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Do you want your business to project a professional image?
A well-designed site can project any image you want for your business. Even if you work at home in your bathrobe, your Web site will convey the professional appearance you desire.
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Does a small business need a website?
When it comes to benefiting from a website, size doesn't matter. It's not important whether you have a one-person shop or a 10,000-employee corporation; if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do. With a well-designed site, a small operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company.
Even if your business is small and sells products or services that you don't think can be sold online, your business should have a presence on the Internet so that customers, potential employees, business partners and investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products and services you have to offer. A good Web site allows your potential customers to gather the information they need from the convenience of their own computers.
Also, don't be too quick to assume that your product isn't one that can't be sold online. These days, there is very little that you can't sell over the internet. With more than 20 million shoppers online, there are sales of everything from clothing to books to toys to antiques to computers to cars to real estate and so on. If you can dream it up, someone will find a way to sell it online.
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Would you like to expand your business beyond your current customer base?
Having a Web site will allow you to reach potential clients in new areas. For example, if your business has always catered to one aspect of your industry and now you have a new item to offer, you could add a new area to your Web site to promote it.
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Does your competition have a Web site?
Many prospective customers use the Web to compare services between various companies, so having a Web site is essential in competing with those other companies in your field. Not having a Web site these days is like not having business cards, or a phone book listing!
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Do you want to reduce your sales and marketing costs?
Costs for marketing via traditional channels (radio, printed catalogs, news print, postage) is costly and will only continue to rise. Then you must determine a way to get it to your potential clients. Instead, you can save advertising costs by putting the same type of content on your Web site, and update it easily whenever you have changes. You can then send emails to prospects to invite them to your site.
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Do you repeatedly answer the very same client questions?
By presenting a "Frequently Asked Questions" section on your Web site, your clients can get the answers they need at their own convenience, and you won't have to answer those questions nearly as often.
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Would you like to spend less time explaining your business to prospective clients?
If you specialize in a complicated field of business, you may find yourself often explaining precisely what it is that your company does. With a Web site, you can display an explicit description of your business, and refer clients to the Web site for the explanation.
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Do your products or services require after-sale consumer education or support?
Use your Web site to inform your consumers. You can provide sales and customer service 24 hours a day using no additional personnel.
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