Get a Website!, Register Your Domain!: To Website or Not to Website?

If you're fairly new to the Internet scene, you may just be a bit overhelmed with family members, friends, collegues, and advertisements urging you to get your own website for your business. Typically, this is good advice for businesses. However, for most small local businesses, running your own website may not be the best idea. Here's why:

Websites Take Time to Build. Whether you're buying your own WYSIWYG software to design the site yourself or you're hiring a skilled web designer, it will take time to decide on a good domain name, plan the site, create it, and then get it running online.

Websites Cost Money. There are a few basic costs:

- Domain name registration fee
- Web design fee
- Monthly web hosting fee
- Applicable setup fees

Plus, because a website needs to be "findable" in order to be beneficial for your business, you will have to, at minimum, invest in additional services such as:

- Search engine optimization fee
- Web maintenance fees
- Online and offline advertising for your website

Websites Take Time to Maintain and Alter. Your website will need at least some occasional modifications to keep it current. Most busy business owners simply don't have this kind of time.

Your Business is Local. Unless you are planning to actually sell and ship products worldwide via your website, you probably don't need to have your own website for your local business. Most local businesses simply need local exposure and an online presence.

The Bottom Line

If you already have an existing website, we sincerely hope you will have great success with it. However, if you have a local business, and you are looking for a way to build local exposure and have your business's details easily found online by your target customers in your area, local online directories that focus on retail shops, restaurants, and services may be the key.

The author is one of the original co-founders of The Socal411 Directory website, the popular lifestyle directory in Southern California. He is a promoter of small business in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, and often speaks on topics such as the importance of advertising locally on the Internet to get ahead of your local competition. For more information see, How to Promote Your Southern California Business Using the Internet.

---

Making The Business Case For Web Standards

Through the explosive growth of the Web, companies have realized... Read More

How To Get Your Customers To Trust Your Website

Research reveals three important facts:1) The Internet is one of... Read More

Developing State-enabled Applications With PHP

Installment 1Developing State-enabled Applications With PHPWhen a user is browsing... Read More

PHP & Account Activation

When a user signs up at your website, you may... Read More

Why You Need a Website

You hear a great deal about the Internet these days... Read More

Lead Generation How to -- 10 Tips On Generating More Internet Sales Leads

Many millions of dollars are being wasted on promoting and... Read More

A Beginners Guide to Server Side Includes

An Introduction to Server Side IncludesBeginner? That's OK!While much has... Read More

CSS - Maximum Benefits

What is CSS?CSS is a simple file which controls the... Read More

Dreamweaver 8 Preview

August 8 2005, Macromedia announced a release of Studio 8.... Read More

Creating Dynamic Website Content with PHP - MySQL

Fresh website content for your visitors can be of real... Read More

Web Development Processes and Technical Environments

The process of Web application development is critical to the... Read More

Revealing the Firefox Secret Used by Top Web Developers and Power-Browsers

Profiles are one of the best kept secrets around regarding... Read More

Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2

Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many... Read More

Why You Need A Web Site

"I have a small business with just a couple of... Read More

How One Word Or Even One Letter Can Boost Conversion Rates By Over 400%!

Recently I was reviewing the keyword specific conversion rate data... Read More

You Need To Treat Your Website Like An Employee - Heres 5 Ways To Do It

People often come to me in a state of crisis... Read More

Server Stats ? Analyzing Traffic To Your Site

Analyzing traffic to a site is a key factor in... Read More

You Dont Know Which One

I still remember it very clear ... It was almost... Read More

Allocating Your Web Site?s Budget Properly

I had a client say something to me the other... Read More

Maintaining Your Business Website

QUESTION: Should I build and maintain my business Web... Read More

Why to Have a Website for Your Company

After having decided to start a business, the next thing... Read More

Is Your Website Doomed for Failure Before Youve Built It?

One of the things that many people overlook when building... Read More

Tell me what your website does!

You know exactly what your organisation does and what your... Read More

Content Management

More and more businesses are recognizing the importance of content... Read More

Stop Losing Precious Web Site Traffic to the Dreaded World Wide Web Black Hole

You work hard to build traffic to your web page.... Read More

Are You Being Scammed By Your Web Design Company?

This is a growing concern amongst many business owners. Does... Read More

The Dos and Donts of Launching a Small Business Website

Launching a new small business website is often a long... Read More

Build It and They Will Come

Build it and they will come is not always true;... Read More

Setting Up A CGI Script On Your Web Site

Before you set up any scripts you will need some... Read More

Effective Webdesign

D.zigns dzignerwebs The Basics Before starting on... Read More

Improve Conversion Rates ? Load Times

Your site is getting traffic, but conversion rates are horrible.... Read More

Adding Word Rich Content to Your Website

You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print,... Read More

Five Question-Five Minute Web Makeover Quiz

If you haven't made the sales and built your clients... Read More