O'Connor Consulting

Reasons Your Business Needs a Website

More and more, people are expecting savvy businesses to be on line. Everywhere you look advertisements include a web address. Customers ask: "Where's your website?" Web presence alone is often a consideration on whether or not a potential customer will choose your business.

Even if you never use the Internet, your customers do. In 2006, Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 73 percent of adults use the Internet. College graduates go online at a 91 percent clip, and as incomes rise above $30,000, the likelihood of having an Internet connection rises to 80 percent, and increases greatly over $50,000 and over $75,000. 83% of online Americans say they have used the internet to seek information about their hobbies and 29% do so on a typical day. people use the Internet to find out more information about products or services that they are in need of. Your website is a means of offering information to these who may be researching online before buying. If you don't have a website, how are they going to see what you have to offer?

A strong web presence can eliminate many print campaign costs. Even on the most rigorous web campaigns using pay-per-click and paid links, the advertising cost per customer is far, far less by comparison. Your website is the one piece of marketing material that's easy to change at minimal expense. If you have a special event coming up, you want to include more information on a certain service, or are running a sale, simply make the change. Almost instantly your information is fresh and visible minus the costs of re-printing brochures or other print material.

Even if you just do busines locally, a website can help your business. Vistors to your town and tourists often look at the local Chamber of Commerce for help in finding services. You can submit your site or business listing details to sites like that. You can submit their business to Yahoo! Local. Google Maps (formerly Google Local) looks for physical addresses mentioned in regular web pages. It provides these results to visitors, along with business listings and maps. Geo-Targeting can increase your visibility in a region. Take a look at this video in which Google's Bob Nicholson explains how Google uses Geo-Targeting for AdSense marketing.

In addition, if you produce work with a visual impact: sculpture, interior designs, photographs, paintings, you want to show potential customers what you can do. As a musician, you want people to hear the results of your creativity. As a writer, you want to show potential customers samples of work you've done for others. Being a local business doesn't changes these needs.

More people today research a company or product online before making phone or face-to-face contact. Today people expect to find a website for a company with at least further information on services or products. Your site can show much more information than a print ad or brochure. The more information you provide, the more likely a potential client will be to buy from you as they can see everything they need to know.