The traditional view of most companies is that a website is a “loss-leader”, necessary for being considered a serious business, but not anything that could significantly boost sales or generate a significant ROI. This great article at SEOmoz shows that getting in the mindset of seeing your website as a investment and profit center as opposed to a money-pit is a good idea for your companies continued financial health.

Some interesting stats from the article:

* 43% of retail sales are to either be influenced by or made on the Internet by 2012

* 83% of business use the Internet to research and find potential vendors

* 75% of users admit to making judgments about the a company’s credibility based on their website’s design

The 75% of users admitting to making judgments on a companies credibility based on the website design is an incredible number. Think about your own website: if you don’t like the design of it currently, chances are your customers don’t either and it’s costing you a significant amount of business.