Does my Business Need a Web Site?

You've lived through many moments of awkward silence and incoherent muttering after a dozen potential customers asked you whether your business had a web site. Now you find out that your biggest competitor just launched a state-of-the-art site. This prompts you to consider taking the plunge and launching your own site. However, you aren't quite clear about the benefits of having one. Here are a few points to consider:

A web site serves as a marketing brochure for your business — one that is accessible to customers 24x7x365. Long after your physical location closes for the day and you go to sleep (nice and early, at around 1 am), potential customers will still be able to check whether you carry an auto part they must have by tomorrow morning or pick out the perfect "Get Well Soon" gift basket for a sick friend. It is also much easier to keep a web site up to date, since maintaining a set of fresh print brochures quickly gets prohibitively expensive.

Even if your business is focused exclusively on your local market, a web site still helps you acquire new customers. Customers in your area are still searching for products and services just like yours — think of your web site as a supplement to the "Yellow Pages". James Smith might not know about your Discount Tire Shop in Wichita, Kansas, but he will find it online when searching for Tire Shops in Wichita. You will be able to find additional local customers as long your web site is specifically targeted and optimized for the local market.

Your web site makes your business a part of the national (or even the global) market. The Internet has truly revolutionized the way people do business by enabling the use of marketing techniques that know no state or national boundaries. People routinely order books from merchants in Washington, pillows from Wisconsin and cowboy boots from Texas. The physical location of the merchant is irrelevant, while product selection and availability makes all the difference. An e-commerce web site enables you to sell jewelry to people in all fifty states and even other countries, even if you make and sell your own unique jewelry in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A business web site introduces your products to customers who might have never found out about your business otherwise.

The Internet has been transformed from an obscure scientific playground to a powerful marketing tool. Every day, more and more traditional brick-and-mortar stores are significant resources in their online divisions. Online-only retailers report stellar earnings growth year after year. This should not come as a surprise, since a properly managed online store is generally cheaper to operate than a brick-and-mortar one.

While a web site is a great marketing tool, it works best in conjunction with other marketing strategies. If you operate a brick-and-mortar location, take advantage of the cross-promotional opportunity to advertise your web site offline (on marketing brochures, business cards, etc.). At the same time promote your physical location on your web site to capitalize on the virtual "Yellow Pages" strategies.

About the author: Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who has helped many business owners attract more web site customers, bring in more online publicity and increase the bottom line. Visit http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html to subscribe to her newsletter full of marketing tips and ideas and join her online business coaching program at http://www.MarketingSalad.com.