Plenty of businesses around here get their start on word of mouth alone. Maryville is small but growing, and news travels fast. Especially anything to do with food. One “oh, I heard new restaurant is opening next month!” sparks a telephone chain, and by opening day there’s a line out the door.

That kind of buzz is wonderful, and it’s how a lot of my own clients found me. But Maryville isn’t as small as it used to be. More people moving in means more businesses opening every year, and somebody who hears your name now has three other options they could look up in the same breath.

And looking you up is exactly what they do. The telephone chain ends at a Google search. Whatever they find in those first few seconds is your whole first impression, and if it’s nothing at all, or a Facebook page that hasn’t been touched since March, that little spark of interest quietly fizzles out before it ever reaches your door.

A website is where the buzz turns into a customer. Whether you’re opening a storefront on Broadway down the street from Maryville High School, hoping to catch foot traffic at Foothills Mall, or running the whole thing out of your house, that’s the part I can help with.