​Several years ago, I was meeting with a client for whom I wrote a monthly newsletter. I asked him if he’d ever considered developing a website for his business and posting his newsletters electronically?
 
“No,” he told me. “The Internet is a fad!”
 
I laughed.
 
He did not.
 
I’m just taking a shot here, but I’m fairly certain there are very few people these days who think the Internet is going anywhere, anytime soon.
 
However, on occasion I do still encounter business owners who aren’t quite convinced that their company really needs a website.
 
If you’re one of them, here are 10 solid reasons why you may want to re-think that:

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a content mill is an organization that provides quick, low-cost content to businesses for their websites, blog posts, and more.

While quick and low-cost might sound appealing, you may want to think twice before using a content mill for your important business content.

​Here’s why:

​Writer’s block.

It happens to the best of us.

Whether you’re writing a blog post or web content for your business, it’s not always easy to come up with the right words, or even interesting ideas.

But before you curl up into a fetal position or begin banging your head against your keyboard, I’ve got a solution for you.

Start by writing down the answers to the most commonly asked questions you hear from your customers about you and your business.

Of course, every profession will have industry-specific questions. No one is going to ask a contractor about their oral health or a dentist about how to know when it’s time to replace the roof on their house.

Make sure to list those industry-specific questions in addition to the generic ones.

​In the meantime, here are twenty to get your juices—and the words—flowing.

Whenever I onboard a new client, I ask a series of questions regarding their brand, their target demographics, what makes their business different from the competition, and more.
 
Usually, it’s a seamless process, but one question will often stop them in their tracks.
 
“What are you really selling?”
 
I don’t mean are you selling yoga pants, or kitty litter, or Volvo station wagons? I mean, what solutions are you selling? What benefit are you delivering? What’s in it for your customer?

Maybe your competition isn’t as fierce as the one between soft-drink rivals, Coca Cola and Pepsi (dubbed “The Cola Wars”) but the more you know about your competitors, the better you’ll be able to position yourself in the marketplace.
 
Competitor Research should be a critical part of your marketing strategy. By examining the competitions’ successes, failures, and messaging, as well as how they attract their customers and what they do to retain them, you can improve your own business performance. 

​A Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is a concept you bring to your marketing that clearly defines what makes your business stand out from the competition.

It should directly illustrate to your potential customer why your product or service is different and how it offers solutions to them.

It’s the statement you’ll use to position yourself in the marketplace.
​
Whether you realize it or not, you’re probably familiar with many iconic USPs.