I firmly believe that every single business (big or small) needs a website. I know that’s a bold statement, but hear me out. It's probably not for the reasons that you might think.

You need a website if you want your marketing to drive actual results.

• Your website is the hub for tracking all your digital marketing activity. Facebook, Google, Pinterest, email, videos — all of these things create awareness for your business but you need a way to pull all that data together to make business decisions. By using digital marketing to drive people to your website, you can do just that.
• The backend of your website is often more important than the front end. Your website should have tracking code installed such as Google Analytics and the Facebook Pixel. The data gathered data can guide all your marketing decisions. This is why I'd rather see a business have an “ugly” website with tracking installed, than no website at all.
• Even a simple one-page website can boost the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. There are plenty of examples out there of beautiful one-page websites that you can use for inspiration in building your own. Lolo Boutique in Spokane, Washington, is a good example of a simple, one-page website. From the top menu, visitors don’t even realize that the website is just one page. You can still click on the menu, but instead of taking you to different pages, it just takes you to different sections of the same page. No need to come up with content for many separate pages, and you can still utilize the tracking codes.

Turn your ugly duckling into a swan.

I don't really want you to have an ugly website, I just want it to be effective even if it's not quite where you want it just yet. In following issues of Brown Bag Marketing Bits, I'll discuss the essential pieces that every website should have. I'll also talk about how to use all that data your website is collecting.

And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.

John Steinbeck