It’s no secret . . . more and more individuals are making purchasing decisions using information from the internet. Similarly, more and more individuals are buying products online. The Census Bureau reports that since 1998, online retail sales have steadily increased at about 20% per year. Business owners and cottage industries have found an expanded market that goes beyond retail stores, craft fairs, catalogs, and word-of-mouth. If you have considered taking your business online, consider the following questions:

What will be my website’s purpose? In general, you will have either an informational or an e-commerce website. For example, if you have a handyman service, your immediate geographical area will be your target; your website will be like an expanded Yellow Pages advertisement. On the other hand, if you create unique, handmade dollhouse furniture, then your target audience will be much broader—you could ship your products anywhere and safely accept payment online.

What will be included on my website? Using the handyman website example, your website content would include descriptions of work experience, photos of completed projects, client testimonials, and contact information. For the e-commerce dollhouse furniture website, your content would be crisp photos of products with accompanying descriptions and prices.

How will I create my website? Without the proper software and training, business-owners could be frustrated in creating anything but a basic website; website development software and technologies have greatly advanced in the past decade. As an alternative, some companies offer “do-it-yourself” website templates. Although these offer the allurement of cost-savings, it may be overshadowed by your inability to modify certain areas of the website. Furthermore, if you have an e-commerce website, there are additional considerations for secure online payment. A website development professional should use website technologies and design techniques to effectively present your products and services to your target audience.

How will I update my website? Most websites require some sort of periodic modification. Depending on how your website is created, you may or may not have the ability to modify your website. Some sophisticated websites include an administrative portion where you, as an authorized individual, can easily change basic content such as photos and captions. If there is no administrative portion to your website, you will probably need to contract a website developer to make changes.

How will I promote my website? Just because you have a website, it doesn’t mean that people will flock to view it; you must direct people to it. In the “paper world,” include your website address on materials such as business cards and brochures. In the “online world,” you must develop the website to be efficiently identified by search engines like google and yahoo. Website hosting companies should provide detailed statistics about visitors to your website. Your target audience will best determine your approach to promoting your website. Having website visitors is vital to generating online sales and business promotion.

What will be my initial and ongoing fees? Once your website is complete, it must be made available for the online world. This includes obtaining a unique website domain name such as www.todaysr.com, and then contracting a website hosting company to “host” your website on their computer system. Therefore, depending on the terms of your contract, you may be paying one or more companies an up-front development fee, an annual hosting fee, a maintenance fee, or a monthly fee. As with any purchase, carefully consider both the short-term and long-term costs; ensure you are getting the services your business needs.

Based on your technical expertise, you may be able to do some of the work yourself. Alternatively, there are professionals to handle website content, development, hosting, and promotion. Having an online presence isn’t reserved for only big businesses for astronomical costs. Even small businesses can economically expand to be online.

Tom Urbanowicz is the owner of DataDesignIT, helping businesses operate efficiently and communicate effectively. Tom can be reached at tom@datadesignit.com or at 530.513.1691.