I started ShoeString Sites because I know of a lot of business owners who have a large clientele but no web presence.  When I was trying to find a dance studio in town for my daughter, the first thing I did was look online for one.  I couldn't find one site for local dance studios, which I thought was odd! People are always going to have daughters, and those daughters are always going to want dance lessons. Businesses would get so many more customers if busy people like me could find them on the internet, which is where a lot of people go first!

The next thing I did was go to the yellow pages and found the first couple of studios in my town going alphabetically. I wasn't sure I wanted to call either of them just yet.  I asked around next. I had a few different options, hearing the names I had gotten from the phone book but not a lot of positive comments about them.  I didn't know what to do and I was growing frustrated.

Finally I asked a neighbor, who told me that her daughter danced at OnStage and they loved it.  She gave me the phone number, and that's who I called.

At the end of the first year, I made a website for my daughter's dance school - one that I would never have gone to because they had no website, and as a new resident in town, and someone with a young child just starting activities like this, I personally needed to see something online - the online presence makes things more tangible for me - I can see pictures, read about the business, see where it is, get a phone number...all without having to leave my chair!

If not for the recommendation to OnStage, (good old word-of-mouth) I could just as well have been referred to a different studio and would not have experienced the best there is...but luckily that did not happen.

If you are on the other side of this equation, wondering why your business is not getting new customers or just a few new ones trickle in here and there, ask yourself again if you need a website, then allow me to answer that for you once again. With all due respect, YES YOU DO!!!