The importance of a web presence

Sep 23 2007

Contrary to popular belief, not every business needs a web site. But every business needs a web presence, even if it’s only one page. There’s still a strange carryover from the late ’90s web boom and bust where people seem to think that web sites need to be large, content rich and a commitment to maintain. The truth is that some businesses only need a couple of pages. A URL to put on a business card, a place where Google and Yahoo! users can find you.

Why is it important to have a web presence? The web is this century’s yellow pages, shopping mall, newspaper and knitting circle all rolled up into one. And because of the communal nature of the web, none of us can really “opt-out” of it. A few months ago, I googled myself just for giggles and found a business directory site that I hadn’t heard of and had never signed up for, but had a startling amount of information about me. Jobs I’d had, local newspaper articles that I had written as a teenager. There are an infinite number of places that we — and our businesses — can be found online.

Consider all the people that could blog about you, post about you on epinions.com, review you on CitySearch, Kudzu, or any number of other community directory sites out there… And even if you only own a small, local business, customers can just as easily document their experience with you online as they can a big, national or global business.

You don’t need a huge, full-blown web site to keep you in control of your brand online. But every business, even small businesses need to think about their web presence and how they can own their company’s image on the web. One or two good pages may be all you need. Make sure that people see what you have to say first and then let them find any customer reviews, both good and bad, that may be floating out there.