Many small business owners fall prey to this myth after having a website for several years without seeing any measurable results. Unfortunately, this conclusion grows out of a misunderstanding of how to use the website as part of the overall strategy to grow the business. As the small business owner fails to see results from their website they begin to allocate fewer dollars to improve and promote it. As time goes on, the website becomes completely out of date and no longer represents the company it was originally built to serve. The reality is that many companies, particularly small businesses are achieving great success on the web. The key is to define the purpose of the website and how this will fit into the overall sales strategy for your business.

Is the objective of your website to sell products online? Perhaps it is but, most likely for small businesses, this is not the case. Perhaps the best objective for your small business website is to answer the key questions and objections that are common among your prospective customers.

For example, if you are a small business that advertises in the community, prospective customers may want to visit your website before they call to invite you to quote their project. For many small businesses it may be appropriate to design the website solely for the purpose of providing validation of your company by answering the key questions that are common to your customers. Your website can help you establish credibility and trust with your customers and prepare them to take that final step to become a new customer.

So the first step is to consider how your website will fit into your overall business strategy. Look at your competitors, look at companies that follow a similar business model, talk to your customers about their experience with companies that are using the web effectively. Don’t give up on the idea that your website can be an effective element to help you achieve your overall business strategy until you have taken the time to research, consider and experiment with different techniques to use the web for maximum business growth.