By RK Fischer & Associates

07/07/2011 Only 50 percent of small businesses in Canada have a website and I would hazard to guess that of the 50 percent that do, there is a large percentage of those that have one page with their address or they paid a relative or friend to create a few pages on the fly in their spare time. Are you one of those people that did just that because someone told you that you needed a web presence? Unfortunately, if you spent anything for this, it was a waste of money. No one can probably find you because you haven't taken advantage of search engine optimization or listed your site in any of the search engines and most likely your content is old because you would have to pay someone to make the change.

If you are a small business without a web presence, or are a small business that is not seeing a return for your current website, there is an easy cost effective remedy. Google, Yola and several other Canadian corporate sponsors such as RBC and Rogers are providing small businesses in Canada with an incredible offer. You can get a Canadian domain name and hosting for one year free of charge. With this you get access to develop a website utilizing Yola which is an online web tool. For "free" you can select a template that you can modify and start creating a website in a matter of minutes. The tool is easy to use and Yola provides 24/7 support through their online forum and support centre, which is spectacular.

As someone that works with small businesses and as a small business owner myself, I too have been frustrated with the costs and time it takes to have a good website. I spent countless hours and time working with several Content Management System (CMS) provides who are web development companies because I felt it didn't make sense for me to develop the backend website. I felt I should stick to my core competencies with is developing content, and functionality that should exist in a website. I then gave up and did it myself due to buggy software and costs and developed my site myself, but then became a nightmare to support as it became a full time job. I was told by a colleague of this offer and decided to go check it out as I needed to make some significant updates to my site. I redeveloped my site using these tools and I was up and running in a week. There are even HTML widgets for those that do want to add customized code to your site, such as Facebook Likes, or Google Shares, or even add their own code. This product allows you to add keywords and descriptions for search engine optimization and allows you to include the code to be found in search engines and hook into Google Analytics.

There is no reason now for a small business in Canada to not have a website with this offer. You might still need help with your overall web content and utilizing interactive media, but you are no longer spending a few thousand dollars for a CMS system so you can update your own content. The major costs of a website have gone away and your focus can be on how you want to present yourself to your prospects and customers. From there, you can then add new pages and keep your content fresh.

If your concern is that you have hosting through your ISP that includes email accounts and you do not want to move this to Yola, there is no need to worry. I actually kept my hosting account, redirected my current website to the new domain and use old domain which is my company name as my email, as this was my preference.. There are a few email options as well utilizing Google Apps and Windows Live, and even Yola has an option for a Yola mailbox.

To take advantage of this offer, go to http://www.gybo.ca. If you have any questions of how to get started, contact us at info@rkfischer.com with GYBO Offer in Subject Line.

RK Fischer & Associates

RK Fischer & Associates is a business consulting and coaching firm that helps business owners increase value in their business by improving their operational and bottom line financial performance which enables them to achieve profitable growth. All of the services we provide are focused on meeti…

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