Maybe some things have held you back from getting a website. Fear of the costs involved, of being done in by shady web designers, because you're only a small business, or of it being to late. Whatever your situation is, you need a website and I'll tell you why.
Before we go further, answer me this. Why would you open a new office or outlet in a well thriving area? To expand your business of course! Tell me again why you don't have a website yet? Ok, so maybe it's not that simple, but lets go through some reasons you need a website.
1. Your Customers Expect You To Have One
Sooner of later, your customers or potential customers are going to search for your business. Are they going to find you, or your competition? To some customers you may as well not even exist if you don't have an online presence. Not having a website is like working from home, sure you can do it, but what happens when a customer wants more info? Will they come for a meeting at your "home"?
2. Websites Are Cost Effective
To be honest, it's the cheapest form of advertising you can get. It's hard to think of it that way when you are staring down the barrel of a R10k - R30k invoice, but what can that website do for you? In comparison, what can traditional media do for you? Can it inform your customers in detail? Can you measure how many customers read your flier / billboard? Most importantly, can you quickly fix a spelling mistake or your change your marketing message? Undoubtedly the answer would be no.
3. 24 Hour Customer Service, World Wide!
How valuable would an employee be, if they could work 24 hours and deliver the exact same result every hour? Even when you're sleeping, your customer can visit your website, learn more about you, pay invoices, buy products, or even contact you. Your business is open at all hours, even if your physical office isn't.
4. Your Competitors Have One
This is not a keeping up with the Jones's thing. People like options, they like to compare, find the best deal, or the best quality. If they don't have anyone to compare your competitors to, then you are loosing business!
5. Increase Your Customer Base
Most businesses are confined to their geographical area, but the internet knows no bounds! Sure, you probably can't service or provide products to people in the North Pole, but instead of being confined to your city, you now have the ability to service or provide products to customers in neighboring cities or the rest of your country.
In Conclusion
You need a website. Period.
Just remember, not all websites are created equal. Websites do fail, and don't always provide a good return on investment. This is not because the internet is flawed, but because websites are more than just pretty pictures, and not all web designers understand this concept. We'll leave this discussion for another day.
Why do you not have a website yet? What has been holding you back? Tell us more about it in the comments below...
