If you own a business, large or small, you need a website. This should not be a huge front-page news item for anyone. There are an estimated 2.3 billion people online. This is a population that has grown accustomed to easy access and instant information. And because this huge number of people are choosing to do most of their interacting online (including shopping and commerce), a website it vital to any business.

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If you own a business, large or small, you need a website. This should not be a huge
front-page news item for anyone.
There are an estimated 2.3 billion people online. This is a population that has grown
accustomed to easy access and instant information. And because this huge number of
people are choosing to do most of their interacting online (including shopping and
commerce), a website it vital to any business.
But why, exactly? Don’t face-to-face meetings and handshakes mean anything
anymore?
Sure they do…but in small capacities. A website is much more resilient and can meet
the needs of a population that are used to having information directly at their fingertips.
So why do you need a website for your small business to truly succeed?
WHY YOU NEED A PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
You Need to Go Where the People Are:
2.3 billion people…that’s a lot of people. It stands to reason that you need to be online
if you have any hope of growing your audience. Actually, it’s about much more than
simply growing your audience; having a website opens doors to you in other parts of
the world that a simple physical storefront and a phone number just don’t generate.
According to stats from the Small Business Administration, businesses that have
websites draw in nearly 40% more revenue than businesses without a website. This is a
figure that increases annually and is one that businesses without a website should really
take note of.
More than that, social media makes it easier than ever for interested parties to find
your website. Sure, people can Google you and maybe find you if you don’t have a
website, but being linked to social media allows people to find your website with just a
few clicks.
It’s Easier to Find New Customers:
Forget about cold calling and printing up flyers that will go in a weekly periodical and
get tossed in the trash. A well designed website allows you to reach out to customers

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like never before. Interact, engage, and get your message out there. In most cases you
can do this for free, thanks to social media.
When you get right down to it, the best sort of advertising you can get is word-of-
mouth advertising. The internet takes word-of-mouth advertising to a whole new level.
Things can go viral on the internet, spreading your message to hundreds of thousands,
in the time it takes a traditional newspaper to approve your ad and send it to be
printed.
When you have a professionally designed website, you provide your current customers
with an incredibly easy way to spread the word about your business. By simply sharing
your link with a friend or family member, your current customers can get your site more
traffic and, in turn, more customers.
Of course, it’s now positive mentions on Facebook and Twitter that really get the job
done. If you can manage to get retweets or shares on these platforms by the right
people, you’ll be amazed at just how much traffic your website will get.
You Need to Establish Modern Credibility
If you’re a small business owner, you’re going to eventually find yourself in situations
where people are going to ask for your website. If your reply is “I don’t have one,” then
chances are that you are going to see less credible to most people.
This is a fact that has really only come to light within the last ten years or so. It’s also a
great example of how a website has become the nexus for most small businesses.
People no longer ask for your phone number or business card. Now people ask for your
website address.
To succeed in today’s competitive markets, a professional website is crucial in order to
maintain credibility in your field. Your website is a great way to introduce yourself and
tell potential clients about your business. It is the pitch to end all pitches and it is there,
online for all to see, on a rolling 24/7 basis. In today’s business environment, many
people become suspicious if they can’t find a company’s website. It makes many believe
that you are trying to stay anonymous and raises several trust issues.
First and foremost, customers want to be able to easily get in touch with you. By having
a an online presence, your customers and potential customers get a sense of security in
knowing that you’re just an e-mail or mouse click away.

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It Helps to Establish and Grow Your Brand
Nothing will establish and grow your brand better than a website. A website serves as a
static portrait of your company and gives people a visual representation of what you’re
all about. A website also allows just enough customization and flexibility to allow you to
change and evolve the site as your business grows. By placing relevant copy on your
site that potential customers want to see, you build your brand effectively and easily.
There is no other medium out there that allows you to engage so openly with your
audience.
Your brand stands a significant chance to grow when you have a robust online
presence. You can go from a few hundred in your local community knowing your name
to millions all around the world—and all because you finally decided to put up a pro
website for your business.
In building your brand, the word-of-mouth advertising we discussed above becomes a
huge part of your platform. Without a website and ties to social media, your chances of
benefitting from this decrease dramatically.
GO WITH A PRO, AND KEEP COUSIN FRANK AWAY FROM YOUR WEBSITE
Through networking, both online and in face-to-face environments, we all know
someone that works in websites. Or if we don’t know someone directly, we know a
friend of a friend that dabbles. While it is certainly admirable to reach out to up and
comers or someone you know personally for website creation, this is the one area
where you really need to shy away from family and friends. Of course, if they are
actually good at what they do, use them by all means.
But your cousin Frank, who took a course on Dreamweaver at the community college
three years ago should not be contacted. You want to have a pro build your website—
someone with a stellar portfolio and a long track record of satisfied clients. If you can
find a website designer that has specific experience within your industry, that’s even
better!
Above all, make sure you are working with a designer that understands the message
you are trying to convey and the sort of brand you want to grow. These are things that
cousin Frank just won’t be able to translate.

