(Continued from page 9)

he said. "Though when you open the door wide like we're doing, then you also invite other things in. Flamers, spammers and solicitors are all things we have to deal with."
•
•
• While Facebook is free to use, it requires an investment of time to be effective as a marketing tool. Getting online sales going requires both money and time.
• "It isn't a free service to build a website and keep it working," said Colleen Pfeifer. "Web site design, server space, all that has to be paid for and be worth paying for."
• Regardless of whether a business has decided a presence on the Internet is worth paying for, the upward trend in online sales means that the Internet's presence in the retail world is not going away--and, according to a Feb. 25 article from The Economist, retailers ignore it at their peril.
• "After a panic at the turn of the millennium about the impact on their industry of online shopping, bricks-and-mortar stores settled into making only modest alterations to their business model or, ostrich-like, trying to ignore it. Few have so far made the radical changes needed to meet the threats from, and tap the enormous potential of, e-commerce," according to the article. "Such inaction threatens retailers' survival."