For some reason many small businesses are still on the ropes when it comes to taking advantage of an Internet presence. Many businesses think that a website is unnecessary because they have survived for the last 50 years without one. But statistics and recent studies are against this. According to to the “User View Wave VII” from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, 97% of Internet users research online to search for local products and services. That’s a staggering statistic, to think how many businesses are still ignoring the fact that the vast majority of their potential customers are looking for them online. It’s a simple fact that if you don’t have a web presence, you are like a business with no signs and doors that are closed.

By having a website, your business will no longer be limited to your hours of operation. Or the amount of staff you have to handle inquiries or request for information. An internet presence is not just about selling your products online, but it could be as simple as providing frequently ask questions about your business or common objections and clarifications about your product.

If your prospective customers and current clients can simply visit you online and find information they need, when they need it, this will dramatically increase their satisfaction and improve the customer service you provide to them.

Your competitors are already online and if they have a much more professional presence that you, then you are loosing out to them whether you like it or not. Some of them maybe bigger than you, but your web presence can even the playing field and help you stay competitive. The key is, if your customers can’t find you online then your competitors are getting their business when they search for your type of business.

Most customers don’t buy the first time, some may do research about your company online before they decide on doing business with you, and if they don’t find you,  or worst, what is published online about your business may be negative and your credibility dramatically decreases and you are throwing away your customers and giving them to your competitors.

Gone are the days where you simply ignore your internet presence. And to top this off, your customers may already be talking about your business on the Internet.  It may or may not be good conversations that are being said about your business online. And if you small businesses continue to ignore this, sooner or later, it will impact their businesses, positively or negatively.

Small Businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. Economy, and will be for years to come. With the sudden decline of job prospects, more and more small and home based businesses are starting up. Regardless of this trend, most small businesses eventually fold up and close shop because lack of capital, lack of customers or simply the lack of experience in running, and generating customers for their businesses.

The 2010 Midterm Election has just ended and new political representatives are in place “to protect?” our interests, so they say. But realistically we are and should be in control of our interests, destiny and success in todays market.  This new business world has ushered in an unprecedented amount of tools for small businesses to use and succeed with, but only a small amount of businesses owners, or would be businesses owners even know what they are and how to use them to their advantage. Even existing businesses who have survived the turbulent times we have been facing over the past years will eventually fold if they are not able to equip themselves and take advantage of these new business tools.

The unfortunate part is that some business owners are to proud and are too stubborn to admit that the business world is changing, the ways to acquire and retain customers are changing right in front of them.  To prove this point, think about this, within the past 30 Years, how many Fortune 500 companies have come and gone from the list, and how many small ideas, eventually made college drop outs into Billionaires. Does this mean that they had the same capital capacities as the Industrial age giants. Or did they utilize the same business tools and strategies. To the contrary, even the Big Boys are having to reinvent themselves to keep up with the newcomers of the business world.

Just a few years ago, EBay and Amazon were the benchmark of e-commerce, then along came Zappos who jumped up and gained momentum and now dominates the online shoe market. While Yahoo and Microsoft (MSN now BING) were trying to outsmart each other with their Internet Portals and Directories, a new comer just bursted on to the scene and now dominates the Internet Search space, a small company named GOOGLE. Last but not least ofcourse, there was MySpace who was the big boy in the Social Networking space and was in the news all the time especially when it was acquired by News Corp. But now all you hear about is Facebook this and Facebook that, the founders of Facebook are the youngest billionaires of our time.

If this is happening to those who are already equipped with these new business tools, what more to those who are still saying to themselves, I don’t need a website, I don’t need social media, I don’t need to position my business on the Internet.  I paid a spread at my local Yellow Book, and my phone will ring off the hook. I  hope that ring, if one comes in, wakes them up to the reality that they are about to become business fossils.

I do agree that not every business is the same, that not all tools apply to every business situation. But the basic theme still applies, discover, learn and apply any of the new business tools you can to avoid from being buried by your competitors who are wielding these new weapons  and harnessing their power to their advantage.

Web designs that convert visitors into leads and paying customers is a new idea, but one that is making a great impression on the SEO and internet marketing industry because of the success rates. You probably never heard of web designs that convert visitors, but in fact I can bet that you heard about some parts of it. The idea behind web designs that convert visitors into customers is actually a science method that brings several key aspects of converting visitors into one process managed by one firm instead of dozen firms each handling a different part of the conversion improvement.

So the question here is not the how, but what? What can you expect from a company that offers web designs that convert visitors? First of all let me make clear a few great benefits of this new offer on the market, we already said that you will get all the services from one company, which means:

• You will save money
• Getting involved in the process is much easier with one company then dozen companies
• The process will be simpler and quicker as you only have to deal with one company
• You get a full quality service in one place

With that being said let’s go over what to expect from a company that offers web designs that convert visitors:

• Full investigation of your market, your visitors, the needs of the market and all of that in order to identify the best solution for better conversion rates.
• After that comes the brainstorming part where you deal with the company directly to create a new approach to your visitors that will improve the conversion rates, such as better call to action, better and more appealing offers and of course all of that in a neat web design package that takes the breathe away.
• One of the most important steps in creating web designs that convert visitors is creating an easy to use and targeted navigation. If you are wondering what targeted navigation is, just think of it as bait. There is a science behind what people click on and what they avoid, the companies that offer web designs that convert visitors know that and they will create a navigation and architecture of your site that is more likely to convert a visitor into a customer.

You can expect such a company to build your site from scratch or redesign your existing site. The service will add to the overall cost of creating a site but the benefit is more than worth it, after all you will increase your sales so the service will pay for itself. In most cases conversion rates are between 1% and 3%, which means 1 to 3 out of 100 visitors become customers. The new implementation of web designs that convert visitors showed results where the percentage of conversion jumped to amazing 10%. There are a plenty of other things that you can expect from a company offering such web design and following services, these are just the main ones that are getting incredible attention at the moment.