Frequently Asked Questions
General
Value Stores
Not Available at this time
| Our
purpose is to provide an inexpensive avenue to the Internet for the
small business owner to have a web presence and advertise their business locally,
regionally, and worldwide, and to provide the small business owners who have a
desire to sell their products on the Internet with an easy and inexpensive way to join in
the growing e-commerce movement with a potential customer base of over 100 million new
customers. |
Advertising in the South Puget Sound Small Business Directory is pretty much comparable to the local yellow pages, newspapers, etc., except your business info is available locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally 24/7/365, and you have a much more comprehensible listing in color and with pictures. The directory is not put away on the shelf to gather dust, it is not thrown away three days later. It is always here and available 99.95% of the time. A web presence in the regional South Puget Sound Small Business Directory gives you an advantage in that you're not buried in among 1,000,000 other large and small business' as in the National directories, some of which charge up to $30 per month just to be listed (no website included). This is a regional directory for the Southern Puget Sound area only. |
| A web presence in the South Puget
Sound Small Business Directory™ is a low cost alternative and/or addition to the
daily or weekly paper, the Yellow Pages, and other local sources of advertising. The ad
copy is limited in those venues, so add a link to your ad and direct your customers to
your web page where they can really find out about you, the services you offer, and much
more. The cost is 120 for a ten year period. That breaks down to0 $1 per
month for 100,000,000 potential customers to see.
Compare that to your local weekly with a $35 per insertion cost for a one inch ad with a
total distribution measured only in the thousands. Compare a 10 by 14 inch ad web presence
in our directory for $7.50 for one month to that 1 inch ad for $35 for each insertion
(weekly cost of $35 times 4 weeks=$140 per month). We are not advocating stopping
local advertising as multiple methods of advertising are the best way to promote and
market your business, but utilize those ads to bring attention to your web page by
providing a link to your page in your hardcopy advertising. We can provide your web
presence in this directory as a way to augment the advertising, promotion and marketing of
your business with a minimal impact on your budget. |
The
South Puget Sound Small Business Directory™ accepts only
those business located |
| Your web presence page in the directory will have a much
greater esthetic value and much more useful information than other directories on the
Internet. Just click on your favorite search engine, do a search on "business
directory", look at a few, check prices, compare them to ours, then come back and
sign up with the South Puget Sound Small Business Directory™. |
NorTac promotes the directory monthly or as we deem necessary to ensure that we stay within the upper limits of the major search engines and directories. Your web page, located within the directory, with keywords peculiar to your business, will be spidered regularly by the search engines along with the directory. |
You can also promote your web page when you
advertise with other local sources, when you run special ads with the weeklies, or at
shows and special occasions. Add your URL beneath your email address or telephone number
on your business card or handouts. You can even have your page linked to from many of the
"free link" directories on the Internet. Every little bit of exposure helps when
it comes to promoting and marketing your business. |
To advertise your business in the directory, no internet access is necessary. |
| Your web page within the directory is yours
alone. NorTac™ policy is to not add banners or links to your page unless you
specifically request them. |
Any type of business that sells a product or provides a service can benefit from advertising in the directory. The purpose of the directory is to advertise your business and make the products you sell or the services you provide available to be seen by as many potential customers as possible |
| If
you have an existing website, you can still have a web presence
page in the directory. Every bit of exposure helps. We can put a reciprocal (we link to
you, you link to us) link on your directory web page to link to your site. Every link
helps when it come to rating your site for popularity with the major search engines. |
| A
small business by NorTac™ definition can be anything from one person or a
husband & wife team who make and sell home-crafted products part time from their home,
at craft fairs or on consignment, as a hobby or to generate additional family income; to a
brick & mortar business that sells commercial products and employs 1 to 50 people. The
Small Business Association™ considers any business with a gross of $10 million
dollars or less per year a small business. We consider a small business to be one that has
