By Gerry McGovern

Properly managed, your website is the most cost-effective environment in which your customers can complete their tasks.

While U.S. retail sales grew just 2 percent in the first nine months of 2008, ecommerce sales grew by 8 percent, according to a JPMorgan analyst. Amazon's sales revenue grew by 31 percent over the last twelve months.

The Web is self-service and self-service is the most cost-effective way to do business. It doesn't matter whether you are managing an ecommerce website, a government or university website, or an intranet. The Web has the potential to make more sales, reduce costs, and improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the organization.

There is a tendency during tough economic times for consumers and businesses alike to reduce their spending and batten down the hatches. Poor confidence in the economy, fears about the long and short term viability of our business, jobs and investments can bring about a tightening of the purse strings and the slashing of marketing budgets. However, research clearly shows that companies who cut their marketing spend during recession risk a downward spiral of competitiveness and market share.

When are the best/worst times to contact your mailing list subscribers?

1) Tuesday is one of the best days to send mail to your list. Possible reasons being that Monday your recipients mailbox is being cleared of spam from the weekend which usually means that their mailbox is not over quota as I have experienced many many times.

Even if your company does not have a formal marketing or business plan yet, there are many cost-efficient things you can do to market and promote your company's products and services. Here are 10 simple, tactical ideas to put your marketing efforts on the right track: