Cyber Monday to Smaller Businesses: Get OnlineCyber Monday to Smaller Businesses: Get Online

Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving when online retailers offer shoppers deals, is becoming a real trend. At least The New York Times says so. Oh, and so do the shoppers who, by some estimates, bought nearly $700 million worth of stuff.What does this mean for small and mid size companies? If you haven't prepared your site for the holiday rush, do it now. But also remember that your business is a year-round venture. Lure shoppers in now and figure out how to keep them coming back.

Perhaps more significantly, if you don't have an online presence, get one now. Intuit's recent purchase of Homestead, so that it can offer Web site creation and online commerce services to small businesses, only means that it's getting easier than ever to do that. It also indicates that without an effective Web presence, smaller companies will find it tougher to compete.

information quotes Intuit on its interest in Homestead. "Intuit noted that small businesses are increasingly seeking to establish an effective online presence as more consumers go online to shop."

Hey, 72 million shoppers, according to Shop.org's estimates for CyberMonday, is nothing to sneeze at.