A website (or Web site, according to Associated Press guidelines) is a collection of Web pages, typically common to a particular domain name or subdomain on the World Wide Web on the Internet.

All publicly accessible websites are seen as constituting a mammoth "World Wide Web" of information. Quoted from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

What is the merit of having your own website for your business?

You can send out the latest information of your business to a large number of the general public, wherever they live, whenever they access.

You can communicate with your customer/consumer/potential customer through the message board or e-mail.