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FINDING THE RIGHT DESIGNER
Unlike your cousin Frank, a great web designer knows that building a website is about
more than just making your page look pretty. Instead, a pro designer will also think of
the layout and functionality of your site. Even if you can manage to floor your audience
with your site’s appearance, you also want them to be able to find the information they
are looking for as quickly as possible.
Even if you’re a novice at the world of web design and running a successful website,
there are a few general guidelines to follow when speaking to web designers as you try
to find the best one to fit your needs.
For instance:
Ask how long it will be before your site will be up and running. Working with a
web designer is no different than working with any other company that is providing a
service. They should propose timelines based on your needs and be able to stick to it.
At the same time, you need to understand that building a quality website can take
some time and effort; therefore, don’t ask for unrealistic goals. Come to a consensus
over an agreeable timeframe, based on when you would like your website to go live.
Find out if they provide templates and/or customized designs.
The last thing you want is for your site to look like a carbon copy of other sites within
your industry. For that reason, it is important that the web designer you select can
create custom sites rather than churning out the same few sites based off of a basic
template.
Don’t get us wrong—for some sites, a template design is all you need and it would be
silly to spend more money that you need to. Some budgets only allow for the simplest
of designs, many of which are, in fact, based on a standard template. However, for
more complex designs your designer should be able to suggest a few customized
designs based on your vision for the site. Customizable designs come in handle when
you add e-commerce options to your site, so be sure that you communicate exactly
what you want to your designer.
How often will you be able to make changes to the site?
In order to keep your site fresh and always standing out from the crowd, web designers
are very much aware that the site will need to be changed from time to time. This can
be from simple matters such as editing copy, to more complex issues such as adding

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forms or pages. Make sure you and the designer you are working with are in agreement
to how often changes can be made and how those changes will be approached.
Will the site be adaptable to smartphones and other mobile devices?
Technology is evolving at crazy rates these days. The vast majority of website owners
would argue that it’s not enough to just have a website up—you also have to have a
mobile friendly site than can easily be accessed and navigated on smartphone and
mobile devices. And while it’s a question that many forget to ask, you may aslo want to
make sure the site will be compatible with all browsers.
Remember…you want your website available to the largest audience possible and that
means being accessible through all platforms.
Will my site design be able to fully support e-commerce?
If part of your business involves selling things, then your site is going to have be
equipped to support e-commerce. You also might want to add in some minor bells and
whistles such as a PayPal button, a shopping cart feature, or a Shop/Store page.
MY SITE IS UP AND DRAWING IN TRAFFIC. NOW WHAT?
Now that you have those customers coming to your website, what can you do to ensure
that it remains a professional and attractive online platform for your small business?
After all, you can drop as many links on Twitter or Facebook, but if your audience is
being led to an unattractive web site, it’s all for naught.
Make sure you have the basics (and a few not-so-basics) covered before rejoicing in the
birth of your website.
Is it easy on the eyes?
Make sure your background and text don’t clash. You want an attractive page, but you
also want your content to be readable. Don’t make your reader’s squint or strain too
hard just to make out what you’re saying. You also don’t want to overwhelm your
audience with bright flashy colors that pull away from the focal point of the page—your
message and service.

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Make sure pictures are aligned and that text is lined up nicely. You want the text and
pictures on your page to be laid out as neatly as possible. Think in terms of an
attractive magazine layout as opposed to a child’s word search puzzle.
Have you incorporated Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is all about making sure your page is going to be picked up by all of the search
engines. Sometimes this won’t be the responsibility of the web designer but your very
own. It comes down to keywords placed in the headlines, sub-headers, and page titles.
You can certainly ask your designer to make these changes as you switch keywords and
messages around, but most will allow you to do it when possible. Make sure you craft
relevant text that search engines will pick up, but also stay away from blatantly loading
down your copy with keywords. Your audience is smart by nature and can smell this
sort of manipulative tactic from a mile away.
Make sure your site is easy to navigate.
If your website designer really knows what he is doing, he will probably ask to work
with you on a site map before any actual designing is done. A site map will give an
accurate layout of how your site will be broken down into pages. This not only helps
readers find their way around your site, but can also help with matters of SEO. Make
sure your page titles are leading to the appropriate content and that readers will be
able to get to the information they want within seconds of opening your site.
I’VE DONE ALL OF THAT! WHY IS MY SITE NOT GETTING TONS OF TRAFFIC
All business owners have dealt with the fear of not having their website reach the
masses that they had hoped for. There are a few ways to increase the flow of traffic to
your site; some of these solutions deal with social media and networking, but some of
them can also be traced back to the very nature of your site.
If you’re not getting the results you want, take a look at some of these factors and see
if you can change things up to make some improvements.

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Your website address
You want to keep your website address as simple as possible, but you also want it to
convey exactly what it is that your company does. If you are a construction company, it
is important that you try to get “construction” to work within your website address. This
not only tells people right away what you do, but it also helps with search engines
recognizing you.
Sometimes, because there are so many websites out there, you’ll find that your first
and even second or third choices for a website name are already taken. A website
designer should be able to help you figure out a solution here; fixes usually include
getting creative with name placement or adding hyphens.
Linking and networking
This is where social media comes in handy. These days, many people are using
Facebook as a digital (and more user-friednly) phone book of sorts. Some go so far as
to say that a Facebook account is almost as important as a website. So get on
Facebook and look for members within your audience, and even competitors within
your industry. Reach out to people via social media to build your audience. This will
drop the link to your website in front of more people than ever before.
Don’t do this thinking that there is a quick fix and that you’ll have tons of traffic
overnight. Building an audience through social media and writing blog posts tends to
take some time. Remain dedicated and patient and your website will soon become the
hot spot you always dreamed it would be.
Re-think SEO and keywords
If you think you have covered all of your bases and still can’t seem to attract much
attention, you may want to look back over your SEO tactics. Are you using effective
keywords? IS your content fresh and relative or just retreaded information that can be
found in hundreds of other places on the web?
Remember, getting SEO success is about more than just rehashing the same old topics
that have been discussed before. Think of new approaches to old ideas or try to come
up with bold new topic and questions that have yet to be breached.