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Because it's a good sales tool, and it can be had at a bargain price. Microsoft Corporation® ran an ad campaign based on the theme "Where do you want to go today?" You want to be on the Internet when customers come calling, to tell them who you are, what you do, where you are, why they should do business with you, and when you're open for business. Doesn't your ad in the Yellow Pages do the same thing? No. Your ad is a catalog entry, and it delivers a message that conveys your competitive position by virtue of the ad's size. Your Internet presence lets you define the essence of your business because space is not a limiting factor (that doesn't mean you have to go on ad nauseam). And that's just the beginning.

On your website you can show products and describe services to generate customer interest. You can post a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) to reduce the time it takes to answer the same questions. You may include special sales information and coupons (continue running your ads in the conventional media, but reference the website for more details). Another powerful sales aid is the ability to build a list of customer emails. You can then contact them regularly to promote sales, without incurring printing or postage costs.

If you haven't explored the possibility of building your own website for some time, you should look again. The Internet's content has grown richer and page layout is more flexible. Content and timely information can be edited in minutes: Show a map of your location and a picture of your storefront or building, list business hours and Holiday schedules, provide background data about the company, employees, business affiliations, testimonials, major customers, etc.

Larger companies have been using "extranets" to communicate with their customers and reps online. The extranet is nothing more than a website that can only be accessed by using a password; for example, you may want to post technical documents only for your dealers' eyes, or give your reps a running account of their business to date. Extranets are generally interactive, so that other authorized people outside your organization can post material. Anyone can mimic an extranet provided the information you post is not sensitive. A typical example? Your advertising agency creates a new ad and parks it at www.adgency.com/your_ad for you to look at. The "your_ad" location is not linked to the rest of the adgency.com website, although anyone looking would have no trouble finding it.

Do you need a website even though you're not selling on the Internet?
The vast majority of web sites are not equipped for e-commerce - the selling of goods and services directly on the Internet. But a website provides a powerful vehicle to help establish your company's identity and the means for customer interaction through emails, catalogs, and other information that customers are coming to expect as the result of growing Internet use. "What's your web address?" is a question that is being asked more frequently than ever, and the expectation is that every business has its own URL (Universal Resource Locator - or web address). Your website could be the difference between closing a sale and losing to the competition.

Think the process to setup a website is complicated?
It's not as easy as some would portray it, although there are many bundled schemes that make it less difficult to setup a web page. But if you want to be the captain of your ship, you need to learn the basics and understand the pieces of the puzzle. So, here's what you need to know:

There are three entities that come into play when you decide to setup a website:

1. A carrier, such as Verizon or SBC, which connects your computer to the Internet. Most Americans already have a carrier (using a regular or DSL modem - DSL being faster and recommended for business use).
2. An ISP (Internet Service Provider) who will physically hold the files that you use for your website. ISPs provide the high-speed connections to the Internet and host your website address, such as www.yourcompany.com. They are also responsible for security and back-up.
3. A company (such as Network Solutions) that will register your domain name, or DNS (Domain Name Service). This service has to be paid for every year.

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You can create the website on your own computer, and then send the files to the ISP. The preferred method is via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a small utility program that can be downloaded on the Internet for a few dollars. You can do this as often as you wish to implement changes and updates. Some companies, such as Yahoo!, give users the opportunity to create whole websites without FTP or any other software; it's easy to learn how to do it, but not very flexible or economical in the long stretch.

At a minimum, you will need a text editing program (such as Word or Notebook), and a graphic utility program to crop or enhance photographs.

So, here's how you go about creating a web site and then maintaining it: Register a name, choose an ISP, create the web pages on your computer and "park" them on the ISP server (server is a fancy name for computer).

Since you probably don't know the required programming languages to create web pages, you will probably let a service company to do it for you. Now you will at least know enough to understand what it is that you are buying - it fits into one or more of the activities above. If you plan on actually selling products and charging to credit cards, a new set of issues arises - secure pages, shopping carts, payment gateways, merchant services... But that's a different environment and the subject of another discussion.