You are losing business and money for every day that you are not present on the World Wide Web!

Your customers expect you to have a website.

How many times have you entered a business name into a search window to see if they had a website, to check hours, phone numbers, what they did, or just plain curiosity? Well your customers and prospects are doing the same thing every day, and if they don’t find your business, they are finding your competitors.

My AH…HAA moment.

In 1996, I had just signed up with my first ISP, 1996 was the old days and all you had to choose from were a few dial up ISP’s, they were very slow and charged you by the minutes you spent online.

One day very soon after, I was working on some reports for work and needed a phone number for a customer in a major city, I knew that I had a phone book for that city in the basement, I yelled at my son, who was then a junior in high school to get me the phone book, he asked what I needed, went on the Internet and found the information I wanted quicker that he could have gone to the basement.

The point is that even at that time, when the Internet was in the infancy of what it is becoming today, the young people in our society were already using the World Wide Web to find information. These are the people who are now becoming your customers, they are working with computers everyday, and they can, and do, access the Internet from their cell phones.

Here’s a newsflash, we all assume that young people are the fastest growing segment gaining access to and using the Internet…Wrong! The fastest growing segment is the mature adult 55 and up, and guess who has most of the money!

What should my business website be?

Online Brochure – This is the minimum you should do.

• Who you are – brief bio’s of principles.
• Company history – How you started, where you are going.
• What you do – products or services you offer.
• Where you are – locations.
• Contact info – phone, fax, email, websites.
• What certifications you have.

Information Center – To busy to describe a product or service over the phone? Direct them to your website for complete information.

• PDF files for products or services, your customers should be able to download.
• Slide show of your products or services.
• Video files for installations or how to use, or assemble products.
• Audio files for almost any message.

Online Store – Becomes a 24/7 profit center, you will be making money while you sleep!

• Your customers and prospects want to buy when it fits their schedule, some don’t want to even contact you, let them do it automaticallyhome page.
• You may or may not make money right away, but over time will build a following.

How much will this cost me?

On going costs.

• Domain name (URL – your business name & address on the Internet) about $35.00 annually.
• Hosting (this is where your website is stored and served to the web from) $15.00, per month and up depending on where you host it and somewhat on the features you have.
• If you have an e-commerce site you could have a monthly cost for “shopping cart” software. $20.00 and up per month.
• You may need an auto-responder service. About $20.00 per month.

One time costs

• Web design runs from about $500 to $2000 for the typical small business site, depending on whatever agreement you enter into for updating and maintenance you could have a retainer, a flat fee, or a hourly rate.

Things to think about.

• You should not look at a website as a static advertising medium, or even as advertising. Your website should supplement all of your other advertising, you need to include you web address in every other advertising medium you use.
• You can change or ad to your message any time you want…try that with your “yellow pages” ad!
• If you have a free or low cost web site from the chamber of commerce, phone carrier, trade group, etc., you really only have a few pages on their site, if they change the rules or even shut down the web site, you don’t have a web site any longer, However if this is offered as a free service, by all means take advantage of it to direct more traffic to your main website.