Many business owners only think about their local clientele.  They want to make sure they take care of the customers coming in the door of their establishment.  That’s admirable, especially if your business is a restaurant or retail store.

A service business like a plumber or electrician may think more regionally and not have clients or prospects walk in the door, but any territory beyond that is rarely in their vocabulary.  That’s a fault with most businesses who may think globally, but act locally.  The reverse is what’s happening in the world’s economy today.

Thinking local but acting globally is the realm of the Internet, an essential location for any business to have a presence.  The old adage about the three most important keys to success in business holds true – location, location, location.

Think of it this way – Any consumer in the world can access your corporate web presence.  Anyone!  So what?  What if a corporate executive from Sri Lanka is relocating to your community and looking for a general contractor to build a new home for the family?  Does your website … as a general contractor … let the executive know you are a professional and can get the job done?  Is it relevant?  And does your web presence enable the potential customer to contact you easily?  What if the business person wants to build a new factory and employ 450 local workers?

Granted, the example may be a rare circumstance for a general contractor, but how do you know who’s viewing your web presence?  Have they gone there intentionally or discovered your site at random?  Did a social media post in LinkedIn trigger the investigation of your company’s capabilities?

Whether we like it or not, having a business presence on the Internet exposes our products and/or services to the global marketplace.  It opens the door to doing business with people from every nation – from South Africa to Germany and from China to Chile.  It also means you should be sensitive to requests from foreign countries and be amenable to providing your goods and services to residents of those nations if the opportunity presents itself.

You may not want to go global, but the global market is out there if you want to expand your business.  If you want to avoid thinking or acting globally, you still need a web presence for your business.  There’s no avoiding that in today’s business environment.

Make sure your website is mobile enabled so the younger generations can view it on their smart phones.  You need to make sure your content is also relevant to the market segments you want to reach.  Have a call to action, too.  The future is here, now.

Brand Your Work – Work  Your Brand