Should you have a website? You Bet!

USA Today Ask An Expert: Steven D. Strauss

Q: Steve — I know, I know, I am supposed to have a website. That said, as I have no plans to sell online, I just don't see the need for a site. My business has been around forever and we have done just fine without one. Am I wrong? — Phil

                               A:  I think you are, for reasons both large and small.

Let me give you but one example:  

A few days ago on a busy school night, my wife called and asked me to pick up some dinner on the way home. She mentioned a restaurant we like, even though we don't get to it often, and asked me to look up their menu online so we could figure out what to get.

Yet try as I might, I couldn't fine their website. It finally dawned on me that they did not have one. But since we had not been there in quite a while and could not remember everything on their menu, we decided to get dinner from another place.

Multiply that multi-fold and that's why every small business has to have a website.

Can you do e-commerce if you are not online?  Nope.

Can customers who hear about you check you out later on the Net if you don't have a site?  No again.

Can current customers (like I was) find out what your new offerings are if you lack a site?  Not easily.

And is it hard to get one?  Happily, the answer again is no, in fact it's easier than ever.

Here are some amazing statistics:

Half of all small businesses with less than 10 employees do not have a website.

7 out of 10 solo businesses do not have a website (Jupiter Research).

What is up with that? We both know that Americans are spending ever more time than online. 
80% of us now spend as much time online as we do watching television.

So you must get your business online; there's no question about it. Having a website is as essential today as having business cards or a telephone number...

... The point is, today, there is no reason for any small business not to be on the online, and not just online, but online in a professional, powerful way.  That way, when a customer wants to find your menu of products, they will.

If not, they'll go somewhere else.

Steven D. Strauss is a lawyer, author and speaker who specializes in small business and entrepreneurship.

His books include The Small Business Bible, The Big Idea, and the Business Start-Up Kit, all of which can be found on Amazon. Article appeared in USA Today online 2/11/2008.