One of my biggest pet peeves is a business that doesn't have a website. If I had my own business, I'd be putting as much information on the web as I possibly could. The expense of having a website for your small business is extremely low, especially when compared to other forms of advertising. More often than not, one or two sales will easily provide you with your Return On Investment (ROI). Granted, that is for simpler sites. Highly complex sites like Walmart.com or Amazon.com would cost MUCH more to build. But then, those are usually the companies that have a lot of money to start with.

Anyway, for businesses that DO have a website, there is generally an email address listed that can be used to contact the company. My questions is, if you are going to go through the trouble of creating this line of communication, then why would you not capitalize on it and respond to the messages you get from prospective customers? I have had this happen on several occasions. I generally prefer to use email because I can be very precise in the information I am sending/requesting. Unlike a phone conversation, there is nothing that gets 'lost in translation'. Additionally, you have a documented record of the communication.

So, all you business owners out there, please respond to your customers when they contact you via email. Email contacts are just as important as phone contacts.

PS - If you are a small business owner and need a website, I can be contracted. ;-)