A recent survey discovered that only 52% of businesses have a website.  It sounds hard to believe, but lets just think about it for a minute.

Should every business have a website?

I know if you speak to a web designers they will say yes, but would a marketing guru recommend a website for everyone?

For some businesses websites just aren't relevant in the same way something like Yellow Pages isn't for others - it's horses for courses.  However, don't discount having a website without first understanding what it can do for your business.

It's important to understand the difference between need and want - for some businesses a website, blog, etc., is nothing more than an extension of themselves - something people are now calling your personal brand.  I recently saw an article written by Thomas Power - ecademy.com - that said Web 3.0 was on the horrizon and then explained it in these terms ....

• Web 1.0 - find me
• Web 2.0 - join me
• Web 3.0 - follow me

The article was about twitter - the social networking site that is getting so much press coverage these days - but for some businesses this all becomes too much.

I personally think you have to get back to basics and understand what your business needs and perhaps even more importantly what your target audience needs.  Once you can answer these questions you'll be able to determine if you need a website.