I don't think you need a website anymore... you can do all the online marketing and profile building via social media. Okay, you might need a site as an online brochure, but then it's very static and won't need changing much. Facebook and Twitter is where it's at.

Twitter can be very useful for building business, and LinkedIn is very useful for commercial activity too. But in my experience, Facebook is more of a social environment, with far fewer business applications.

A website is like a business card but much bigger. A website is a way a expressing your brand, a foundation of ownership and a platform for expanding. I feel a website is a good way to attract new and bigger business.

I think a website, is something customers expect from a business. They google a companies name and expect to find something that allows them to find out more about a business and what services/products they offer.

Andy

I run a web design, development and hosting company so you'd expect me to say that you should indeed have a website :)

But I also don't think that its either Online Social Media OR website, I think the two exist hand in hand. There are things you could do on your website that you couldn't do on Facebook or Twitter alone for instance establish your brand properly by reinforcing this on each and every page they read/view. At the end of the day Twitter is a micro blogging engine, Facebook is a social media arena and your website is your companies professional home. I for one would not be impressed if IBM decided to pull their website and host all on Facebook!

If I wanted to find out what products a company sold I wouldn’t go and look at their Twitter feed or latest blog post. Social networking is and should only ever be thought of as an add-on to a good, regularly updated company website.

In response to the initial question, I really couldn't disagree more. I am sure that I can not be alone when I say that one of the first things I do to learn more about a company, whether I am buying from them or trying to sell to them is go to their website. There are many reasons for this but a few are: -

We sell mainly B2B and trying to find potential customers is made easier for us and less troublesome for companies who our products are of no interest to because many company names are quite cryptic at times, not giving any indication of what they do. If I drive past a company I have not seen before, I jot down their name and search for their website when back in the office. I can then find out what they do / make and if our products or services could be of interest. If not, we don't trouble them.

If a new potential customer calls us for prices on our products, they might only give a company name or e-mail address. From that, companies who have a website we can then get all shipping details and addresses correct without having to ask for it. Making us much more efficient giving a better impression to new customers.

Likewise for our potential customers, I want them to be able to get a good idea of what we can supply and do for them making the potential customers much more likely to take the time to make contact. They are more likely to bother to pick up the phone or write an e-mail to a company who they 'know' supplies what they need than ten companies they think might be able to help.

I could go on and on...but I won't.

But I will say one more thing, and I 'might' be alone in this but I am far more likely to contact and do business with companies who not only have a website but who have an e-mail address with a specific domain. I personally think that a company who has an e-mail address like fredbloggs-cleaners@hotmail.com is just unprofessional and lazy. What makes me think that their service is going to be anything more.

I am a firm believer that for the small cost and little effort required nowadays in registering a domain, even if it is only for the e-mail address is an absolute must.

Well it is if they want my business at least. Granted, I might be in the minority on that one.

Indeed, first impressions really do count whether in business, down the pub, or meeting your mother in law for the first time!

A website helps to gel the professional feeling together, when paired with a proper domain name, a (non)geographical telephone number (not a mobile) and a well thought out logo/brand.

Give the customer as many opportunities as possible to contact you by displaying your telephone number on each page, as well as your credentials such as registered company number and address.

A simple call-to-action such as a ringback form allows potential customers to fill in two/three fields, name, telephone number and when to call and you do the rest.

The problem for our trade is so many websites have hopped onto the pool equipment bandwagon and sell many items at little over the cost price on the premise that they are doing no more than firing off an e-mail or in the case of chemicals often selling a lower grade of product. My fear for our company is that if we were to get a website (which has been discussed, and I don't count the free thing from Yellow pages in that) then we would be expected to compete with their prices.

However, we will be looking into the web presence thing again once we get a proper net connection at the office (we are currently using a dongle!)

Regards,

Phil

Simon,

I would have to say that each business is different, therfore each business would have to make it's own decision about that. If I was a landscape gardener, maybe not. But if I was looking at a selling channel, then a website would be critical to my business activity.

However, I would have to say that when a small business does decide to get an online presence, the one thing they must get right is contact details - including a landline and not a mobile, and then the background staffing levels to be able to cope with enquiries.

There's no point in having a website generate an enquiry if you dont have the right resource to service that enquiry - so my suggestion would be when getting a website also think how you are going to service those newly generated enquiries?

Alan Williamson

Publicising a website is not enough, according to a news item I have just put onto the site. It follows a claim that to ensure that the communication preference of every audience member is catered to, therefore reaching the maximum amount of people, all the addresses of a brand's online presence, such as its website, Twitter and Facebook page, should be publicised side by side, according to PR, search and social media agency, Punch Communications.

Most businesses with a website ensure the URL is carefully promoted and some large brands have started to widely advertise their social media pages but very few promote all of them together. Whatever the type of company, its website and social media spaces have important parts to play in communicating with customers or clients. Each channel has different strengths; for example, websites allow businesses to present more in-depth information in a fully controllable way whereas Facebook is a good platform for gauging a reaction through likes and comments on a topical post.

It is important for brands and the PR companies that are representing them to promote each of their online channels of communication appropriately so that consumers can choose the most fitting for their needs or preferences. Some people choose to keep abreast of a company's news through social media because it allows them to be reactive and have a two way conversation. The acquisition of followers and content that encourages interaction will result in new fans and therefore potential new customers because of the way users' communications are displayed to their friends or followers.

