers many benefits to the webmaster. Its greatest attribute is the wide range of programs available for installation, featuring well over 40 scripts that can be used to enhance your website. The software also receives frequent updates, ensuring that the programs you install are stable and secure.

Below are some of the many scripts that are available when hosting with the Fantastico script installer.

Blogs: The blog has become one of the most powerful tools you can have in your marketing arsenal. With Fantastico, you have access to three of the most popular blogging programs available: b2Evolution, Nucleus and WordPress. These programs allow you to expand your business with customizable skins, SEO tools and support for multiple languages.

Content Management Systems: Content management systems add ease to the process of administering your online community. Web hosting plans with Fantastico give you the power to incorporate the Drupal, Mambo, PHP-Nuke and SiteFrame CMS. These programs enable threaded comments, news feeds and simple file sharing. Whether it’s a blog or community forum, a CMS will help the operation run smoothly.

Customer Support: Your business is only as good as its level of customer service. The Fantastico script installer gives you the opportunity to provide the best possible support on various levels. Crafty Syntax is a live chat system that allows your customers to receive assistance in real-time. Help Center Live is an all-in-one support center where customers can fill out support tickets or refer to an FAQ section that you set up. osTicket and Support Logic are also support ticket tickets that support multiple email addresses and HTML tags, as well as give you the ability to assign separate panes for your support staff.

Discussion Boards: Discussion boards can be used as another means of promoting your business while allowing customers to provide important feedback. Fantastico comes included with two of the best bulletin boards with Invision Board and SMF. Both are easy to use, scalable and packed with great features.

E-Commerce: If you plan to make any money online, having a shopping cart integrated into your website is a must. With Fantastico, you get three quality programs in CubeCart, OS Commerce and ZenCart. Each shopping cart offers easy customization, allows you to sell hundreds to thousands of products, and supports multiple gateways. Having the luxury to choose which program your customers interact with is a great benefit.

Image Galleries: Photos allow you to spruce up your website with colorful content. When hosting with this amazing script installer, you can upload your pictures with three different programs in 4Images Gallery, Coppermine and Gallery. These programs will help you manage your images, while allowing users to interact with them.

Mailing Lists: Launching an email campaign takes a lot of time and planning. Fantastico gives you the powerful PHPlist program, which simplifies your campaign tremendously. Written in the PHP language, it allows you to keep your contacts organized and supports multiple mailing lists.

Aside from the programs listed above, Fantastico offers even more scripts from the WebCalender application that allows you to keep up with your schedule, ranging from events to PHP Auction, which helps you run an eBay-like auction on your website.

Conclusion

Fantastico is an amazing program that offers a number of benefits to web developers of various levels. To the small business owner, it’s absolutely priceless. This program offers the seamless development and administration of your site, a process that will become effortless after learning the ins and outs.

The best thing about Fantastico is that this software and all of its additional scripts are provided for no extra cost with your hosting plan. While it is possible to manually install these programs on most servers, this takes vast programming knowledge and a considerable amount of your time. Because Fantastico makes life much easier, you should inquire within a web host to find out if they provide this program or a similar installer.

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Mike Jewson is a Network Engineer with “Doreo Hosting”. You can learn more about “Web Hosting” services online at www.Doreo.com © 2008 Doreo www.Doreo.com You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the “Author Biography”).

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