If you have a business and haven’t got a website on the Internet, you’re pretty much crazy. I don’t want to sound judgmental but you must be either really behind the times, or just plain scared to get yourself onto the Web. If it is the latter, the fear is an irrational one, having a website is only going to do great things for your life. Have you seen how many computers there are in the world today? Look at how much they’ve now been integrated into everyday human culture and society. Everywhere you go there are Internet cafes and computer retailers, people with mini-computers on the train, or laptops at the local park (receiving wireless broadband Internet). If you can’t see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the opportunity in having a website for every one of your potential customers to visit, you must be catatonic, drunk, or insane. If you truly do fall into one of these three categories, I’m really sorry, but if one day you do find a balanced state of life again, please check out the Internet and see what it is doing for people all around the world.  

OK, let’s give you an example of how this works. Say you own a small dog washing business. You’ve got a good client-base built simply from an advertisement in the Yellow Pages and from people seeing your shopfront on the street. You make a good living, so why would you want or need to get a website? First of all, there’s nothing even remotely technical about washing a dog. Humans have been washing stinky canines ever since they started to breed them into the wide range of freaks that exist today (you tell me that a bulldog sitting next to a Chihuahua and a St. Bernard doesn’t mess with your head). The computer doesn’t help you scrub, people, it helps you to get more dogs to scrub. You’re probably thinking, ‘I’d be the only idiot alive stupid enough to think that I’d get any more customers by putting up a dog washing website on the Internet.’ Well, check these out, they are but a few of the multitude around the world that came up when I typed the words ‘dog wash’ into my search engine (Google): https://www.dogwash.com/, https://www.dogwash.net/, https://www.southbark.com/home.htm, https://www.dogwashnyc.com/, https://barebonesdogwash.com/, https://www.bugsie.co.uk/, https://www.petwash.com/main.htm, https://www.pet.net.au/rumpoles/dogwash.htm, https://www.dogwashing.com.au/ https://www.scrubadubdog.net/home.html.

You see, you’re not crazy to think it might work. Put simply, it does. Why would so many different people have put their dog wash businesses online? Check these sites out and see what they look like. You can get a pretty good idea of the many ways that you can construct your site, from the very simple to the quite elaborate. One point you might want to notice is how each site is totally individualistic. Websites are an opportunity to express your unique cultural approach to your business. For example, you might want to get the wealthier side of town to bring their pooches to your shop. What’s going to attract them? An intelligent site with an elegant atmosphere could be a start. Maybe you’d use gold or maroon background colours, high quality photos of super-clean dogs posing next to Rolls Royce’s and Ferraris, and have text that gives elaborate detail as to how far you go when you groom an animal- E.G. Doggie manicures and massage?

Maybe you want your site to be fun and friendly. You could put up lots of colourful images, plus photos of laughing kids having fun spraying foamy soap on both the dogs and all over themselves. You could put up an offer that if they mention your website when they visit in-person, both the dog and the kids get a special treat (hopefully not the same one!). Are you getting the message people? Having a website for your business gives you an opportunity to share more of your self and your creativity with your potential customer-base. It’s a chance to show them who you are, why you’re different from others, and why you’re the best place to go for that specific product.

The other main reason and the most obvious one to get a website is the fact that you’ll be able to cover a massively wider sector of human society than you currently get in contact with. Anyone who has access to a computer and who is interested in your area of expertise can find you through a simple search on the Internet. That’s how it’s done today, everything else is deemed old-fashioned. If we want to know more about anything at all in life, we plug in and connect to that ultimate database of information and communication. Two of the main reasons people use the Web is to find out about a business, or to advertise and share their own business with those who are searching for a service or product. If your luggage shop isn’t found online, let me tell you that there are droves of travellers who are flying by your shop for ‘greener pastures’. They simply don’t know you exist anymore; they’re going to the nearest shop with the coolest website.

About The Author Jesse S. Somer https://www.m6.net Jesse S. Somer is someone who knows that if you’re business isn’t on the Internet, you’re simply not known. Jesse S. Somer is a creative writer working at M6.Net: ‘The web-hosting company for humans.’ M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.