I thought I’d start off this series of articles by briefly communicating some philosophy about strategies and attitudes towards establishing a website for your business. There are a ton of articles which give you some strong technical advice and expertise around the subject of web strategies, which is great, but none of them really address the broader, more esoteric questions:

Why & How?

So that I don’t put you to sleep with my very first blog entry, I’m going see if I can help address the “why?” There’s lots of time to address the “how?” later.

From my point of view, I answer the question of “why” by explaining that everyone in business wants to find themselves in a target-rich-environment. Without really understanding a little more about the general trends in consumer research, however, that statement may not quite cut it for most business owners.

If you really want to know why your business needs a strong web presence, it seems that an easier way to answer that question is to ask “Why Do Customers Look for Goods or Services on the Internet?” Let’s look at a 5 possible reasons here:

1. Information is instant. We don’t have to wait for a reply to a letter, or to wait for the person who “handles” that department to return from lunch. In fact, we often don’t even have to pick up the phone.
2. Purely because of the nature of the Internet, business owners are able to give far more information about the goods or services being offered on a website more easily than any other form of marketing communication[1] in history. Want to know the specifications of the current model Corvette? Look it up online and decide if you even want to bother with a test drive before actually going to a dealership and requesting one.
3. When it comes to having the ability to research a subject, consumers can do it far more easily and far faster with a business’ website than with any other medium.
4. The Internet provides a global reach and is accessible 24 hours of the day, 365 days of the year. This means that consumers can look for anything they want when they want, and they can get it from anywhere in the world.
5. By reviewing a business’ website, consumers do not feel they are being influenced by a sales person on commission. The consumer feels that he or she is viewing as much information as necessary to make a decision. If not, he or she is free to move on to someone else at any time and without pressure from that sales person.

I know. Right now you’re saying “well, duh,” but the reality is that many business owners today do not consider the reasons why the very people they are marketing to would possibly be looking for a website with information about the goods and services they’re offering.

So, when thinking about the reasons why consumers use the Internet to research goods and services and to make informed buying decisions, were you able to flip that coin and think of the reasons why your business needs a website?

I hope so. Perhaps you were able to think of areas in which your own website can be improved to better attract those who are specifically seeking your goods or services.

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[1] I’m not dismissing other forms of marketing communications here. In fact, when Chevrolet wants us to know they are releasing a new Corvette, they use specialized forms of marketing communications to tell a mass audience many times over. Once the audience knows, however, they then look to the Internet for more information.