Small businesses are plagued by the fact that they are unable to get connected to their web-savvy customers. Yes, the business owner still has options, but each option has its own shortcoming. One option is to create a website using the "flavor-of-the-month" web building tool. Although these web tools are improving, I believe a typical user invests a lot of time and ends up with a site that is not
consistent with the business's style. Another option is to hire someone to create a custom website. Many eye-popping features can be created in a custom website, but each cool feature costs money. Since many small businesses are paycheck-to-paycheck, custom sites are rare.
A third option is to
repurpose social sites, such as
Facebook or
MySpace, to promote your business. However, most social sites are not designed for businesses and therefore provide limited benefit. I suppose a final option is for the business owner to learn HTML / Javascript and make a website. Although this option is good for some, I would say it is unrealistic for most.
Enter
ScheduleTown.biz. Initially, this product will be a business focused product - a place to setup and manage a calendar. The owner can identify resources (people or other things such as a tanning bed), assign available time for those resources, securely store their customer data, email their customers with information and newsletters, and setup online promotions. Our next effort will launch
ScheduleTown.com, a place for customers to go find a business and schedule online.
ScheduleTown.biz is an attempt to solve the small business problem of getting online. As the launch of
ScheduleTown.com nears, I'll add detail about how a business gets listed, the advantages of being listed, and how scheduling online will improve both the business and customer experience.
