News by SB Informer

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Web2 Corp's Chamber of E-Commerce Helps Small Business Owners

SB Informer
Tuesday, August 15, 2006; 03:23 AM

When small businesses think about the Chamber of Commerce they think about local support and networking opportunities within their business community. With the advent of the Internet, that business community has expanded to the four corners of the globe. How does a small operator engage that massive market and thrive? Enter Web2 Corp and its Chamber of E-Commerce division. Devoted to supporting small and micro-sized businesses in their Internet ambitions, the E-Chamber is a one-stop cornucopia of resources advice and services that can help the smallest business get out there fast and on the cheap. Best of all, membership is free. The Chamber is like that utility knife with all the blades for every need. Business owners can find it at www.chamberecommerce.com.

Founded by serial online entrepreneurs Bill Mobley and Andre Forde, the Chamber realizes that many small businesses just don’t have the time, budget or expertise to do the web for themselves. Both contribute value that most small businesses can benefit from: Mobley created one of the first online supply chain management systems on the Internet for perishable cut flowers (talk about little room for error!); and Forde developed one of the best website builders on the market (which was purchased for $25 mil by an industry leader). The two teamed up to tackle what they saw as a glaring gap in services for small businesses. The result is the Chamber.

"Our goal is to arm the vast numbers of non-technical business owners with information and e-commerce products that let them stay focused on their business, not on learning arcane details of the web," says Mobley. "We are the non-techie do-it-yourself solution that is the perfect for eBay sellers who want their own website, or small business operators who have avoided the Internet. We target non-consumers by making the process easy, fun, fast and very affordable," says Forde.

In addition to offering information, training and networking opportunities, the Chamber targets a gap in E-Commerce offerings by integrating an easy-to-use website builder, shopping cart, payment processing and Internet marketing into one simple working bundle. "The array of terms that face any small operator in launching a web version of their business is a huge barrier to entry," says Mobley. "PHP, SQL, SSL, HTML, AJAX, SWF, Linux, ASP, MySQL… and much more must be waded through for a do-it-yourself webmaster to create a site. Most give up in short order. We eliminate that today." Forde proudly points to the professionally designed site templates and promotional tools that the Chamber delivers. In his view, the Chamber offers the next evolutionary step for small businesses that are relegated to eBay. "We hear from many auction users who are looking to move to ownership of their own site." Forde intends to be one of the best options for them to do so.

Traditional E-commerce solutions have been ala carte in nature. A firm might offer a website builder, but it is up to the business owner to find and integrate a shopping cart script and then secure a merchant account to be able to accept credit cards. All of these pieces have to be assembled into a working whole. The Chamber recognized the difficulty of that effort and the frustration of users. This was the genesis of the Chamber of E-Commerce. "We looked around and saw that traditional Chambers of Commerce in general were not addressing the needs of Internet businesses. That is what prompted our adoption of the Chamber brand," says Mobley. "We are all about making it easier and less expensive for enterprising people to realize their dreams."

The Chamber offers website packages that begin as low as $0.99 per month for a basic site, $9.95 per month for professional marketing sites, and $19.95 per month for webstore packages that include everything needed for conducting transactions online. Says Mobley, "We have priced our products to be competitive, particularly our webstore product which is significantly less expensive than the leading competitors who offer the old incomplete ala carte models of service." Asked how he can do that and remain profitable, Forde replied, "By making the products easier at a much lower price, our costs of customer acquisition and customer service are lower. We expect our price to value relationship to drive significant volume."

Web2 Corporation (www.web2corp.com) is an Internet technology company focused on improving the ways people and businesses utilize the power of the Internet. The firm specializes in rapid adaptation of technologies to address new markets of users by reducing the level of technical skills required, simplifying useful products, and lowering prices. Web2 Corp is a development-stage company with a slate of projects that are expected to launch in the near term.