Absolutely no business is too small or has enough community support and word of mouth marketing to negate the need for an online presence. Your marketing tactics may be a bit different from larger, national companies, but small businesses (even with single owners) need to provide a way for customers to find them online.

You need a website. Any business should have some sort of Web presence, whether it’s just you offering one specific service or a staff of 100 employees or more with a full menu of products and services. It has been documented many times over that a majority of consumers—your potential customers—begin their search for nearly any service or product online, even if they plan to make the purchase or order the service over the phone or in person. A potential customer may:

• Simply want your address or phone number to contact you
• Want to confirm that you offer the type of service or product they need
• Need to gather some initial information before narrowing their options among local services

The solution? Have at least a basic website that has a welcoming home page, an outline of the products and services you offer, an effective “About Us” page, and a detailed “Contact” page.

There are different website builder tools available to get started. You can find free website builder options by browsing online, or you can find companies that will build a site tailored specifically to your company at a range of price points. But, let’s assume you simply want to let your potential customers know who you are and how to get in touch with you. Keep it simple and include the following:

Home Page: Just a simple introduction, highlighting what you do and perhaps a tag line or mission statement. You can keep the formatting very simple and just add your logo. Don’t worry about being too fancy right out of the gate, just keep your message prominent and clear.

About Us Page: Provide a brief company history or just let people know who you are. If you are a husband and wife team that provides just one simple service, say so. If you are involved in your community, let people know.

Services or Products Page: Simply list your products and/or services. You may choose to list pricing or request that customers contact you. Down the line, as your business increases, you may want to offer online pricing and ordering, so just keep this in mind even if you do not choose to do so at this time.

Contact Us Page: If you get most of your business from word of mouth referrals or more traditional paper-based marketing right now, “Contact Us” might be the most important page…for now. Include any and all contact numbers for point persons. Include your street address and a map with driving directions. Include your email address and consider a contact form for customers to complete online.

It is possible to use a free website builder tools that does not require:

• Purchasing special software
• Downloading plug-ins
• Knowing HTML code
• Having special technical skills

Keep it simple and get online.

The above features on your site are critical and you should be able to find a low-cost or free website builder tool to get the basics up and running today. But, here are some activities you may want to consider for marketing once you’ve established a website:

LSV: Local Search Visibility, or local search marketing, simply gets your business listed in the results pages when someone searches for a local business.

Directory Submissions: You can submit your website to local directories or industry-specific online directories.

Optimization: You can learn more about activities that will help your website rise above the competition in organic listings. You can perform some of these yourself or you may want to contact an SEO specialist or company.

There is a whole world of online marketing and ways to get your company found online. But it all starts with the basic step of creating a website and establishing a presence. Once you have a website, you can begin to attract business from a much wider customer base.