There was a commercial recently during the Super Bowl that posed the question, “What if we always settled for the first thing that came along?” What if we had settled for massive cell phones, wagons, black and white televisions, and typewriters? The commercial was for an automobile, but there are many similarities to be drawn from this commercial as it relates to the Internet and websites. What if we had settled for newspapers, brochures, phone books, and other expensive and inefficient means of communication?

It’s no secret that web technology is constantly changing; it wasn’t all that long ago that websites were merely a means of putting your information out there for people to see and you hoped they would find it. Today, websites provide an entirely new way to have a conversation and can be found very easily simply by typing a set of keywords into a search engine. Websites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and others have, in a very short amount of time, changed the game forever. Web technology has allowed a more efficient and convenient way for people to interact with each other and with businesses.

So if web technology has caused such a drastic shift in the way people live their lives, in how they interact with each other, how they find things, how they get entertainment, and how they even make purchases, what does this kind of shift mean for businesses?

The Internet has grown so rapidly and penetrated such an astounding amount of the population that it is imperative for nearly every business to have a professional web presence. Since 2000 the number of Internet users in North America has grown by 146% to more than 75% penetration of the entire population. The fact of the matter is that the majority of people in the United States today are going online to find information.

Often times, the online presence of a business, or lack thereof, may be the first impression (or nonimpression) that a potential client has. In today’s competitive economic landscape, businesses must have an online presence in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. Although the numbers presented above reflect overall usage, there is further evidence to suggest that websites play a major role in how we as consumers make buying decisions, not just find information or entertainment.

Studies have shown that 81% of the 18-34 year-old age bracket and 69% of the 35-59 year-old age bracket search for information about a particular business or service prior to physically visiting a location or making a purchase decision. With the growth and continued popularity of the Internet, a website is arguably, equally as important as the location or retail signage of your business – the web has become the new storefront. If the physical location of a business has zero visibility and is in a remote, unmarked, difficult to find, and dumpy looking area, it is highly unlikely that it will receive much traffic, if any at all. In the same manner, if a website is lacking or non-existent, it is sending the exact same message to potential clients, and huge volumes of business could be missed as a result.

Establishing a web presence can be a very daunting task for anyone who isn’t regularly immersed in the ins and outs of online marketing. It is not an impossible endeavor, however there are some things to know before embarking on establishing or redesigning a website.

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