I am constantly astounded by companies I find when I look in the yellow pages book (I am there looking for potential customers in case you wondered.) that have an email contact like "bobsgardeningsupplies@hotmail.com. They have gone to the expense and trouble of creating an add and in some cases a very large ad that would have cost them in the vicinity of $30K + per year and have failed to spend the time to get professional email address or website. I understand that many people get work from the yellow page but most businesses I talk to do not even measure where the enquiries they are getting come from which means it could be money wasted.

On the other end of the scale there are the people that have just started their business and have very little to spend on anything and I can understand why they use a free email account.

To me a free email address and no website makes the company appear small and new. With larger and larger numbers of people using the web instead of phone books you not only need to have a web presences to look professional you also need one so you do not look like a start up. Just by having a website or webpage and a proper email give you a leg up in the minds of searchers

Barriers to getting on the web.

I am a web developer and I know it can cost a lot of money to get a website. i have turned down countless businesses that could not afford our solutions. I also here small businesses say that they have other more important expenses like rent and power and crazy things like food..... I know. But what if you could get an email addresses, web page, domain and all the tools you need for interacting with your team for under $500. You would be crazy not to go for that.

What the web does is level the playing field. No one can really tell if you are large or small, based at home or in a large office. You can appear huge and professional on the web and your customers will never know.

So get a smallbusinesspage.com.au web presence and look professional.