Business isnt easy. When you are in business, like everyone else, you do everything you possibly can to look professional and create a positive impression. You want to be taken seriously and have invested a great deal of time, money and effort over the years building your business and carefully creating the right impression and image to your potential customers. Every business communication you have is or has been carefully calculated to ensure that a good impression and your professionalism shines through. From the way you answer the phone to how your outgoing documents look and are worded has been carefully considered. Nothing has been left to chance.

You know that potential customers wont even consider buying from a company that doesnt look professional and present a good image. Why should they? If they cant get their website right what chance is there that they will get anything else right?, they reason with themselves. A negative impression can provide a very rapid and alarming insight into a company's attitude and make the potential customer flee quicker than you can say ecommerce. Are you going to jeopardise all the time, money and effort youve invested in your business? Are you going to let your website jeopardise your entire business? Thats exactly what you risk if you have a website that is undermining your business. It is that simple. Your customers will judge you by your website alone.

I'm always staggered when a company doesnt take their website seriously. Its so obvious from their site that they dont. Even some normally shrewd business people who are normally very alert to any profitable business opportunities, become suddenly and inexplicably clueless when it comes to their company's website. They wouldnt dream of neglecting any other part of their business in the same way yet they will happily, it seems, do it on their website. They'd never ever present a tatty old poorly-thought-out business card to a potential customer, yet they are more than happy to present a tatty old poorly-thought-out website to a global audience of potential customers online.

My message to them? If your company website isnt working for your business its working against it. Its undermining everything you do. A good website is like a finely tuned engine. If its not setup properly it'll start working erratically and not functioning very well. Its operation will be far from effective as it jerkily moves the vehicle and its occupants back and forward. Its the same in business and on your website, if you dont get them running effectively and working together serving your customers needs, you are fighting a tough losing battle. You are losing sales.

Often, i find business owners and managers just dont see that their site has problems and they need to be fixed. They are in some kind of denial and think that if they can just ignore this problem long enough it may just go away. No such luck. You have to face the problem head on and deal with it or just keep losing those sales day after day.

Is your company website undermining your business? Is it showing any of the warning signs? Is it poor, underachieving, amateur, dull, cluttered, dated, poorly thought out/executed, poor quality, failing to meet customers needs or make a good impression, failing to sell or speak to your customers directly? If so, its working against your business not with it. You are turning customers away at the door practically, regardless of their interest in your products because your website isnt up to scratch. You are turning sales and profits away all day every day.

Why is your business being undermined by your website? Often its largely a combination of (either real or perceived) company priorities, insufficient time or money. You need to get over those obstacles and get on with it. Sales dont wait. Dont underestimate your website's impact on your business. Dont underestimate its impact on your potential customers. If your potential customers punch in your website address and arrive at your website and find it poor or unprofessional, you seriously risk losing their custom and losing it for good. They dont want to deal with a company who looks unprofessional, the same as you wouldnt if you were the customer. They expect more than that. You are losing customers and sales every day. You are losing income and profits too. Dont tolerate it, you wouldnt from any other part of your business and you shouldnt here either. You need to turn your website around quickly and turn it into an asset to your business, not a liability

How can your website be improved to be an asset to your business? Like any other part of your business your website should be working at its very best to bring in maximum results and sales 365 days a year. To enable that to happen your site has to be well thought out and actively selling your products to your customers. If it isnt doing that - fix it. Create an attractive, appealing atmosphere for them to learn about, interact with and buy from you. A site that encourages your potential customers to find out more and then take the next step and actually buy your products.

You of course need to take the right approach when you are improving your website though. You need to do things properly and focus on your potential customers needs if you want to succeed at any level. Try not to be too restricted or rushed in your decision making and dont be afraid of using a little creativity to spice things up a bit. Be guided by what your potential customers want.

Once youve decided exactly what needs to be achieved from your website, you can then make your site results-driven, as you would in any other part of your business. Then you can measure its success against those desired results and modify it accordingly as you go along. If one product isnt selling particularly well then look at ways of improving its sales or consider removing it altogether.

Above all, make sure your site looks professional. Looking amateurish loses you lots of sales as people just click elsewhere when they see an amateur looking site. Visibly move from amateur to professional as soon as possible.

A good website will benefit your business directly and compliment your other business activities. It will both bring in business and present your company in its best possible light. Use it to create the right impression first time. Look professional, focused and capable. Be serious about doing business with customers online and communicate that to them via your website. They will see that and take you seriously. After all, thats what they want, you to take care of them and their needs. Tune your website into your business. Make it work for your business and your customers. Encourage them to buy your products. In fact, make it hard for them not to buy your products and you will see your sales and profits increase dramatically.

Good luck!

Peter Simmons is editor of the DYNAMIQ EZINE. GET MORE SALES FROM YOUR WEBSITE STARTING RIGHT NOW at http://www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine or email me anytime to find out how i can help you at peter@dynamiq.co.uk