Well it should seem rather self evident in a technology age, why you would want your business to have an extension to the world wide web. However, if you are still thinking about making the leap and are not quite sure why yet, we have a few reasons to help you understand why online business is so important. Many times smaller companies restrain themselves from technological growth due to funding, but as cheap as it is to create and maintain an online presence this is no longer a valid excuse.

I cannot think of a single business that in some way would not benefit from creating a web presence or putting up a simple website. Some businesses can even streamline day to day operations by making use of a intranet and internet marriage. This allows for many companies to have real time inventory, ordering and much more. No matter big or small, I think your business needs to be online!

If your business is not online after you are done reading this article, I for one, will be surprised!

There are many benefits to having an online business presence. Local businesses are some of the last to come online and many times do not think that they need to be on the internet. If you think that there is no reason to put a local business online or don’t think that there is a market for your companies services outside of a local market, we beg to differ. Even small Mom and Pop Shops can really get a big return from taking their business to the web. You don’t have to be in the technology field to take advantage of it.

So that being said lets get to the top 10 list!

Top 10 Reasons To Put Your Business Online

1. Establish a Presence – There is no faster way for a new business to get the word out and begin establishing a strong presence that starting it’s own website. You can branch out from here obviously, but having your own legitimate website can make your new business real and further brand your existing business almost immediately.

2. Networking – Putting a business online will allow you to start networking with other like minded businesses that you would have never otherwise been in contact with. Networking online is one of the biggest advantages for business people of all kinds.

3. Extend Store Hours – This is the easiest and cheapest way to make your business available to the customer 24×7 with out having to pay for a full time staff. If you want to better serve your customer by allowing them to do business with you at their convenience, going online is a must.

4. Sell More – Yes, believe it or not there are people who actually prefer to buy online and you may already be loosing sales to these guys and not even know it. This is just one example of many, there are endless methods to generate new sales and leads online, so why not take advantage of them?

5. Reach Special or Local Market – You can refine the traffic to your site in such a way that you can make yourself available to the people in your own community or that have been looking for your “widgets” and did not know that there was a business close to them that sell widgets.

6. Customer Feedback – Taking your business to the internet is a quick and painless way to get feedback from your customers. This is much better than having a mad customer come into your place of business, trust me.

7. Make Rich Media Available – Most businesses do not have a way to get video, sounds and pictures into their customers without spending money on dvd or other media to mail out. The internet provides a simple and effective method to deliver rich media right to the customer that is also very cost effective.

8. Reach Global Market – Not all businesses are looking to expand, but if you are, this may be a great way to enter the global market for pennies on the dollar. The internet even helps break down the language barrier using modern translation software.

9. Sales People Contact - Using a website can be a great way to use a single hug to communicate with salespeople countrywide or even globally.

10. Test Market – There are many ways you can take advantage of online technologies to run test markets and you will find you can get results from your testing much faster and cheaper than real world testing.

There are many more reasons that can be of huge benefit, but these are the ones that stick out to me. Hope you enjoyed the information here,