DO YOU NEED A WEBSITE?
For your brick and mortar or service type business, the Internet should be a vital part of your overall advertising campaign. The web can actually be an inexpensive way to showcase your business in a way that no other medium can. Many savvy shoppers will check out your business on the Internet before shadowing your door or making a call to your office. If they find your Website to be informative and interesting you may have the first opportunity to serve them. Younger customers may even consider a business without a website to be insignificant.

DON’T GET BURNED
Spending hundreds or thousands of bucks for a shiny layout by a celebrity designer will not automatically make you the new “Pharaoh". For almost any business there are thousands of people just like you competing for the same top 5 spots on the search engine results page. Without proper search engine optimization (SEO) and intelligent promotion strategies your beautiful Website could languish deeply buried in the search engine's hidden indexes. A professional looking site is not the end of your online campaign, it is only the beginning.

WHAT  YOU SHOULD EXPECT
When you hand over the big bucks you should know exactly what you are getting. You should be able to opt for all or part of the total job including design, optimization, registration, hosting and promotion. Of the total cost an effective promotional campaign should probably take the biggest share. All too often the small budget business operator gets burned by a designer who is merely selling his technical ability or flair for design rather than making an effective marketing website. In most cases clean and simple is better than a complicated design. It is hard to believe but some really ugly websites sell and some beautifully slick websites fail.

GETTING IT RIGHT
Having a website does not have to be an expensive proposition. On just about any US street corner you could throw a rock and hit a Website designer. In addition software programs and templates have made it easy to design a professional looking Website. You probably have a teenager in your family or neighborhood that could do a wonderful job. The problem with designers is that most of them have little or no experience in marketing. Your designer should be willing to work with you to develop an internet marketing strategy that catches and holds the interest of your potential customers while building a Website that reflects the character and values of your business. After all, who knows your business better than you?