You'll find that few business letterheads and TV and newspaper adverts are complete these days without the obligatory URL, which signals that its owner has embraced the digital age and opened up a shop window on the World Wide Web. Some sites are merely enhanced business cards for their owners, giving details of the company and contact information. Others use Web sites as an extension of their conventional business, adding E-commerce tools and database systems to open a new and accessible shop front.
Some firms even base their whole trade on the Web and have no high street premises at all.
While this final approach is best left to ambitious Netrepreneurs, it's becoming more difficult for firms to justify not having a home on the Web. Even if you opt for nothing more than the 'contact details' approach, the cachet of a Web site may win over more customers. There is a whole industry out there of companies who will create a Web site for you, and carry out the task of planning, designing, coding and uploading, as well as sorting out issues such as domain name registration for you. Such a deal is well worth investigating, but if you're only planning to dip a toe in the Web water, you can easily set up your own site using some of the resources available online and products which can be bought from direct vendors. All rights reserved.