Recouping Investment Losses Often key to recouping investment losses is to bail out before ship goes down. If you see large sums of money going down drain it's time to find an alternative investment approach. You may want to divide your investment money between brokers and corporations and industries for a time to see which performs best. RefinanceLoanRates at http://www.RefinanceLoanrates.com reports high gains for real estate financing industry, mortgage bond and other finance sectors compared to many equity market sectors. Real estate holders are using innovative ways to recover losses due to recent stock investment failures from shaky corporate share reports. One option is short-term financing programs that allow consumer to pocket funds for immediate alternative investment purposes. Many applicants are repeat refinancing, having refinanced as early as a year ago. When choosing alternative investments make certain that acquisition of gains will be at an acceleration equivalent or exceeding deceleration of investment losses.

If you have suffered investment losses and can prove this resulted from relying on a firm’s advisory and management you may have a chance of recouping at least a portion of your losses. To accomplish this you may have to go through arbitration or other legal process.

Another avenue to recouping losses often not considered is reducing trading transaction costs. Unlike trading returns which are uncertain, transaction costs are 'certain' costs. Certain costs can be controlled. Consider reducing transaction costs when and wherever possible. Set up and stick to a strict limit order and stop loss regime. Following these basic cost reduction and revenue recovery methods can help your business survive for generations to come.

- Visitor Polls

Invite your customers to give their opinion about something of interest. For example, a business that caters to parents who home school their children posed question: "Which question are YOU asked *most* about home schooling?" This question is relevant to target market and something they most likely have experienced. It invites them to participate and along way, give their opinion about something.

But most important to business owner, it can be a source of incredibly valuable information about customer - and it's free. It also makes your website more interesting (as long as poll changes often enough).

- Discount Coupons

What better incentive for someone to visit your website than to save money? Customers love getting a bargain, and great thing about coupons is customer usually has to buy something to get whatever goodies coupon offers.

Your coupon will especially motivate prospect that was already thinking of doing business with you. If you're using a website building tool, it can easily be added at click of a mouse, and unlike a yellow page coupon, you can change it anytime.

These are a few simple examples, and this list can easily be expanded: order status, press releases, product information, a searchable product database. Again, possibilities are endless.

6. TO GET PUBLICITY

Every business needs exposure, and one of best kinds is media attention. If your business is something new and different, send out a press release that includes your URL -- you could get written up in local paper.

Even an ordinary business can get media coverage if you can come up with right angle - perhaps a follow-up to a previous article? A human interest story? The media is always looking for interesting stories and if you're creative enough, maybe yours could be one of them. And what better place for public to get more information than from your website?

Perhaps you could sponsor a local event, or do some volunteer work. Your business will get credit, along with a mention of website URL.

The more places public can find information about your company, better off you'll be. In our increasingly wired society, having a website makes it easy for more people to get information about your company. And they can get it more quickly and easily online.

7. BECAUSE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE ONLINE

Did you know that 40-48 million adults went online last year looking for local content? The average local user is college educated, makes good money, and likes shopping online. They are more likely to make purchases than non-users of local content, either online or offline. This demographic market is every business owner's dream.

As more local information becomes available online, people are starting to look at Internet as something useful instead of a passing fad. Consumers are getting online in record numbers, resulting in a critical mass of local users in top markets, and spreading across communities of all sizes.

Chances are a number of your local prospects and customers are part of this desirable demographic - and that number will only increase.

8. SO IS YOUR COMPETITION

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of all U.S. small businesses are connected to Internet, and nearly 50% will continue to maintain active, purposeful Web sites this year.

Analysts at http://www.emarketer.com have predicted that 72% of small businesses will engage in e-commerce by 2002, racking up an impressive $230 billion in total revenues.

Maybe you think nobody in your industry is using Internet. But I guarantee you, whatever your business, one of your competitors is online and using technology to promote themselves - perhaps not locally yet, but it's just a matter of time. If your competition is there, you should be too.

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So there you have it - 8 good reasons to get your local business on Web. (Notice I didn't include reason "to sell something". Too many business owners have made that mistake - putting up a website just to sell something. You have to give before you receive. Nowhere is that more true than online.)

If small business is to survive, business owners must learn to harness power of Internet ... or risk losing their remaining market share to competitors that "get" technology. For those who choose to ignore "elephant in living room", hoping Internet will go away, it's only going to get worse in days ahead.