Tech2Connect.com Inc. Successfully Introduces Managed Web Services to the Emerging Small Business Web Services Market

July 19, 2006; 07:54 AM
Tech2connect helps the small business owner to successfully create a web presence at an affordable price through the use of Managed Web Services. In beginning national rollout of Managed Web Services, Tech2connect.com has received some common questions from small business owners. The last question seems to also be the bottom line question for a lot of these owners.

•    How can I learn about e-commerce and how to profit?
•    How should I choose a web site?
•    Where do I look for resources to assist me?
•    How much is this going to cost me?

Why Managed Web Services?
In the past, a website was a luxury for small business owners that involved pulling together different outside sources to handle the many facets of the construction and management process. From the design and build, to the search engine optimization, to the host server, to the domain name purchase, to the updates of product information, to the training for the possibility of self management, a small business owner could not find these services in one location at a price under $3,500.00.

“Managed Web Services is quite simply a web based management solution that fulfills all possible needs associated with designing, building, and managing a business class web site. The Client does not have to possess any technical knowledge. We provide actual human contact for the customer to consult & train with. We believe heavily in the relationship building, consultative & training approach. The 1 on 1 consulting & training alone is a huge benefit, but Tech2connect.com adds even more value by allowing users to utilize our user friendly web management software. Managed web services are a huge emerging market, & we have packages set to go starting at $29.95 per month. We are in a great position to do extremely well in the market.”     -Quote: Christina Hart, Web Service Manager, Tech2connect.com Inc.

Why do Small Business Owners Need the Internet?
The media did an excellent job of circulating the term “dot-com bust” around the United States in 2001-2002, successfully scaring small business owners into believing that there was danger in participating in e-commerce sales or investing in an internet site to boost public awareness of their company. The reality of that time in internet business could be nothing further from the “truth” that the media message portrayed.

The “dot-com bust” was about internet stocks ONLY. Companies, funded by venture capitalists and promoted like crazy, were IPO’d with no workable business plan and only one goal geared toward getting a marketing message before millions of gullible consumers via the internet. Once these short term investors made their take, they pulled their money and went on to the next investment. Coupled with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the huge overhead these companies had established in rent, payroll, and marketing, and the fact that there was no real infrastructure to begin with, these businesses went under fast, taking their stock prices with them.

Now, there were legitimate businesses in operation termed “dot-com” that were affected by this media fable. The good news about this whole situation was that it separated the true internet businesses that had established, from the very beginning, a business plan based in internet infrastructure from the venture capitalist businesses that were not what they proclaimed to be. The legitimate businesses (through some rough learning experiences and by going back to their original business plan) would go on to become major contenders in their particular market. Dell and E*Trade.com are perfect examples of this.

These examples are also businesses that started out as small business. They pioneered the internet infrastructure, tested it against the “old fashioned” physical storefront business plan, and the ones that survived the “dot-com” stock crashes, all came back to their original root business plan of keeping overhead considerably lower than their competitors by remaining internet focused. They succeeded in taking over their much larger competition.

The statistics are undeniable that internet e-commerce is only going to keep growing in unprecedented numbers. The graph below is from the latest Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. These are solid numbers for the past five years.

http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/06Q1.html

Johnnie L. Roberts, "Keepin' It On the Download", Newsweek, August 1, 2005, p. 42
"As of December, more than half of U.S. homes were wired with the high-speed pipeline to the Net. Online audiences are surging (5 million-strong for AOL's Live 8 concert coverage)."

Brad Stone, "New Ways to Drive Home the Message", Newsweek, May 30, 2005, p. 56
"70 percent of DVR owners skip the ads. Meanwhile, the average wired consumer now spends more time fiddling with the Internet at work and home than watching TV."
Brad Stone, "Hi-Tech's New Day", Newsweek, April 11, 2005, p. 62

"75 percent of Americans use the Internet and spend an average three hours a day online."
Steven Levy, "No Net? We'd Rather Go Without Food.", Newsweek, October 11, 2004, p.

The Future is Now!
Small and medium size businesses are in a position that has never been available before today. They have the ability to get a business-class, professional website with all the e-commerce solutions, support, and management needed to make their business a power house against much larger corporate competition, corporate competition that is struggling to keep overhead down by outsourcing previously middle-class American jobs to countries such as China and India.

The door is wide open to begin to build back up the American middle class through small and medium sized business using internet infrastructure. E-commerce is alive and well in 2006 and is the future of success in the small business industry. Tech2Connect.com has stepped up to the plate to get the word out that the American dream of success in entrepreneurship is here like never before.