Why Small Businesses Need a Website

E-tail or online retail has grown year on year and accounts for 7 per cent of all retail sales, according to IMRG. Ample room for you and your business to harness the power of the web to increase profits, target specific niche markets or generate fresh leads. The benefits of doing business on the internet are:

• You can sell your products/services 24 hours a day, seven days a week and awake to see how much money you've made while you slept. Nice touch!
• You have a global reach. I have US clients and European clients I'd never have had the opportunity to sell my services to without the web. No need to rely on passing footfall trade.
• It is easier to target niche audiences online via a plethora of websites and targeted groups.
• Marketing can be quick and cheap. E-mail costs nothing but time and your web connection costs.
• It makes working from home a more viable option.
• There's less initial outlay than if you are leasing a shop or office space.
• The beauty of the internet is that it means small businesses can compete effectively - nobody knows the size of your company from a web address (URL).

There are a multitude of reasons for taking your business online - in fact, some businesses operate as pure dotcoms, with no 'bricks and mortar' side at all. These include Amazon.com, Iwantoneofthose.com, Sharpcards.com and ilikemusic.com.

Other regular businesses - retail outlets, service business - use the web as a natural extension of their offline operation: as an online brochure, lead generation or sales tool. Some websites enable sales to take place there and then and are e-commerce enabled with shopping carts.