Small Business

In order to make the best website decision for you, several factors need to be considered. Many entrepreneurs I speak to are ready to spend several thousands of dollars on their websites, without having a clear concept of the internet strategy for their business. They are mainly able to articulate that they want a “professional looking” site, but are unable to clearly define what that means. I have been able to save my clients a considerable amount of money and frustration by walking them through the considerations of a realistic internet strategy.

Entrepreneurs I meet generally want a website for one of two reasons.

• Electronic brochure; Even when the majority of their sales are local and face to face, entrepreneurs find that many of their customers ask them for their site rather than take a business card or brochure. Today’s customers have grown accustomed to being able to research businesses online rather than having to ask questions in person. This saves them time and the worry of having to keep track of your business card or brochure. If you fall into this category and lack even a minimal, static website, you could find yourself at a competitive disadvantage.

• Lead generation tool; When small businesses plan to attract a large percentage of their customers from the internet, they require a more robust internet strategy. If you fall into this category, you could benefit from a more dynamic website that draws attention from the major search engines. In theory you could pay for search engine optimization (SEO) but there are also lots of low-cost strategies for building traffic. You would definitely benefit from a blog, as well as the ability to add info to the site rapidly and reliably which may not happen if you hire someone else to build the site.

Regardless of the category you fall into, before long you will probably be thinking about making sales online. Even if you are a service provider, you may have a book or CD you want to sell. At the very least, you will probably want to set up a newsletter to keep in touch with your customers. Many entrepreneurs I talk to are intimidated by the idea of setting up a shopping cart, accepting payments or creating a database of customers for their site. However, you should be aware that an entire industry has grown up on the internet in support of small businesses. The services you want are all available as simple plug-ins at a low cost.

The one area I find most entrepreneurs do not even consider is the viability of their domain host provider. The domain host provider provides the physical database servers upon which your website resides. Their capacity and configuration determine things like how often they are unavailable and the speed at which your site is available. They also vary widely in terms of cost and level of customer support. Your can leverage a site like realmetrics to get an unbiased report comparing cost and service without having to have too much technical expertise.

The bottom line is that when it comes to websites, more expensive is not always better. Especially in a startup or low-budget situation, be sure that the website you build is the one you need to support your unique business

Do you want to learn more about overcoming the everyday challenges of building a business? Sign up for my free special report Getting Out of Your Own Way: 7 Steps to Sustainable Success for Women Entrepreneurs: Small Business Success