Using the internet to help survive the recession

October 31, 2008 at 3:26 pm, Category: Business, General Computing, by admin

Banks are failing, stocks are falling and Governments around the world are finally admitting we are heading for a recession! So with all the doom and gloom in the media – is there really anything you can do about it? The first piece of practical advice is keep to calm – this isn’t the first global recession, and it certainly won’t be the last. On the other hand, if you struggling, the most important thing is to not ignore it and get help (and there’s plenty out there).

Interestingly, in the last downturn the Internet was still just a baby, but in the Web 2.0 era how can the Internet help us get through the recession?

Well there are two main groups of people that can use the Internet to their advantage:

· Individuals
· Businesses

Helping Yourself

The most important measures are preventative. Tighten you belt and prepare for the worst; you never know – when the recession’s over, you might be pleasantly surprised! The easiest way to save money is to make sure you don’t buy anything you don’t really need, but the day will come when you really do need something (you have to eat, after all). So make sure you do your research, check out as many stores as possible online, and be sure to compare prices. Online stores often offer much better prices than the High Street, and some High Street stores offer a discount for buying online. There are some amazing websites out there like Money Saving Expert, which are designed exactly for times like these.

The price of oil is coming down, but chances are that your energy bills are only going up. It’s estimated that 20% of people in the UK have never switched suppliers. This means that many people will be paying over the odds for their gas and electricity simply because they haven’t looked for a better deal. Try out some of the energy comparisons sites to check out deals from the major suppliers. Another quick tip is that a few energy suppliers will offer discounted rates in return for not having to send you paper bills. Instead you will be able to check your bills online (which you can probably do already anyway) and you’ll receive an email when your bill is due.

Energy is not the only thing you can save money on by using comparison sites; the adverts may be irritating but if you car or home insurance is coming up for renewal, don’t be complacent and simply renew with the same company. They more often than not don’t give existing customers the same deals they offer new customers. I saved £100 when I changed my car insurance this year – it wasn’t that I wasn’t happy with the company I was with, it was simply that they would offer me the deals they offered to new customers online – so I switched so I could take advantage of similar offers myself.

Mortgages are the trickiest of the money problems at the moment, as essentially they are what caused all these problems! If you are looking to get a mortgage or switching mortgage, make sure that you don’t sign in to a mortgage that is unrealistic – no matter how tempting the offer. Comparison sites offer you a good idea of what you should expect to be paying, but with something as important as mortgages, check out tools like the BBC’s Mortgage Calculator to help you work out what you can afford. Remember changing mortgage providers won’t always save you money, but don’t stay because you feel some sort of loyalty to them – chances are they won’t reward you for it!

If you feel like you’re getting into financial trouble, catch it early and get help. If you’re unsure whether or not you are in trouble or don’t know what to do next, try the Debt Calculator and this Financial Health Checker for size.

And finally, if the worst comes to the worst and you have been made redundant; make sure you don’t give up! Believe it or not, people are still employing, and websites like Jobsite and Monster .co.uk are a cheap way for them to advertise – which makes them a great place for you to look. Anyway, uploading your CV can’t do any harm!

Helping Your Business

With a bit of work, a website can be a powerful and cost effective advertising tool in a tough market. Make sure you keep your website up to date. Out of date content can immediately put off customers (they might think you’ve already gone bust!).

Search engine optimisation is a tough nut to crack, but Google can be your marketing best friend if you can crack it. Here are a few tips to help you get to the top in Google.

Make sure all your Meta data on your site is clean, up to date, and that none of it is duplicated Meta.
Make sure your website code is nice and clean. Google is better at reading websites when they are made to W3 Standards
Add new content as often as possible. The more relevant content your website has, the more searches you are likely to come up for in Google, and new content will bring customers back to your site again and again.
If you are really struggling in the Google rankings, why not try Google Adwords. Just remember don’t pay over the odds for a generic keyword – keep it specific and low cost.

It is always worth remembering that it’s not just you struggling, your customers are feeling the pinch too. Offer them incentives to buy your products. By putting special offers on your website home page, you can attract more customers, as well as letting your loyal customers know that you’re looking out for them too.

For bigger businesses travelling to meetings and conferences can put extra strain on the budget. Why not try telephone or web conferencing solutions to save money? Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro offers a real everyday business solution to video conferencing.

And finally, if your business is doing just fine you should still consider budgeting a little to make sure it stays that way. Why not try open source alternatives to your software? Microsoft Office can be swapped for the ever more popular OpenOffice. OpenOffice is free and it’ll open all Microsoft office documents and creates documents in the same way. Pushing the boat way out, why not swap your Microsoft Windows or Vista for a free operating system like Ubuntu? If your planning to sell products online Magento offers an open source alternative to those expensive e-commerce suites. There are thousands of open source alternatives out there, so if you need new software at least check out the free alternatives before you decide to buy.

So despite all you’ll hear in the media, recessions come and go and it’s not the end of the world. Your new friend the Internet can help you the tough times. Just keep you head up and keep surfing the net (pretty much what you were doing before!).

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