As a small business, you need to ask yourself, what does my website say about me and my business? A website can say plenty and create a positive or negative perception about your business.

As an outsider, if I see a website that looks like it has been created by an amateur, I tend to stay away. If their website is unprofessional, then I tend to think that their service or product will be too.

Generally these days, people will visit your website before they meet you in person, so as its role as the "Director of First Impressions", the initial perception created by your website can be critical to the success of your business.

As a small business marketing consultant, I make sure that my clients ask their new clients how they found them and why they chose them. The amount of people whose answer revolves around their website, its look and feel, its content, its warmness, is immense.

Create the right first impression, and you never know where the relationship can take you.