I was scrolling on Facebook this morning, and a friend had helpfully tagged one of their friends in a post offering 3 day digital workshops. The reply was “I don’t need a website” – fair enough I thought, but have you really thought about that?
Of course many small businesses will think that they don’t need a website and in some cases perhaps they are right, but here’s the opinion in the office:-
- If you don’t “need” a website, then you have to be online in some form – make sure you have a Google+ page and get on the Google map at the very least. Make sure you’re active on social media and then people have some chance of finding you.
- Do you not “need” a website because the cost or investment will be too high? One of the reasons we started Cambrian Web was to offer cost effective website design, often cheaper than actually purchasing a newspaper advert on a monthly basis.
- Have you thought about how people find businesses these days? How often do you see a Yellow Pages in a household now? People are automatically searching Google (or asking on social media) to find services they require, or asking their phones/home devices. If you’re not there with a website, how will they find you?
- Websites don’t have to be big projects or expensive. You can have a one page poster website for a lower cost than a full website, or you can even build your own website – there are loads of options online for this, many of which are cheap (aside from the time you put in).
- Your competition probably has a website, so they’re being discovered by your potential customers. Think of a website as a shop window that’s open 24/7.