Here is the response I wrote to her:

Websites are just one marketing tool and are not the end all and be all of your publicity. Most authors do not question if the cost of printing bookmarks is worthwhile, but most authors I know make or have bookmarks made.

While websites are a major investment, they are also a flexible investment. Bookmarks become outdated when the next book arrives. Websites grow and evolve with your writing. You can add content, change content and if your site is interactive (with a built-in blog, contact form, forums, contests, etc.) you’ll bring your readers back frequently, thereby building loyalty. If a reader feels she “knows” you through your site and feels a bond with you she becomes a loyal reader.

Web sites are not the Field of Dreams either. Just because you build it does not mean they will come. You have to do your part in promoting it. Put it in your signature line on all your emails, make sure you list it on all your publicity material. Mythbuster here: Google will not send throngs of site visitors by tomorrow. (I say that because I had a client call me fuming last spring because she had no more site visitors the day after I sent in her Google listing than she did the day before)

Be aware, however, that the quality of your site content and appearance reflects on you. You wouldn’t send in a hand-written manuscript on notebook paper and you wouldn’t send in a manuscript on pink paper in cursive font tied with a ribbon and sprayed with perfume, right? (on behalf of all the editors on the loop please say no!!) Web design holds the same concepts. You don’t want to slap something together just for the sake of having a web site and you don’t want to keep adding cute little animated frogs, dancing penguins, background music, and repeating tiles of your cat as a background. You need to aim for web-standards compliant HTML or XHTML code and professional-looking design (even if you do it yourself!). The reason you need to aim for the web-standards is so it will be viewable in everyone’s browser. Mac browsers, until recently, were notorius for crashing certain CSS code; Internet Explorer misaligns certain CSS code. Do your research before launching your site so all your site visitors can view it correctly.