The role of a web site can be many things-create awareness, improve your image (branding), sell product (ecommerce), provide a client portal, and even begin relationships.

Begin relationships?

“Well, we’re a relationship business. Our web site won’t sell our products. Our relationships do.”

True, true. Sort of.

Your web site can begin a relationship. It can maintain a relationship. Your web site can even improve a relationship.

Saying you’re in the relationship business and therefore you don’t need an effective web site is, well, short-sighted. For instance, we offer free webinars through our web site. People we’ve never met sign-up for our webinars, we do the webinar and then naturally follow-up with them to get to know them and see if there’s anything we can do for them. Hey, our web site created a new relationship we wouldn’t have otherwise had!

Your web site can do the same. It can introduce you to a stranger. It can help an acquaintance become a customer (whether you know it or not) and it can help a customer become a repeat buyer and even an advocate.

If you’re in the relationship business, then an effective web site that helps you build new and better relationships should be part of your strategy. It will be part of your customer’s strategy…

Bottomline: If relationships are a big part of your sales process, develop a web strategy that will help build new relationships and improve existing relationships.