Why you need a website

Three years ago I wrote an entry listing the reasons why you need a website. I started out by saying that not every small business needs one. In just 3 years, I'm not entirely sure if that argument still holds water. The Web has become such a normal, common part of most people's lives - just look at the number of people that have Internet access on their "regular" mobile phones, Crackberries and iPhones. In my household we don't even have a phone book anymore (we recycle it the minute we get one). When my mom needs help finding something – be it a service or product – she usually asks me to look it up online. Plainly put, it seems almost wrong to not have a website for your business. While there are online versions of various phone books, I'm not convinced that's enough. People used to trust phone books, and many still do. But as we move closer and closer to a primarily digital world, people are trusting websites more and more. If anything, having a website exposes you to perhaps a wider audience than before. But the reality is, these days, if people look for you (your service, your product, your business) on the Web and can't find you, it's almost like you're saying that not only are you not a progressive company, but that you may just not be serious about being in business. Harsh? Perhaps. But I really don't think it's far from the truth.