Cutting Overhead Costs Among seemingly necessary perks of networking is traditional business dinner. These however can be quite expensive costing host as much as $1500 depending on restaurant and party dining. Here is where enormous costs can be cut. Consider reducing frequency of dining by combining parties on one or two nights a year. To accomplish your purpose schedule a day for in-depth business discussions shortly thereafter. Select restaurants that offer quality cuisine and excellent service at less cost. Some restaurants offer a discount depending on size of party.

Mailing and Shipping Apply same principle when giving gifts. Wholesale bulk purchases can reduce costs considerably. Apply for membership at a wholesale warehouse. Buy items from suppliers offering free shipping. Reduce mailing and shipping costs by opting for a more economical postal/carrier. Ship by priority mail rather than overnight or non-priority where possible. Reduce package size and weight to lower costs.

Or maybe you're thinking of getting your business online, but you've heard it takes too much time and money. It's tempting to ignore issue and hope it goes away, but there are some very good reasons to get moving - and here are 8 of them:

1. GEOGRAPHIC TARGETING.

Geographic targeting, or geotargeting, is ability to target consumers by geographical location. Using a combination of I.P. address and/or zip code, ads can be presented to only those consumers to live in certain geographic locations.

Localized advertising allows is very targeted, and can be used to quickly and cheaply test online campaigns. With increasing availability of demographic data, targeting capabilities and options are endless.

2. IT'S PRACTICALLY FREE

It's so cheap to have a website now, why wouldn't you? You can get a domain name for $10, get a build-it-yourself website (more about this later), and you're in business for $20-25 a month.

Compare that to outrageous prices charged for yellow page ads, which can range in price from $1,000 to over $100,000 per year.

Combine this with fact that a growing percentage of population is turning to web for information every day, and you have a powerful marketing tool.

And as I mentioned earlier, there are tools available now that will allow you to build your own website just by pointing and clicking. These aren't tacky looking cookie-cutter websites -- they're very professional looking, and actually look better than a lot of websites built by "professionals."

So you no longer have to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars to get a great looking website. And as your business grows, your website can too -- add new pages, a message board, email marketing, ecommerce capability and more. You can add any or all of these features quickly and easily...all at click of a mouse.

3. IT'S A GREAT COMMUNICATIONS TOOL

The Internet is ultimate communications tool - fast and cheap. You can use it to communicate with suppliers, resellers, and of course, your customers. Some uses include:

- Send discount coupons by email, reducing direct mail costs.

- Get customer feedback through email or feedback form on website -- it's quick and it's easy, so you're more likely to get customers to participate.

- Send product information or announcements via email or posted on website.

- Send periodic newsletters with useful information and special offers, or just to stay in touch. To follow up with 1,000 customers through direct mail would cost $340 or more for postage alone ... but with email it's virtually free. And being able to interact directly with a customer on a regular basis is priceless.

- Put your brochure or catalog online, reducing printing costs.

For some businesses, simply putting their catalog online has saved them thousands of dollars a year in printing and mailing costs.

Of course there will always be people who want printed catalogs, and not every customer will have email. But in terms of cost, you simply cannot beat economics.

4. TO MAKE CONNECTIONS

There are lots of business people online, including people from your local community. People from same communities have a way of finding each other online... and as always, it's not what you know, but who.

Just as you might pass out your card at a local chamber meeting, you can do same thing online with your signature file - and a lot more people will see it.

It's also a lot more time-effective than face-to-face networking. Rather than driving somewhere and sitting through another boring chicken dinner, you can get online and meet prospects and colleagues at any time of day or night.

Also, you can develop a reputation very quickly online, adding to your credibility and opening even more doors for yourself - all without setting foot outside house.

5. TO SERVE YOUR LOCAL CUSTOMERS.

A website can be a worthwhile investment even if it's just an electronic version of Yellow Pages: street address, phone number, business hours, forms of payment accepted, contact information. Put this same information in Yellow Pages, and guess what happens if you move or change your hours or get a new area code? You know answer to that one.

But a website is dynamic -- information can be updated at any time, plus you're not limited to 2 or 3 lines worth of information. And there are so many great ways to interact with your customers, which is more interesting for them and potentially very valuable to you. Here are some very low- tech examples, very easily added to your website:

- FAQ