However, offering only a Twitter or Facebook URL can alienate those social media users who prefer to solely utilise those platforms for real-world relationships. Also it is important to consider, just as it is essential to remember that not every audience member has internet access, not everybody has an account on Facebook and Twitter.

Brands can also feed information to customers through a website by encouraging them to sign up to emails or to receive RSS feed notifications, but a website's primary purpose is to give the customer the information they require to take the next step towards making a purchase or choosing a service. Another benefit of promoting a website is that user behaviour can be tracked through analytics, which helps a business to understand its messaging, popular content and points of sale. With social media it is difficult to know how many times their page is being visited or its content being read and having no control over rules, aesthetics and functionality means a brand's hard work could go to waste at some point in time.

Pete Goold, MD of Punch Communications, said: "There are strong arguments for businesses with a website and a presence in one or more social media spaces to promote both channels of communication as each has different strengths. Advertisement placement and target audience are factors that must be considered but in the main brands should be promoting all points of online communication if they want to reach the maximum amount of people."

Your website is a 21st Century shop window to a market place that reaches millions all over the world.

Trade has always relied on being able to display its wares adequately - if those trading along the Spice Trail or Silk Route had a website, think of the savings in shoe leather and horse fodder!!

As for social media - I believe personal contact still outweighs cold-calling and anonymous networking.

It's my opinion that business is built on relationships first and foremost, and the ones that really matter are the face-to-face relationships.

For SMEs - especially First Level businesses - Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are just more things to check and keep updated - and I am sure that the likes of Stephen Fry have an army of ghost writers to help keep their online persona up to date.

However, everything has its place - I just think how lucky we are to have this much choice.

In response to Alan Williamsons comment regarding certain business types possibly not requiring websites, I would disagree but I do agree that the company needs to make an informed decision as to the potential benefits of a website, a twitter feed or a Facebook page. We have recently been approached by a landscape gardener wanting a brochure type website to show off and present her work. We have also created a very simple website for a transcontinental pipeline supervisor who wanted to impress his next contract. The site wasn't marketed but served as an online CV and something he could refer potential companies to.

The customer should also be made aware that a well crafted, well written website is nothing if its not marketed correctly and can be compared to opening the best shop selling the best things on a backroad in the middle of nowhere. You will simply not get passing trade.

Search Engine Submissions and SEO/SEM come next and at their smallest level will start to encourage traffic through to the website so don't forget to allow some budget or at least ask the question of your web designer/developer if SEO/SEM is included.

@Neil - and is that not the problem? many SME websites are not well crafted and well written!

I wholeheartedly agree that a "good" website is a great asset for a business, but having a website that was created three years ago and has not been updated since does nothing to instill confidence in prospective customers.

I've been really impressed recently by the high quality of client designed and created wordpress sites that combine blog and website into one... Lot of poor ones too, but the technology is now there to have a website with fresh relevant content that can look great and fit into the most meagre of SME budgets - so no excuses :)

...is a great tool but many clients simply aren't good designers and so their wordpress sites can quickly dissolve into an ugly mess as quickly as any non wordpress site can.

Lets be fair here. If you want your car serviced you go to a car mechanic. If you want a new telephone service, you go to BT or Virgin, if you want a great looking, well thought out website then ask a web designer and developer to help.

I can service my own car and I have in the past when I was 18 and money was tight. Now I'd much prefer someone trained to do it because:

a) they'll probably do a much better job
b) My time is better spent doing what I do best, making and hosting websites and my weekends are for my family.

Hi Im new here! lol I have recently qualified as a Wedding Planner & feel that having got both a free website & a paid for SEO site through BT I feel that my Free site (webs.com) is better laid out, easier to use and contains much more information.

My paid for site (btcustomerstreet) is SEO rated but is very bland and not at all pretty for my customers, I seem to have more hits on it but no one stays around long enough to pick up the phone as I cant make it pretty all of the templates include a horrible grey colour!

I feel that a website is always good in my line of work as potencials are more likely to search online for a wedding planner than they are to look in places such as newspapers.

As for Facebook I have a page set up but have not had any hits on it as yet and Twitter is my next stop....got to figure out how to use it first though!

If you are running your business in conventional way, you need not to build a site. But if you are intending to start a business online, you have to launch a website. And it is essential to ask for professional help for building that web site.
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Web design Tucson

I think it's interesting that some of the posters above don't have their photo or a logo (?or anything) uploaded to their profile on this site

I have had awful problems with Customerstreet (BT). Avoid them if you can; they don't do what you say and they infringed my business confidentiality on 3 sites I ordered from them (I run 4 Internet based companies). They then threatened ME with court action for non-payment - they are a joke! My strong advice is make sure you use a web designer that is also an expert on SEO. If not you will end up with a 'pretty' site that no-one sees. I made this mistake when it was easy but nowadays, you have to be ahead of the game to stand any chance on the internet and good SEO is the key.....but hard to find. Look for a company that is doing well in your sector and showing on page one of Google natural listings and then research who is doing their SEO. If there is strong competition in that sector, their SEO guys are working well. But the successful site's SEO people may not take you on if you are in the identical business, so spread your search out to closely related businesses (a wedding planner might search wedding dress hire or wedding venues). Wedding palnning is possibly a very local business (not UK wide) and so it is possibly more important to have a well designed webite than top SEO but you still need both. If you are in the 'bigger' pond and national or even international, you have to give SEO priority. (Search Engine Optimisation)

I much prefer to see a likeness of the person with whom I'm corresponding. We certainly encourage members to register their photos. But I'm unsure about making it compulsory. What do others think?