The economy has been in the toilet and everyone, including business, and everyone is watching every dollar spent and trying to stay alive. But as other businesses fall, the market share shrinks, making it even more important for your company to be online and attract new business. Being online with your own website is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your company or organization.
Question: Does your company really need a web site?
Answer: Yes.
Despite what others may say, this is the year 2010 in case you forgot and everyone who intends on staying in business will need to have an online presence. That does not mean you should go out and spend $15,000 on a website. It means you should have, at the very least, basic information and a means contacting your company or organization – even if it’s just 1 page from a free hosting provider. The public now expects that businesses and organizations will have a web site for more information.
The big yellow-pages phonebook is nearly dead. People increasingly use the web and their mobile phone to search for a service or phone number. If they don’t find you, they will find your competitor’s.
Question: What if my company only has 3 employees?
Answer: Yes.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the only employee or you have 10,000 – the answer is the same. If you are not online then you’re competitor is and they’re taking your business too.
Question: Will having a website make my business money immediately?
Answer: You need to view having a website just like other common business tools such as a Phone, a Brochure, or Business Cards. Do those make you money immediately? They do help make your company more successful with communication and promoting yourself. Let’s look at this a different way- can your business survive without a phone? Of course not! Your website is similar to having a phone – it’s a must-have.
Here’s a good exercise: Go search for your competitors online and see just how many are already there. That’s what you’re competing with (and who is getting your potential business because you’re not online yet!) and if you don’t find many sites out there today, then consider yourself lucky.
In today’s world, you need every edge possible. That doesn’t mean you have to lose focus and drop the ball – you still need to be the front man selling your goods & services.
Look at it this way: What did people do before the internet? They turned to their local yellow-pages and those businesses that had a nice big ad were usually the ones you called first, am I right? That’s what a website will do for you – you’ll now be “visible” in the internet space but with more detail.
Let’s say, for instance, there’s a small hardware store of your local home town. They don’t use computers for inventory, but they do sometimes have specials or coupons which are advertised locally. For this business, it makes sense to have a couple of web pages that explain who they are, about the family business, where they are located/how to contact them, and a natural fit would also be a page where patrons can print out those advertised coupons and perhaps signup for weekly emails with more coupons.
Question: Is a website going to be affordable for me?
Answer: Yes.
Well, mostly yes – here’s my explanation: For the vast majority of small businesses, non-profit organizations, or home-businesses, you may not need anything more than a couple of pages that you can maintain on your own. Many times people will have these grand visions of wanting more than they actually need. A good web design consultant will be able to see this and help manage the scope to something more manageable & realistic. There will be the occasional person who demands extra things that won’t really make their business money—but they do take time and resources to develop. This is why I say “mostly affordable” (for that last 10% of people who must have it all).
Don’t think of a website as something you have to pay for every year hundreds or even thousands of dollars – It’s like owning a car: You buy it once and make routine maintenance on it over the life of that car. Sometimes you will even find a web designer who will provide hands-on training so you can do the maintenance yourself, saving some money. Once you’ve bought your car, it will continue to serve you for many years to come – the same holds true for your website!
I would recommend you take the time to write down what you “need” and what you would “like to have”, then give us a call. We will help you formulate a “Website Requirements” document and also help you get at least three (3) other quotes to do the work. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you use us or someone down the street for creating your website – we’re in business to help grow your business in any way that is useful to you.
It doesn’t matter if your website is big or small – often times we can get your business online for under $400 (that includes the first year of hosting too!). Are you looking to sell products in an online Ecommerce store? We specialize in that area too!
I hope you found this information helpful to you & building your new website.
- Jason Schuman
