PERSPECTIVE: Barnhill: Entering Web Business Is Easier Now

John Wolz

Ross Barnhill remembers just a few years back when creating a web site was difficult and expensive. And a web site was a choice.
Today a business without a web site is like a business a decade ago without a fax number. It doesn�t look real.
Speaking at the Western Association of Fastener Distributors fall meeting in Portland, OR, Barnhill said developing a company web site is easier today than when he did one of the first fastener sites in 1994 for Albuquerque, NM-based Barnhill Bolt Co. Inc.\
Today a fastener company can use standard templates.
�You can be there today,� Barnhill declared. �You are no longer dependant on a high schooler or $150-an-hour consultant.�
Barnhill developed his most recent web site version by simply looking at Amazon.com to create the current BarnhillBolt.com. �There is no reason to reinvent the wheel,� he explained. �They know what they are doing.�
In 1994 when Barnhill Bolt started selling on the World Wide Web the Internet was dominated by �geeks, nerds and wannabes,� Barnhill recalled.
By 1995 Barnhill Bolt was selling by credit card all over the world.
Barnhill snapped up numerous dot-com names before the rest of the industry was paying attention to the Internet. Now when people click on such names as �drywall.com� or �carriagebolts.com� they go to the Barnhill web site.
Not only is creating a web site easier but, once you have built a page, �updating is as easy as filling in a form, saving it, and the new content pops up.�
Web sites need to be updated. Shopping baskets and credit card numbers are becoming standard, he pointed out.
Part of drawing traffic to your web site is getting your name on search engines. With thousands of fastener companies now using the web, not being on the first page of links leaves you virtually ignored.
It is important to know what keywords to use for search engines. �You have to be listed under both �bolt� and �bolts,�� Barnhill pointed out.
Screws, nuts and fasteners are commonly searched words too.
Just jumping on the Internet doesn�t guarantee success, Barnhill observed. In the past couple years there has been �a gold rush mentality, with real sensible people quitting their day jobs anticipating becoming dot-com millionaires.�
�This year the Internet is delivering a big dose of reality with bankruptcy lawyers becoming the new dot-com millionaires,� he remarked.