The other week I wrote about Twitter (Does Twitter Have Soul?) and if/ how it can be useful if you have a small business.

From a business perspective, social media forums like Twitter and Facebook tend to work best when you have a “home base” online. Somewhere people can go to find out more about what you offer…. In other words: A website.

But do you really need a website?

If you are not sure, then this article is for you.

With the speed of technology moving so fast, it can sometimes be overwhelming and embarrassing to feel like the only kid on the block without a website. But – honestly – it doesn’t have to be such a big deal.

In this article, my intention is to de-mystify the whole website thing, so you can get your head around whether you really need one, and if you do, then – honestly – why and how fancy does it really have to be?

Like a car- which you can buy for between $1k and $100k depending on what you need, what you want and what you can afford – you can get a website in any of a large range of shapes, sizes… and prices!

So it’s worth getting your head around the basics of how a website really works. That way, you won’t risk letting someone talk you into buying a Porsche, when all you really need is a basic Toyota.

So, let me describe three of the most basic website models you can get, and see if it makes sense to you:

MODEL 1: Your business is so busy, you don’t even have time to think about a website…

Congratulations! If you’re so busy that you really don’t need any more customers, then you probably don’t need a website.

However, as a minimum… you might want to get a simple directory listing on a relevant site, so that if an existing customer wants to google your contact details, they can find you..

Here’s some Australian examples:

• The Green Pages: www.thegreenpages.com.au if you have an eco-businesses (free basic listing).
• Natural Therapy Pages www.naturaltherapypages.com.au if you have a holistic businesses (starts from $150/year for a listing in the practitioner directory).
• True Local www.truelocal.com.au or the Local Business Guide www.localbusinessguide.com.au if your business services a local area (both have free basic listings).

Even if you already have all the clients you need, it wouldn’t hurt to go a step further. You can maximize your offline marketing methods, when you consider Model 2.

MODEL 2: You do most of your marketing offline – things like face to face networking, market stalls, word of mouth, agency referrals or even advertising – but you’d probably have more people follow up with you if they could find out more about you and your business online.

Great! At minimum, you need a simple, static webpage.

Why? If you have a website with a few pages of info, your offline marketing efforts can go further:

People who meet you at a party or visit your shop have a place to go- anytime of day or night- to get their questions answered about your biz. A set of static pages that help them decide if/ when they want to purchase, and make it easier to refer you to their friends.

This website needs to be somewhere where your potential customers can easily find out:

• Who you help
• How your product/ service can help them
• What your product / service is
• What they will get with it
• What they need to give for it (what kind of commitment is required from them)
• What it will cost
• Why it’s a worthwhile investment for them
• How to purchase / say yes now
• How to stay in touch if they are not ready now but might be interested later
• How to get more info if they still have questions.

Oh yeah… And a bit about who you are and what brought you to this business (or why you’re so passionate about it) doesn’t hurt either!

If you are wanting to put this information on your website in a way that reaches people effectively, I recommend you grab a copy of Creating Heart-Centred Websites. It’s a simple, yet very practical, step-by-step guide which shows you how to write all this stuff up in a way that your people can really relate too.

And if  you are wondering if you need to make it look pretty, you might want to consider what my friend Trisha says about this.

MODEL 3: You want people to be able to find and connect with you online, as well as off. And once they find you, you want to be able to stay in touch with them, so you can build trust… and they can eventually buy from you.

If you’re up to speed with Model 2, the next step is to make your website “sticky”.

(Huh? Sticky?)

I mean sticky like a spider’s web is sticky: It catches dewdrops that shine in the sun… and nice juicy bugs.

It used to be that savvy business owners would stay in touch with their bugs – I mean their people, you know, their customers, potential customers and fans – via an ezine or newsletter. These days, a lot of people use blogs to keep in touch with people. Mark Silver makes a good case for why both are important, and I agree. A simple way to cover both bases is to add a blog to your website, and then give visitors the option to subscribe by email (like a newsletter) or by RSS (what’s that? here’s a cute video that explains RSS pretty well, if you need to know now).

Technically, a blog and a subscriber form are pretty simple additions to most websites. Once you’ve added a subscriber form to your website, you can stay in touch with the people who are interested in what you have to offer, but perhaps are not ready to buy from you just yet. You can send them updates – daily, weekly or monthly – that add value to their lives, and let them learn more about you and your product or service in the process.

So… That’s my best attempt at demystifying websites for you… And describing a few of the most basic website models.

How does it land?

Stay tuned for future articles where I’ll explain – in simple language – what makes a website work (as in, function well), how to create a simple website for yourself, and perhaps Model 4 and 5, if you’re ready to branch out further in price and functionality.

(Oh yeah – and please don’t go telling your website visitors that I just compared them to juicy bugs!)