Ask an Expert: Flexing your digital muscles can pump up business

— -- Q: Steve, I appreciate all of the low-cost marketing methods you have been sharing lately. For my business, we have found that doing a lot of online social networking makes a big difference. But most of my friends who are self-employed are not doing this. I think it's a mistake. — Mike

A: I couldn't agree with you more. Did you know that more than half of all small businesses in this country do not even have a website? (Maybe the only thing worse than no website is having a bad one, since instead of leaving no impression, you leave a bad one instead.)

Not having a great website, not having a robust Internet presence, and not marketing and selling online constitutes business malpractice in the 21st Century.

Beefing up your online presence is like getting in shape. What you must do today is flex your digital muscles.

Here's how:

1. Build website muscles. As I said, the only thing worse than no website is having a bad one.

We all know what those look like, don't we? It's the site where the homepage scrolls on for about five minutes, where the graphics are jarring and ugly, it has too much copy and slow loading graphics, and it says "© 2004" at the bottom. In short, the site looks like, not only did your teenage daughter build it for you, but no one has attended to it in several years.

What a mistake.

To me, there are two exceptionally great things about the Internet, from a small business perspective:

• It allows you access to markets you otherwise could never reach

• It allows you to look every bit as big and professional as the Big Boys.

So where do you get that great website? There are no shortage of online options.

Example: Last week, my brother (who is no Webhead) had to build a site for one of his marketing clients. So he surfed over to Microsoft Office Live (Microsoft is a company I do some work with, btw), and built his client an elegant, great looking site – for free. With a simple point and click graphic interface, and pre-loaded templates, here is but one way that anyone can get and grow online easily and affordably.