Unfortunately, many small businesses do not quite understand the power of the internet for growing their business.
Others may assume that having a website with their basic information is all they really need.
Your small business website should be a mini marketing machine that builds your customer base and generates revenue for your company.
If it is not currently doing that then you are doing something wrong.
A business website is more than just an online business card or directory listing.
It is a way to reach customers who may not normally find you through any other means.
It is a tool to be used to gather leads that will generate future sales.
It is also a storefront that can generate revenue 24 hours a day 7 days per week.
One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is assuming that if you build a website, you will automatically get traffic.
Without the proper marketing and including the necessary elements on your website that will attract that traffic, it is just sitting there taking up space and using up valuable resources.
Making the most of your website just makes good business sense.
Three critical elements that absolutely must be included in a high performing website are:

1. A Blog.
   This is one of the most powerful tools of communicating with your potential buyers.
   It allows you to interact with your website traffic and makes creating fresh content a snap.
   Search engines and customers alike look for new content whenever they visit your website.
   Without it, they get bored and realize you have nothing new to offer them and they will move on and most likely not come back.
   
2. Analytics.
   You cannot tell how well or how poorly your site is doing if you cannot view the site statistics.
   Making sure you are able to view how much traffic you are getting, what pages of your site they are visiting and where those visitors found your site is vital to your success online.
   
3. A lead capture form.
   It is extremely important that you be able to contact your visitors in the future.
   Many times a visitor will come to your site and for some reason they are not ready to purchase just yet.
   That does not mean that they are not interested.
   If they leave your site before giving you their details, chances are you will not see them again.
   They will forget your web address or would have forgotten to bookmark it.
   They may even forget that they were interested in what you have to offer.
   By getting them to give you their email they are giving you permission to contact them later.
   This allows you to close the sale.
   Many buyers need as many as 5-7 contacts before they will pull out their credit cards.
   Unless you have their email, you have lost that sale.
   

These three elements on your website can be the difference between success and failure online.
If you have a small business website and you are not currently using all three of these methods of growing your business, then your website is not doing everything it can to help you grow your business.