Featured Roseville Blog: Your Business Cannot Afford to Not Have a Website!

Editor's note: Roseville Patch welcomes Cheri Marchio, an online strategist at Evolve Systems in Roseville, to our team of Local Voices contributors. The following is her first blog:

It is estimated that more than three-fourths of the world’s total population will be online by 2012 year end and 90 percent of the citizens in the U.S.

Believe it or not slightly more than 50 percent of all businesses still don’t have a website!  Granted some businesses are so small or would never find their customer on the internet – but admit it those businesses are few and far between.

The reality for many businesses is that they are looking for new prospects and customers and want every bit of visibility they can afford.   You don’t have to sell your products or services online to need a website but you will need a website if you want to be found online.  Integrating your traditional marketing with online marketing, starting with a website is smart move.

Your next customer is researching their purchase on the web.  They are looking for product reviews and comparing vendors and services. They are searching for contact information, contact forms to send you message, menus to peruse before they set out from home, examples of your work, price lists and almost any data they can find.  

Your website will serve as a virtual business card and the basis of your online marketing. It is a place where you can advertise your business, provide information to potential customers about your business, keep in touch with existing customers, and persuade them to do business with you.  It is always up - and always accessible to your prospects and customer, available when you are not or when you are closed.

A website is a marketing and communication tool that you own. You control it and you can use it continually. Content Management Systems (CMS) sites allow you to manage changes easily.

You buy your CMS website one time and only pay for the service to use it. Your website will have these basic costs: Development of the site, hosting for the site, and registering the domain name.  Costs of websites vary on your needs and the options you choose.  Most websites range from $1,000 to $5,000. 

Your web developer can help you with maintenance, changes and updates, which is generally simple and affordable or maybe you will want to maintain the CMS site yourself, with some training of course. 

Websites reach a growing customer base that up until now has remained hidden to you. It will also service your current customer base, giving them more options to communicate with you.  A website in today's world is a stamp of credibility for your business. You risk your credibility by not being present on the web. 

With a new website internet users will now be able to find you — you don't find them. They will search for you because they've heard of you or remember your name from some form of offline marketing or referral, or through a search for a product you're selling. If your business is not listed, it doesn't exist to Internet user.

When you consider the continual growth in Internet users and the companies that are online, some of which may be your competitors, it could cost you NOT to have a web site.

Please leave a question or comment you might have about getting ready for your first website.  Check back in two weeks for our post on Cash Mobs – what they are and how to attract one.