What Does Your Website Say About Your Business?

As a small business owner, what are you doing in today’s challenging economy to bring more business your way?

For those business owners who are putting in more time on their company websites, odds are they will see an uptick in customers. Quite simply, their websites are their lifelines to the outside world.

Despite all you have to do in running your small business, take a few minutes and do this little exercise below. It involves:

* Having an impartial team of folks review your company website;

* Task them with telling you what they like and do not like about your site;

* Record the things that are not working or are not on the site at the present time;

* Ask these individuals to describe their experiences on your site as it relates to ease of navigation, ability to find what they were looking for regarding your business, and how easy it was to load your site on the computer;

* Lastly, ask them if they would recommend your company site to their friends and family. If the answer is no, what needs to be changed in order to sway their opinion?

So, it may seem like a meaningless task with everything else you have to do as a small business owner, but it could be the best exercise you undertake in months.

Numerous studies indicate that more and more consumers are turning to the Internet for their browsing and buying needs, but are they finding true satisfaction from their online experiences?

Do Your Customers Receive Online Satisfaction?

According to a recent iPerceptions report, overall online customer satisfaction dropped from 73 percent in 2010 to 70 percent in 2011. The report noted that just 60 percent of customers who came with the intent of purchasing left with what they sought.

Meantime, according to Forrester Research, U.S. online retail hit $175 billion in 2007 and is projected to grow to $335 billion by the end of 2012.

With the seemingly endless amount of potential dollars out there for small businesses to capture, having a solid online presence is more important than ever.

Your small business website should provide the following information for consumers when they stop in for a visit:

* How best to contact you for customer service needs;

* Updated pricing for any goods and services you are advertising;

* Instructions for online purchases and the ability to easily add/remove items from  shopping cart software before proceeding to checkout.

In the event you think the above-noted items are not of much importance, stop and think about the times you have gone to a company’s website to browse and/or make a purchase. Was it an experience you would recommend to other consumers?

As more shoppers go online for their needs, resulting over time in less in-store visits and one-on-one contact with you the small business owner, is your website prepared to do the job?

If the answer is no, your small business could end up going offline sooner than you think.