Speed Selling on the Internet

"Everyone is obsessed with having a great Web site. They spend countless hours and thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of dollars to come up with cool, slick graphics that dazzle the eye and boggle the mind." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Meyerson, 130)

There are better reasons to have a Web site than to just be in. To just have one because you can. Better reasons to have a web site is to be able to reach a larger market. Large corporations have advertising budgets that are difficult to keep up with. However, a personal site can reach the ever-growing market of internet-connected customers. Even if a business is limited to a geographic area, there are still more prospects there than one can reach in any other way.

A second reason would be to attract new prospects, for example, by providing something free (samples, newsletters, or marketing gifts) which will attract prospects to the site. Once there, they can learn more about the company or individual and if interested, they can take the next step to becoming a member.

A third reason would be to keep up with the competition! If my competitors are online and I'm not, what does that say about my business? More and more, everyone we meet will expect us to have a website. If they don't find it, they will find the competition's.