If you don't have a business website then, most likely you are losing business to those companies that do have one. About 70% of the US population uses the Internet and the vast majority of those users have either purchased something online or have stated in polls they would be willing to make a purchase online. So unless your business owns a website then you are closing the door to your business to all but the most local of these people.
So why wouldn't you want to own a website for your business? I have lost count of the number of business owners who say they don't want a website because they never use the Internet. Well guess what? The website is there for others to find out about your business and services. You already know what you do, so what does it matter if you use the Internet or not? You are not going to be visiting your website to find out what you already know about yourself. Another objection we come up against is cost? These days you can get yourself online for about $10 a month, and you can use a simple website builder (supplied by most hosting companies) to create a half decent website. Of course as a web designer myself I would advocate using a professional company such as ours in order to get a professional web presence. But if your budget precludes this then take a cheaper option and get your business online. You know the old saying 'out of site, out of mind'....well this really applies to your company if you don't have a website.
If you don't want to push your prospective clients into the hands of a competitor, you really do need to own a business website. Most people expect a business to own a website, and when they are researching the company that they are thinking of doing business with, they will look for their website in order to find out about the company, its philosophies, products and services. The main problem with this is that while searching for your company website they phrases they may type into a search engine to find you (e.g. shoe stores in Fort Myers, Florida) will bring up the websites to your local competitors too. So not having any kind of web presence at all is going to handicap you. Even having a website isn't necessarily going to prevent your competitors' sites from being clicked, but not having a site, could mean that you are lost in the mix.
For companies who wish to trade nationally and/or internationally, owning a business website is an absolute must. Your website could be like having a fleet of unpaid salespeople all over the country, or the world. If you get your site well optimized for the search engines, or if you manage your paid ads (such as Google's AdWords) wisely then you will find that your site is getting hits from your geographical target markets, which hopefully will lead to eventual sales.
When you are doing looking for details of a business do you dig out your copy of the Yellow Pages, or, like most people, do you go to Yahoo or Google and type in the company details in the search engine? A poll showed that 67% of people do the latter. I am not saying that Yellow Pages is dead. That is not the case at all, especially if you are purely targeting a more local market. But it is suffice to say that even Yellow Pages has acknowledge the power of the Internet by turning their hard copy directories into electronic copies and placing them on the Internet.
There is no doubting that with each generation technology gets better. It wasn't so long ago that people used to have to queue up in Internet cafes in order to send emails or surf the Internet. Nowadays people carry the Internet with them wherever they go. The iPhone and other 3G cell phones make this possible. So if someone is in town and is looking for a company like yours, if you don't have a business website then the only way you are going to do business with these people is if they drive right by your front door.
If you want to be successful in business you need to be proactive. This means marketing. You want to bring people to your company and not necessarily wait for them to drop by. A lot of companies also use their websites to build up their opt in customer (or prospective customer) lists. Adding a simple form will let visitors add their contact details so they can be kept informed about your company and special offers you may have in the future. Of course you could go and buy these opt-in lists from specialist companies, but you can be guaranteed that the contact details of people on those lists will not be as reliable as the list you build up directly from your own website.
So the reality is that not owning a website is going to do your business a lot more harm than good. A good business website is not only a vehicle to sell your products and services, but it is also your online business brochure, and your salesforce, which is accessible to pretty much everybody, everywhere.
So why wouldn't you want to own a website for your business? I have lost count of the number of business owners who say they don't want a website because they never use the Internet. Well guess what? The website is there for others to find out about your business and services. You already know what you do, so what does it matter if you use the Internet or not? You are not going to be visiting your website to find out what you already know about yourself. Another objection we come up against is cost? These days you can get yourself online for about $10 a month, and you can use a simple website builder (supplied by most hosting companies) to create a half decent website. Of course as a web designer myself I would advocate using a professional company such as ours in order to get a professional web presence. But if your budget precludes this then take a cheaper option and get your business online. You know the old saying 'out of site, out of mind'....well this really applies to your company if you don't have a website.
If you don't want to push your prospective clients into the hands of a competitor, you really do need to own a business website. Most people expect a business to own a website, and when they are researching the company that they are thinking of doing business with, they will look for their website in order to find out about the company, its philosophies, products and services. The main problem with this is that while searching for your company website they phrases they may type into a search engine to find you (e.g. shoe stores in Fort Myers, Florida) will bring up the websites to your local competitors too. So not having any kind of web presence at all is going to handicap you. Even having a website isn't necessarily going to prevent your competitors' sites from being clicked, but not having a site, could mean that you are lost in the mix.
For companies who wish to trade nationally and/or internationally, owning a business website is an absolute must. Your website could be like having a fleet of unpaid salespeople all over the country, or the world. If you get your site well optimized for the search engines, or if you manage your paid ads (such as Google's AdWords) wisely then you will find that your site is getting hits from your geographical target markets, which hopefully will lead to eventual sales.
When you are doing looking for details of a business do you dig out your copy of the Yellow Pages, or, like most people, do you go to Yahoo or Google and type in the company details in the search engine? A poll showed that 67% of people do the latter. I am not saying that Yellow Pages is dead. That is not the case at all, especially if you are purely targeting a more local market. But it is suffice to say that even Yellow Pages has acknowledge the power of the Internet by turning their hard copy directories into electronic copies and placing them on the Internet.
There is no doubting that with each generation technology gets better. It wasn't so long ago that people used to have to queue up in Internet cafes in order to send emails or surf the Internet. Nowadays people carry the Internet with them wherever they go. The iPhone and other 3G cell phones make this possible. So if someone is in town and is looking for a company like yours, if you don't have a business website then the only way you are going to do business with these people is if they drive right by your front door.
If you want to be successful in business you need to be proactive. This means marketing. You want to bring people to your company and not necessarily wait for them to drop by. A lot of companies also use their websites to build up their opt in customer (or prospective customer) lists. Adding a simple form will let visitors add their contact details so they can be kept informed about your company and special offers you may have in the future. Of course you could go and buy these opt-in lists from specialist companies, but you can be guaranteed that the contact details of people on those lists will not be as reliable as the list you build up directly from your own website.
So the reality is that not owning a website is going to do your business a lot more harm than good. A good business website is not only a vehicle to sell your products and services, but it is also your online business brochure, and your salesforce, which is accessible to pretty much everybody, everywhere.
About the Author:
Earl Gardner is a search engine optimization expert for Video4Site Web Design. Video4Site is the premier web designer in Philadelphia.
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