Most businesses have a web site as a brochure to showcase their products, as a shop to sell their products or as the actual product itself (eg entertainment or other content).

Apart from personal web sites which could have any purpose, most business web sites are created to sell products or services. They can do this using hard sell or very softly, building relationships, which the blog approach is well suited to help.

The test of whether a business web site is successful is not how much traffic it attracts, how many page views or even how long a visitor spends on the site, but whether it leads a target group of potential customers to take a specific step to buy. This could be sending an email or making a phone call. These are the actions we aim to achieve, as we are selling services which we tailor to each specific client’s needs.

In the past weeks we have received such contact from potential clients precisely matching our target profile, which has led to meetings, quotations and ultimately, we hope, actual business.

What sells us to these clients? The words on our web sites. They persuade the client that we are credible and lead to that all important contact so that they approach us rather than thousands of other suppliers also promoting themselves online.

Taking the process forward, meeting, negotiating and quoting depend on our inter-personal skills, but without that initial contact we wouldn’t have these leads.

Preparing your web site so that it not only persuades potential customers to contact you, but ensures they are the customers you want to attract (and not time-wasters) is critical to selling products and services successfully online.

But you have to know what you are setting out to achieve before you start.

To keep customers up-to-date Two Rivers Travel is launching an online newsletter with details of its 2009 Days Out programme as they are announced – you can sign up and have the chance to win tickets for a Day Out at its coach day trips, short breaks and holidays web site.

It’s all right, we’re not in a huff, but are asking a serious question: why communicate?

Just like any other business activity, the purpose is to achieve an objective.

At the moment, we’re considering the business objectives of a number of clients. How does a new travel company reach a mass audience in its area on a regular basis without bankrupting itself on adverts? How does an established manufacturer strengthen its position when newcomers claim to offer a fresher, more innovative and responsive service? How does an IT company market a product that is so easy-to-use and effective that many target users just can’t believe how it answers all their dreams?

It’s not just a case of writing down what each business does, how committed their people are and what great service they give, but about trying to think like each of their target audiences, what they need and what will make them respond.

Sometimes the act of writing is quick and easy, because all the necessary preparation – the thinking and planning – has been done before.  Whether we’re copywriting for a brochure or web site or putting together a public relations programme with press releases and case studies, the business objective has to remain the focus at all times.

And doing it thoroughly takes time: thinking through the issues; considering readers’ potential objections; identifying what will attract their interest; developing the drivers that will lead them to take the desired action.

The result we aim for is interesting, lively copy that grabs readers’ attention and steers them towards actions that will achieve each client’s specific business objectives.

As well as aiming to write well, we work to understand our clients as businesses and what they aim to achieve.

And that is why and how we know the point of any communication we produce for our clients.

It is wise to control expenditure, but at the same time businesses have to continue marketing and selling if they are to survive, let alone thrive.

There is so much that any business can do. Much of it is common sense and costs little:

• Keep your web site and marketing material up-to-date.

• Identify products and services that are more likely to be required by customers: what do you provide that they cannot do without?

• Focus on any of these areas that are most profitable to you.

• Package products and services so that they are more attractive in a difficult market.

• Keep in contact with existing customers to retain them and/or increase your sales.

• Explore other ways of applying your products, services and expertise. It could be just a case of adding new pages to your web site, a public relations campaign or approaching customers in different sectors.

Whatever happens, your business needs to remain visible and able to reach any customers looking to purchase.

Staging some six shows a year, the company is always busy and is currently preparing for a major production of Me and My Girl in October 2008 with a five-figure budget, all of which it raises itself.

Visit Studio Theatre at www.studiotheatreonline.org.uk