It's pretty much a given that if you have a business, you have a website. But how much thought have you put into your website? In my experience, I have seen way too many small business owners whose only question is how much will it cost. They see it more as a necessary evil than a great tool to communicate with customers and sell their products or services. I just met with a customer who has a fantastic product but has very little market share. Nobody knows about him and his product. He currently has an admittedly ineffective website that is several years old and looks like his kid nephew created it. I proposed ways that we could engineer a new site that incorporates current Web 2.0 technologies to attract traffic, capture valuable information, enhance visitor experience and track data. I also highly recommended using social networking sites and starting a blog that would offer tremendous value to his niche market.
We never even talked about price. Yesterday he told me that he found a web designer whose price was way too cheap to pass up so he hired him. Yikes! So much for a complete marketing solution.
So are you just looking at how much money you need to spend on a website? Or are you asking how money you can generate from your website? Most business owners are not marketers but they should educate themselves and find experienced, knowledgeable marketing professionals who will truly provide solutions. You could have a fantastically talented web designer but if he or she can provide you with merely a pretty-looking website with little functionality, is that a wise investment?
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