It's almost mandatory that every business needs to use the Internet on a daily basis. It's also true that almost every business has a website and yet very few businesses prove their website to be worth the investment.
The story usually goes; someone comes into the business and promises the owner that they will get all kinds of traffic and new business by having a website. They even tell them that they will use SEO or Search Engine Optimization to get them ranked number one on their keywords.
What happens? The business rarely gets number one, and when it does, it's with the wrong keywords that will generate traffic to the website. Even worse, the business owner neglects the website and wonders why it never produces the results they were promised.
The problem is usually the combination of the “expert” that builds the website for the business and the owner/manager of the business. The “expert” should be properly educating the business owner, but the truth is that very few “experts” understand the real relationship that needs to be created between internet and business.
The owner/managers fail to look at the website as a virtual store and see it more as a brochure. Thus they miss the total relationship between Internet and business. The owner/manager needs to invest as much time or more in the virtual store as they do on the brick and mortar store.
If that intimidates you, don't let it. The more you learn, the more comfortable you will be with marketing your products and services through the Internet and your business will benefit from it substantially.
You may even find that your Internet sales outpace your brick and mortar storefront.