One of the great debilitators in online business is simply the perceived (or real) lack of time. Business owners are used to moving forward. An online web presence can make them feel tied to an office chair learning skills they aren't sure they want to know.

It's not uncommon for those who deal in full time web design to have individuals contact them for a site design, but have absolutely no idea what they want. Furthermore when the designer questions them the response might be, "I don't know, just make it look nice."

Let's not forget the core values or mission of the business. Many business owners have no idea how to answer those kinds of questions. They may stare blankly for a moment or two and there's no more time for further deep thought so they go back to action - without answers.

In many cases it is possible to answer some of the questions needed, but it may require taking time away from a familiar setting. It may also require more time than you think you want to give.

If you can get to a place of concentrated contemplation you are likely to find yourself stripping ideas to their core to find out what your business is trying to accomplish and what your ultimate goals might be.

As with almost any project you can turn frustration around if you will just take the time to come to terms with your vision.

Sometimes we spend so much time 'doing' we never stop to ask the question, "Why?"

This process can be a bit like taking a bus that drives around the park. You keep looking at the flowers and the park bench and long to sit in the quiet shade of a tree and just absorb the calming atmosphere. You know they will have a positive effect on you, but for some reason you just can't seem to find the energy to get off the bus.

It seems to me there are some sites that are misguided or rarely guided that could benefit from the process of self-evaluation. These sites may look nice, but there is a sense of disconnection that may not be easy to identify, but it's fairly obvious to visitors.

Creative energy is at a minimum while business owners simply tackle what seem to be the most urgent details.

As more people gravitate to online business there needs to be a shift in the thinking of how one goes about doing business online. In many ways it can't be approached in the same way a traditional business is developed, yet that is typically the way many new web commerce ventures choose to tackle the subject.

You may discover your business will be more successful if you take some time for rigorous reflection. The time set aside can be a bit like an architect that takes the time to develop plans for a new building. You wouldn't expect the architect to simply tell a construction crew to, "Go out there and build - something."

Work at 'building' your online business in a comprehensive way. Your effort can develop a firm foundation for long-term success.

I've done quite a bit of research into web analytics lately, and I have found a couple of things. Google analytics Is a great tool, but it cannot be the only tool an organization relies on. Because it is a purely JavaScript based, it is unable to catch browsers that do not have JavaScript enabled, this includes the search engine robots, some hand held devices, as well as a percent of users that manually turn this off. That being said we need a tool to parse the log files from the server and to give us information about these users, as well as providing us with "on demand" stats where as Google's stats are next day. The server logs also contain a wealth of other information that we are collecting automatically, so we might as well take advantage of it.

I have come to the conclusion that we need to use Google Analytics but we also need a tool that reads the server logs. There are quite a variety of tools that would fill this need. Google recently purchased Urchin who's web analysis product runs Google analytics, costs about $3k and will work with the Google Mini, Urchin also gives the ability to read logs from server software other than IIS (like apache, the software used for open source applications) .

Urchin will be releasing another version shortly, and this will be the first release since the Google buyout. Another option is WebTrends Analytics it costs about $4k. It Like Urchin will read both IIS and Apache logs, and has a web interface for users. The last product is NetTracker, it runs about $4k for the software, and another grand for support. it was recently bought out by Unica. The administration of netTracker is not the smoothest, and the support seems to have declined on quality since the buy out.

Let's say you have a website. You probably feel pretty good about it. You have a presence. People can find you. You're out there. Sure, these are all good things; the only problem is everyone has a website. A website is the bare minimum.

A website is only just enough.

As a small business owner, as an entrepreneur as an upstart you must standout. You are the underdog. Underdogs don't out hustle the more established folks by doing just enough. And if you only have a website, you are only doing just enough.

Want to build your business and exceed your goals?

Do more than just enough.

Hold on, let's get down to it. If you consider how advanced the internet has become in just the last 5 years, if you only have a company website you aren't doing just enough.

You're doing less than enough.

You're doing enough to exist, but not enough to excel.

You're doing enough to be counted, but not enough to go over the top.

I'm sorry. I really like you. I wish you the best, but the truth is you're behind the curve.

You can change it, but to do that, first you need to change how you see the web and the possibilities. You've got to decide if you're serious about your business? Is your business concept a winner or a loser? Can it work? Is it working? What to do about it? More of the same isn't the answer. Making your website more pretty isn't going to cut it. You need to diversify.

I may be blunt, but I'm not exaggerating. Like John McCain says, "Time for some straight talk".

A business website should be only one piece of your web presence. You should also have a presence on every social networking website out there. You should have articles related to your business all across the information superhighway. You should belong to all the major (and some not so major) business networking sites. You should have a video on YouTube, a Face book, a MySpace and a Squidoo page. You should be everywhere other business owners congregate, share ideas, exchange referrals and talk shop.

You must be there.

No excuses.

No exceptions.

Sure, it takes time to set up marketing mechanisms across the many websites that are available, but it's time well invested because your company website isn't the end all to be all of generating buzz and finding leads on the internet, your website is just the beginning.

Make a commitment to your business and cease and desist looking at those social networking sites as options. They aren't options, they are necessities.

If you need more reasons to justify putting your resources into more than a company website, just take a look at Barack Obama's surge. Obama-mania owes much of its energy and support to the social networking sites that it uses. Get involved and secure some of that same viral power for your business. 99% of it is free and 100% of it is good business.

Welcome to the first day of your new way of looking at promoting your business on the net.

Go get started yesterday.