The most effective Web sites on the Internet are sites which invoke action from the user. Far too many businesses put up a Web site and only provide information about the company, product or service, or current news and events.

Why this is all well and good from a content standpoint, it does not sell anything or invoke any action from the user. The fundamental problem with this approach is for every user that comes to your Web site you need to treat as potential customer.

There is one of two things your Web site should be doing to right now. If it isnt put down this article and come back to it when is. The first thing your Web site should be doing is asking the user to give you his First Name, Last name, and e-mail address. The other action your Web site should be doing is asking your visitor to buy your product or service.

Invoking some kind of action like generating a sale or a lead should be the primary goal of your Web site. How you do that can be accomplished in an infinite amount of ways, but it is important to make sure it gets done.

The importance of a lead..

Collecting user information is the most important function your Web site can provide your business. Unless your company has a really good reputation you probably fall in the same boat as 90% of the businesses out there.

Most small businesses do not have the recognition and branding that Fortune 500 companies have so it is imperative that small businesses build a relationship with their customers.

In most cases your Web site visitors will not buy from you on their first visit unless you sell a highly unique product line or service, or you just get lucky. You are far more likely to get your visitors e-mail address than their credit card number on their first visit.