-- Websites for Small Businesses --

What can a website do for my small business?

If you're on a shoestring budget like most small businesses, this is a legitimate question. How can you hope to get a return on your investment? What can you expect a website to do for you?

Here are just a few of the many benefits of having a strong internet presence:

• Your website will generate new walk-in business from people looking for what you sell or do. The information available on your website will prompt customers to come by the store for a closer look.
  
• Your website will provide 24-hour exposure to a national audience for a fraction of the cost of other advertising media. If you’re not interested in national exposure, it also gives you the same local exposure through specific local internet directories and search engine optimization targeting localized search phrases.
  
• Your website will serve as a 24-hour reference desk for information about your products or services, your location, hours of operation, form downloads, and more. This reference decreases the number of calls to be handled personally which frees you up to attend to other business tasks. Some customers prefer getting this information online and avoiding a phone call. Having the opportunity to thoroughly research a product or service on your website makes them more confident in their decision to buy from you.
  
• You website will generate revenue from online sales 24 hours a day.
  
• If you’re just starting out, you may be at the perfect point to work this avenue of revenue generation into your business process on a small scale. As your business grows, your online sales will grow and your online and offline processes will evolve together with your growth.
  
• If you already have an established business process which does not include online sales or service, you must consider how the additional overhead for monitoring, fulfilling, and tracking online orders, shipping, and customer service will affect your business model. The best way to incorporate online sales with your current business is to start slowly, establish a good process, and then gradually build up your online business. Perhaps you could make just a few products available online in order to establish the process. Over time, you could add products as capacity allows. This gradual approach guarantees that you will add online business without breaking your current business process.

 

Please submit any questions or comments on this article to Debbie at Blue Spider Creations .