If you have a business, you should have a Web site.
Period. No question. Without a doubt.

Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the Internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

Internet marketing research firms predict that the number of online consumers will grow at a rate of 30 to 50 percent over the next few years. These numbers alone should be enough to persuade you that your business should have a Web site.

Let's clarify one point: we’re not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the Internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should, at the very least, have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners, and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

That said, it's not enough that you just have a Web site, you must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.

One of the great things about the Internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a well-designed site, your operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. We've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.

Think you don’t need a Web site because your business is a small operation? When it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. It doesn't matter if you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't have a Web site, you're losing business to other companies that do.

Here's the exception to what you just read: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"

Your Web site is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.