Any of you that have been sitting on the fence regarding investing in a piece of real estate on the World Wide Web may like to know that in 2008 the only significant growth that drove the retail market was due to online sales.  When you set up a website you are not literally purchasing a piece of property, but you are establishing a doorway in virtual space where approximately 20 million shoppers have the opportunity to see you. You cannot say that about your brick and mortar storefront. If you have intentions to compete in the larger marketplace and expand your business you must have a website.

E-commerce Leads the Retail Market

Although it’s true that online retail sales experience the same economic cycles as the traditional economy, the fact is e-shopping is long past the stage of being a novelty and has moved into an era of unstoppable momentum. Last year online retail sales were up 11.7% to $11.85 billion from $103.69 a year earlier. This growth took place while in-store sales were dropping. Even if you are a small “mom & pop” type business or think you don’t have a product that can be sold online there is someone who will come up with a way to do it.

Capturing a piece of the traffic from the global e-highway is not the only reason to establish web presence. The internet has become a dominant force in providing information. A business card is only good enough if it lists your email address and website address. It’s a black mark against you if anyone decides to check you out and they can’t find you online. A website is a tool that adds to your credibility as a business and is a far more impactful means of presenting yourself according to the way business in conducted these days.

Who looks for you online?

• Past, current and potential customers
• Business partners and associates
• Employees and job applicants
• Investors and lenders

Professional Business Image

A well-designed website presents a professional image of your business that makes a very good impression on anyone considering doing business with you. It does not matter if you are a small business or a large corporation – the internet is one place where the playing field truly is leveled. Even if your business is small your website can be impressive enough to capture a customer over a large company with a less than adequate site with poor functionality.

A great website with easy navigation and secure e-commerce applications shows you are sincere in your desire to do business and have been willing to make it easy for the people looking for you to find what they need. It is the beginning of a relationship with everyone that visits your site and is the first step in building trust. A website gives you access to millions of global viewers and for the first time in history puts every business owner on the planet in the league of conducting international business. You are not limited by a geographical location.

Reduce Overhead Costs While Increasing Sales

Building a storefront or office from the ground up is prohibitive for most businesses starting out and requires very sound projections for a larger organization to make the investment. Leasing and maintaining business space is one the major costs for every business. Either of these scenarios can run into hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. A virtual location can cost less than the amount of your monthly business lease. As your customer base grows through your website you can add new functionality to the site to make it capable of handling the increase in traffic.

There are many other side benefits that fall under the heading of cutting costs when you use a website to present your products and services.

• Visitors to your site can find information about you and make purchases 24/7 because your website is always open for business and is not limited by global time zones.
• You can reduce some of your communications (telephone and “snail” mail) by using an email service.
• Build your contact database by using an email capture field on your site.
• A correctly designed website will sell your products for you and allow you to cut back on the number of personnel in your sales department.
• You can offer detailed information on a “frequently asked questions” page that cuts back on the number of customer service calls you are required to handle.
• Conduct surveys online for a negligible cost that allow you to fine tune your current product list and test new products.
• Translate your website into several languages and increase your exposure to international customers. 
• Cut back on your “hard copy” promotional expenses by marketing your products and services online.

The Main Elements of a Spectacular Website

Design and Layout. The most effective websites use clean, simple designs that are easy on the eyes and follow a natural progression for the viewer to find the information and products they are seeking. The navigation bars are highly visible. The graphics and images represent the concepts the website is meant to feature. The most important pages on the site (especially the product purchase pages) can be accessed directly from any page by clicking a clearly visible link.

Content. The content needs to be informative and address the reasons the viewer came to the site in the first place. It needs to constantly guide the reader toward the actions you want the reader to take while on your site. The articles should be useful enough and have enough personality to keep the reader interested in staying on your site longer and returning often.

Search Engine Optimization. Your site needs to be optimized and built with strong, clean code to make it easy for the search engine “spiders” to navigate and find the keywords that represent your products and services.

E-commerce. If you are using your site to sell products you need a professional e-commerce application with a shopping cart and secure payment methods that accept all the major credit cards.

Website Security. Regardless of what types of applications you need to do business with your website you need to have security systems in place to protect you from spam, viruses and identity theft hackers.

Achieving your business objectives will happen faster than you think when you use internet technology to support your sales and growth. As technology advances it puts you on the leading edge along with the other “big guns” in your particular industry. By investing in a state-of-the-art website you can even capture prime real estate on the web that puts your business head and shoulders above your competition.