Let me explain. "Something is better than nothing." That's a statement I hear often from small business owners when they talk about websites. It's simply not true.

Here are some questions to consider before you jump in and hand over your hard-earned cash to a graphic designer, web designer or copywriter, just "to have a presence on the web."

1. Do you have the resources to hire a competent graphic designer, web-designer and copywriter? Most people forget to factor in the copywriter! As well as a having a beautiful design, your content must be well presented. In the long run it pays off to hire qualified professionals.

2. How will you drive traffic to your site? A site is no use to you unless people visit it. In the good old days, there just weren't that many sites and it was exciting to visit new ones. These days people have tons of choices and it takes effort and know-how to persuade them to come and hang out at your place on the web.

3. Critical for a new business: Is your business defined enough to be able to put specific content on your site? Can you articulate convincing answers to these questions: "What exactly do I do?" or "Why should you buy my product or service?" or "Who is my target market?" If not, you may not be ready for a website. If you're vague about what you do, the content of your site will be vague and vague doesn't sell.

4. Do you know your marketing objectives for the site? This will determine how the site is structured, and how the information flows through it in order to fulfill those objectives.

5. How will you maintain it and keep it updated? You're responsible for the site. Visitors who come and find out-of-date information, badly written content or broken links will not give you the benefit of the doubt. They're gone. On to the next site. You've lost them and chances are they'll never come back.

As a small business owner myself, I know what it's like to have too little time and to operate on a micro- budget. None of us can afford to waste time and money on something that doesn't work.

I look at a lot of websites and the majority of them (yes! the majority of them) make me cringe for the person who's paid money for a site that just doesn't present them well. It's better to have no website than one that irritates or confuses your visitors, or damages your credibility. It's OK to wait a while until you've done everything in your power to make sure you're prepared for this important step.

Copyright 2006 Maggie Dennison