a gross of $1,000 to $100,000 |
NorTac is located in North Tacoma. We are within easy reach of all merchants in the Southern Puget Sound area. You no longer have to deal with telemarketers or anonymous sales people and web technicians, 1,000 miles or more away. |
Additional Questions? email webpage@nortac.com |
|
| If you have any desire to have an "online"
store to participate in e-commerce and sell your products on the internet, Then a Value
Store is the way to get started as inexpensively as possible without having to
know html programming language, or how to upload, how to save, scan or alter images
and how to administer and set up, maintain and promote a storefront on the internet
without taking out a second mortgage on your home or business. We do all this for you. |
Any business, from an established brick and mortar store in a neighborhood shopping district, to a home craftsman that makes bird houses or doll houses, to an artist, sculptor or potter, quilt maker, any person that takes their product to craft fairs, sells on consignment or even door to door. All of these can take advantage of internet sales and marketing. Do you work out of your garage, your closet, front room, attic, loft? Widen your market. Sell on the Internet. |
| The
advantage is low cost while having all the details taken care of
for you. You need only ship the product and collect the payment. There are free sites
available, but you will have to do all the nitty-gritty work, plus the promotion/marketing
and administration of your website. Do you have time for all this while trying to run your
business and make a living? NorTac™ makes it possible for you to
"outsource" your web project just like the "biggies" at a fraction of
the cost. |
At the risk of possibly losing business, we have to be honest. No one can put up a store on the internet and be successful overnight unless one has millions of dollars at their disposal for marketing and promotion. It is easy to put a store on the internet. It just takes a little time, patience and knowledge. We know that it takes time to market and promote any website. We only offer a minimum one year contract for a Value Store because we know that it can take that long to begin to generate a successful store. |
| No programming knowledge on your part is necessary. We
set up your account and provide you with the information necessary to access the sales
information for payment and shipping the product. A computer, internet access and an email account is necessary to have a value store. |
| You do need a computer and internet access
to collect payment details from the secure server and an email address to receive your
customer order notification. |
You can sell any tangible product or products except pornography, firearms and anything else that is illegal. We do not support software downloads or FTP file transfers from the Internet with this service. |
| We can accommodate up to 30 separate products in a
Value Store and more within limitations. When your business grows to the point that you
need a larger dedicated website, we can provide assistance in obtaining a virtual server
host, domain name registration and all the miscellaneous necessities to help you in
growing your own website and business. |
| Six
products per page, and up to ten, are a reasonable amount to
avoid excessive scrolling for the customer. This can vary somewhat depending upon the
product requirements for display. For example; An Artist may only want to display two or
three pictures on a page. A bookstore may want a listing of 15 or 20 books without images
for each book. |
There will be no other ads in your store. This is YOUR space. |
| We are inexpensive compared to other services because we do not
provide the bells and whistles as part of a package that you will never need and will
never use. We offer a basic service that meets the needs of 99% of small business. |
At present you can accept Visa, Mastercard (we're working on Discover and Diners Club) and also checks and COD if you'd like. *Note. A merchant account with a bank is not necessary to accept credit cards with our service. We assist you in signing up for low cost accounts and secure, online payment services with less than 4% total transaction fees. This can save you up to a $500 merchant account setup charge, $30 or more per month administration fees and a 3.5% + .35¢ per transaction charge. A personal or business credit card and checking account in good standing are necessary to utilize these low cost services. |
| You can ship UPS and US Parcel Post. Fedex may be available in the near future. We recommend
shipping by the United States Postal Service as they provide shipping boxes and cartons at
no cost to you. |
| NorTac
promotes all stores within the South Puget Sound Small Business
Directory with the major search engines and directories as part of it's promotion of our
directory. |
| You can get
started by emailing valuestore@nortac.com
or webpage@nortac.com for a free appointment for consultation or to ask any additional
questions. Please include your phone number and the best time to call. |
Additional Questions? email valuestore@nortac.com |
