Is it really *that* important?

It's true. And the percentage of customers who prefers to shop at and work with a business that has a website grows every year. Why? In the 21st century, it's considered as necessary to customers as your products or services are. If you don't have a website, customers won't take you seriously. And if they can't find you online, they often won't bother to hunt you down. They'll choose your competition.

Think about how you look for a local business. Do you go to the Yellow Pages? (Are you even old enough to know what that is?) More than likely, you search for a local business through your favorite search engine—hey, you are reading this online.

Before they come to your store or contact you, they want to learn as much as they can about you. Rather than stalking your store by repeatedly driving in front of it, customers turn to the internet to learn what they need to know. In fact, 55 percent of people search online before making a purchase, and 47 percent of them will visit your website first. Since they're looking for you anyway, why not provide them with the best possible information available online? (You do know what a troll is, right?)

In addition to pages like "About" and "Contact," your website is a great place to . . .

SEO works hand-in-hand with the first two points. Think about how you search for things online. You typically open your favorite search engine, type in your question (called a long-tail search string), and faster than a blink, you get millions of responses to your query. How in the world does Google (or Yahoo or Bing) do that?

Search Engine Optimization. When you type your question, the google bots search the entire internet for exact (or close-to-exact) matches to your question. It also looks at how recently your website was updated and what your authority is. All of these things (and a few others) play into SEO. And those who are the best at it rank the highest.

Now, I'm not proclaiming the demise of social media. It isn't going anywhere any time soon. But as we learned from the pandemic, not everyone is on social media. Many of these social networks have a firewall, so you can't access the information if you don't have an account. And have you ever tried scrolling through a company's profile to find the post you're looking for? If you can't find it quickly, you're likely to give up the hunt. If you have a website and a Resource section that's categorized, your customers can quickly find the information they need. And social media is notoriously horrible at converting sales. If you're relying solely on your Facebook or Instagram feeds to bring in sales, you're missing out on a lot of business opportunities.

So, it's not enough just to have a website. It needs to look professional. It needs to be easy to use on a desktop or a smartphone. It needs to be organized so customers can quickly find what they're looking for. If you have a storefront or not, your website is an extension of your business. It's often where first impressions are made. Not surprisingly, 75 percent of website users make judgments about a company's credibility based on the look of its website. Just like when we meet face-to-face, those first impressions are extremely important, and the design and content of your site are critical to that success. So, if you haven't updated your website since Al Gore invented the internet, it's time for an update.

So often, I hear, "My company is B2B, so it's not as important for me to have a website." Au contraire, mon frére. Think about every business you work with. Now visualize the person you most often communicate with.

That's right. It's a person. And that person will answer their business questions in the same way they answer their at-home questions—through the internet.

If you're not familiar with the House of Mouse, you might be living in a cave. Among all the things Disney is known for, their ability to project a consistent message and experience throughout all their channels—theme parks, retail stores, websites, etc.—is legendary. So much so, they created the Disney Institute to teach other businesses how to replicate that.

Think about the feels and images your mind conjures up when you think about Disney. It's likely that people in China, France, and Guatemala all have similar thoughts. Why is that? Because Disney took the time to make sure all their channels reflect that famous experience.

Your website is an extension of your business. Before you can get customers into your store or purchase your services, you must have a website that engages them. Google averages 40,000 searches every second, but only 64 percent of small businesses have a website. Your customers are out there, searching the digital jungle for you—they may not know it yet.