The new phrase in business is: Do you have a website? Several years ago, when the internet wasn’t part of main stream business, customers would look up a business in the yellow pages or take a look at a business card to know if the particular business was legitimate or not. Now with the internet vibrant and many businesses going on line the question is, where can I learn more about your business on the web?
I personally run a business where I deal with financial lenders and investment advisors. I recently had an interesting experience where I was working with an individual who was raising money for a development project I was representing. This individual was very professional on the phone and was able to speak the language of the business very well. We worked out terms of having him invest equity into the project that I was representing. We started moving down the path of having him invest about $2,000,000 for an equity percent in the project. He would receive upfront fees for doing the transaction, which is standard in this business. Upon doing my research, I Googled the name of his company (as we all are accustomed to doing) and Google produced no results, so I gave him a call and asked for his web address. He said, “Oh I don’t have a website.” I found that to be strange for a company of his size and for the amount of business he reported he performed. By him not having a website began to be very concerning to me and I begin to do more research about him and his company. To make a long story short, after several days of research I found out that he was trying to scam us out of $60,000 by collecting fees and then not investing the promised $2,000,000.
My point is not to call out all those that don’t have a website and to say that you can’t do business without one, but I want to make the point that in today’s internet business environment it is critical that you make yourself searchable on the web.
For your business to be taken serious in the on-line world, you need to have a professional looking website with up-to-date features and news. You should have a blog that keeps you connected with your costumers and ways to attract new clients. Take pride in your website and remember that how your website is perceived, is how your website is perceived.
As the saying goes- “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”
