As the business owner of a up and coming web firm I'm priviledged to meet alot of interesting people. Our business spans the full spectrum of enteprise clients and also small businesses representing dozens of industries. Industries represented are all over the board from insurance companies, to non-profits, to the car industry, and religous organizations as well. One thing that's truly consistent with all of these industries and truth be told many others is that the vital role of the web is still considered an after thought. Very rarely do I hear, "The web is very important and we understand that the level of effort to achieve are goals is substantial but will pay off 3x in the long run". What I typically hear is, "We've got an extremely limited budget for this project." or "We know this is very important but we'd like to come in with a drastically reduced budget to test the waters and then if we meet with success we'd like to further expand our efforts." For the first part of this post I'd like to qualify why the web shouldn't be an afterthought purely on statistical data. When presented with these sobering facts it's hard to understand why this wouldn't be a priority initiative for any organization. Don't get me wrong I'm a firm believer in fitting solutions exactly to the clients current needs with room for growth and certainly a hard push to the web doesn't make sense for all businesses. There are many businesses that core vessel for keeping and procuring new clients is relationship driven making the websites "value add" attracting new employees, serving as a credibility check, and offering easy to access resources for clients. However you'd be suprised that even in that context people are still reluctant to make the necessary plunge into the web world.

Internet - The Facts

What you're viewing in the chart above are internet facts reporting an almost 75% saturation for people that regularly use the internet to collect vital information about every aspect of their lives both business and pleasure. Keep in mind this is usage and when you remove small children and the very eldery from this list you see that the percentage of saturation of those probably capable of using the web is probably a strong 5% higher than is being reported here.

Why Make The Effort? My Business Is Fine.

For now it is. Ignoring a professional and well-rounded website is a recipe for disaster. It only takes a moment for someone to leverage the web to start stealaing market share in your regional area or hurt you nationally depending on the size of your organization. The United States is the most customer service oriented and competitive market in existence. It's no longer (and hasn't been for quite some time) enough to maintain the same level of effort and become complacent with your technology related tools. New ways need to be continually sought for providing better value for your future and current client set while also streamlining your total operating costs. Below is an itemized list for why working on the web just makes sense.

1. Reduce or eliminate costly print ad campaigns.
2. Reach a national audience, free of charge.
3. Easy to access information ensuring a comfortable feeling for new clients.
4. Correctable and dynamic messaging.
5. Reduction of administrative duties with a client-centric website.
6. Current sales tools for fast reference by key staff.
7. Avoiding embarassing questions about your website.
8. A long term asset that if done correctly continues to pay dividends for years to come.
9. Media related content options keeping your audience engaged.
10. Attract and retain premium employees/talent.

I like to consider this list a basic top ten of why the web makes sense for every organization in one fashion or another. When put into context and reading the information it makes sense from a business perspective to take all your marketing efforts whether traditional or progressive (such as social media) and push to the web. A well thought out plan with execution often leads to a highly trafficked website. Clearly there is alot more that goes into making an educated decision on what's best for your company or non-profit organization. I've written an additional blog posts that address selecting the right web firm, what to expect financially, and the pro's and con's of in depth web design/development.