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By Willeth L. Laus
 In this age of new media where more people go to the Internet to look for services or anything they need, – be it a pizza or flower delivery, general services for household or office cleaning requirements, or host/magician for children’s party - it has become vital for a business enterprise or a freelance service provider to have a strong presence on the web.
Being online presents great benefits: it helps a business reach more prospective markets from both the local and global arena; it gives longer or permanent exposure; advertising cost is generally cheaper than the traditional advertising media; and since it is interactive, acquiring information about the service or product is more accessible. Especially for a micro entrepreneur or a freelancer who doesn’t have a physical office, the web can serve as an avenue to accommodate inquiries, come anytime of the day. Micro entrepreneurs include home-based businesses such as decorative candle manufacturers, fashion-accessory makers, cake specialist among others. Meanwhile, freelancers are talents who usually do business independent from a company; they include photographers, graphic artists, writers, and computer technicians.
Industry statistics show that the Philippines has currently 630,000 registered corporations; 60 percent of which belong to SMEs. Yet, this 60 percent does not include the abovementioned home-based entrepreneurs and freelancers - the silent majority who possess skills and businesses that can normally be heard only through word-of-mouth as they lack the resources to engage in above-the-line advertising media. To meet their economic potentials, what these silent entrepreneurs need is an effective but cost-efficient strategy that would help them showcase their skills or businesses and eventually boost their earnings. In this case, cyberboosting is the key.
 Cyberboosting is the ability of a business to greatly impact the local economic growth by maximizing the potentials of constant technological innovations. To get into cyberboosting, an entrepreneur should be equipped with the right information and technological tools so as to avoid being trapped by certain roadblocks, and find the right solutions for each hindrance.
To cyberboost a business, it’s not enough to have a website. Traffic, content and response should be considered to compete in the world wide web. To bring in a good traffic to a website, it must have an ability to be searched and show impact. Its content should be relevant to the needs of the visitors or target market, for them to explore the site. And to achieve response, the website should provide access to contact information or better yet, the ability to interact with the visitors through “chat” or feedback system.
However, an entrepreneur can be faced with certain challenges. First is the high cost of creating and maintaining a website, which can be a big burden, especially for start-up and small businesses. Second is the ability to rank a website in major search engines. To land on the top ranks of major search engines, one must learn the ropes of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO involves on-site improvements to your website using html codes. It is a means of educating search engines and their spiders on what a website is all about.
Providing an effective and cheaper – in fact, free – alternative to cyberboosting your business is a service portal, 88DB.com. Tagged as the Philippine Raket Central (since it is where you can find rakets or sidelines), 88DB.com is an online medium that offers FREE ADVERTISING online to freelancers, silent entrepreneurs and small-to-medium enterprises.
 Advertising in 88DB.com is like having your own website sans the high cost of creating and maintaining one. Its multimedia features allow an advertiser to post full information about his service or business, add photos and upload audio and video clips. Beyond ad posting, 88DB.com has a feedback mechanism where people can post their comments or inquiries. Soon, the service portal will provide instant communication through instant messaging features such as Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger & ICQ allowing advertisers and service seekers to interact online. 88DB.com ensures that all of its pages are SEO-friendly. This translates to 88DB.com advertisers landing on top ranks of the first page in search engine results, hence getting more traffic.
A freelancer or an entrepreneur must register on the site using his email address to be a member of 88DB.com. After registration, he can start creating his ad and place it under the appropriate category. 88DB.com has 25 categories which people are already familiar with. These include Beauty & Wellness, Real Estate, Sports & Fitness, Weddings, Food & Beverages, Travel & Leisure, among others. The categories make both the ad posting process and browsing easier.
Given the comprehensive directory of services and businesses, 88DB.com is an access point to a variety of services and products from clowns, to make up artists, to music instructors and more. You can also look for travel destinations, real estate properties for lease and sale, pets for sale or adoption, etc. You can even search for concerts, workshops and other events.
For inquiries on free ad posting, log on to www.88db.com.ph or call 9148832 for customer assistance.
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