1. TO ESTABLISH AN INTERNET PRESENCE - It is estimated that approximately 600 million people worldwide are Internet users. No matter what your business is, you can't ignore 600 million people! To be a part of that community and show that you are interested in serving them, you need to be on the Web for them. You know your competitors will.

2. TO NETWORK - A lot of what passes for business is simply nothing more than making connections with other people. Every smart business person knows, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Passing out your business card is part of every good meeting and every business person can tell more than one story how a chance meeting turned into the big deal. Your website is like a business card that is available 24 hours a day, inexpensively and simply, on the Web.

3. TO MAKE BUSINESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE - What is basic business information? Think of a Yellow Pages ad. What are your hours? What do you do? How can someone contact you? What methods of payment do you take? Where are you located at? Now think of a Yellow Pages ad where you have instant communication. What is today's special? Today's interest rate? Next week's parking lot sale information? If you could keep your customer informed of every reason why they should do business with you, don't you think you could do more business? You can on the Web.

4. TO HEIGHTEN PUBLIC INTEREST - With Web page information, anybody anywhere who can access the Web and hears about you is a potential visitor to your Web site and a potential customer for your information there.

5. TO SELL THINGS - Many people think that this is the number 1 thing to do with the Web, but we placed it at number 5 to make it clear that we think you should consider selling things on the Internet and the Web after you have done all the things above and maybe even after doing quite a few more things from this list. Why? Well, the answer is complex but the best way to put it is, do you consider the telephone the best place to sell things? Probably not. You probably consider the telephone a tool that allows you to communicate with your customer, which in turn helps you sell things. Well, that's how we think you should consider the Web. The technology is different, of course, but before people decide to become customers, they want to know about you, what you do and what you can do for them. Which you can do easily and inexpensively on the Web. When you are ready to sell, make sure you have the best in current ecommerce technology without paying so much that you won't make a profit until the next century. That's smart business.

6. TO MAKE IMAGE, AUDIO, AND VIDEO FILES AVAILABLE - What if your widget is great, but people would really love it if they could see it in action? The album is great but with no airplay, nobody knows that it sounds great? A picture is worth a thousand words, but you don't have the space for a thousand words? The Web allows you to add audio, image and video files to your company's info if that will serve your potential customers. No brochure will do that!

7. TO REACH A HIGHLY DESIRABLE DEMOGRAPHIC MARKET - The demographic of the Web user is probably the highest mass-market demographic available. Usually college-educated or being college educated, making a high salary or soon to make a high salary, it's no wonder that Wired magazine, the magazine of choice to the Internet community, has no problem getting Lexus and other high-end marketer's advertising. Even with the addition of the commercial on-line community, the demographic will remain high for many years to come.

8. TO ANSWER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - Whoever answers the phones in your organization can tell you, their time is usually spent answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions customers and potential customers want to know the answer to before they deal with you. Post your FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on a Web page and you will have removed another barrier to doing business with you and free up some time for that harried phone operator.

9. TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - You may not be able to make sense of the mail, phone and regulation systems in all your potential international markets, but with a website, you can open up a dialogue with international markets as easily as with the company across the street. In fact, before you go onto the Web, you should decide how you want to handle the international business that will come your way (shipping fees, etc.), because your postings are certain to bring international opportunities your way, whether that is a part of your plan or not. Another added benefit: if your company has offices overseas, they can access the home office's information for the price of a local phone call. Plus, you can find markets for your products that could never reach you before at a reasonable cost. (You may want to consider putting some marketing effort into getting yourself listed on some major foreign search engines.)

10. TO CREATE A 24 / 7 SERVICE - If you've ever remembered too late or too early to call the opposite coast, you know the hassle. We're not all on the same schedule. Business is worldwide but your office hours aren't. Trying to reach Asia or Europe is even more frustrating. But the pages of your website serve your clients, customers and partners 24 / 7. No overtime either. Your website can customize information to match needs and collect important information that will put you ahead of the competition, even before they get into the office.