Offline to Online - Does a Traditional Offline Business Need An Online Presence? by:Suzette Austin

There are many traditional businesses still today that do not have an online presence

, or if they do, the last time it was updated was the day it was created, back in 1990 something. Times have changed. Customers are now searching for information and to buy from businesses online. Even if you don't have a product to sell online, if your business is not online then you are missing out on potential new prospects and clients to purchase from you online and offline.

There is currently over 1.6 billion people on the internet and about 80% have made at least one purchase on the internet. You have probably even seen your own searching and buying patterns change over the years as well. Five years ago we were very hesitant to give our credit card details online, or sign up if they asked for an address or even a last name. Today with increased security over the internet you are probably one of the 80% that have made a purchase. Further, people are more inclined to research who they are going to buy from online.

You must have a website. If you don't have a website then how are people going to research your services or products. Chances are, unless they can't find the information they are looking for on the internet, that they won't ring you up or send you a letter to discover information about your business. Forget yellow pages advertising as well as now that yellow pages is online, people are searching the yellow pages and the trend is that they are clicking on yellow pages entries that have web sites so they can view the information.

How much is it costing your business not to have an online presence? How many new potential customers are you missing out on each day? An online presence does not need to have all the latest whiz bang flash movies or hype. It just needs to be pertinent content that is appealing to a prospective customer or client.

Before you create the website though, you must have a domain name. Put some thought into what your domain name should be. Sometimes it is better (and you will rank higher) to have the product name as your domain name rather than the name of your business eg. Accounting.com would be better than yourcompanyname.com as people will be searching for accounting rather than your company name (unless of course you have a well known brand such as Levi Strauss or McDonalds). You could register both, which is really good for search engine optimisation.

Once you have your domain registered then you can create your website. Remember to keep the customer in mind when writing the content. It would also be a good idea to have a customer or client critique the content of your website to give you a customer's perspective. When you have the content written, you will then need to find someone to host your website. Most hosting companies also have site building tools. These tools allow you to fill in forms to create your site. Don't forget to add at least one image and also company branding information such as logos. You can have your site up and running in less than an hour. Alternatively you could use a professional web design company to create your website for you.

Congratulations you now have an online presence. Once your site is search engine optimised and ranking well in the popular search engines you should be receiving tons of traffic which in turn will lead to tons of prospective clients or buyers. Good luck with it all.

Suzette Austin

Internet Marketer

http://www.localaccountantsbrisbane.com

About the author

Suzette Austin is an IT professional and internet marketer. She is also a certified life coach.

http://www.focusonsuccess.net.au

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_10463.shtml

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