The role of the website has been a changing one over the last several years as the World Wide Web has been intruding more and more into our business lives. While in the beginning a website was mostly a curiosity for a business to have, it has now become an essential tool in lead generation. A website is one of the strongest tools in bringing inquiries into a given company, and its role in lead generation has been growing consistently over the last decade.

Improvement in a variety of sectors include web development, high speed internet, and mobile browsing, have all led to web pages being more important than ever before when it comes to a company deciding to open a dialogue with a provider of a service. According to a study conducted by RainToday.com, the number of buyers that report a website playing a part in their decision in opening a dialogue with the possibility of purchasing in mind has increased 14% over the last several years. The rate was listed as 69% in 2005, and is now reported at 83%. 

The kinds of services that companies were buying involved in this study ranged across the board. They included advertising, architecture, construction, IT sectors, management, marketing, PR, and training among others. This tells us that the phenomenon is not limited to a single sector, but is instead a reflection of the increased importance the market as a whole is placing on websites.

This gives business owners very important information. It can be business suicide for you to ignore the importance of your website. You need to realize that this is the place that your customers are going to come for any and all information on your company. This means that whether they want to read your articles, subscribe to your newsletter, or to purchase your products, the company website is where they’ll turn first. 

So your site needs to clearly do two things. It has to send the message that you want the most important messenger of your company to portray. Second, it needs to interest your customers enough that they’re going to enter into that crucial discussion with you about one of your products, and become a genuine lead instead of just a person that is paying a visit to your website.

 Another important statistic to note: 28% say that the website has “great influence” over their decision to contact the company, not just “some influence”, showing again just how important that site can be for your business.