5 Reasons Your Business Needs A Website

It may difficult to believe that there are still businesses and professionals that don’t have a website. However, there are some people who don’t understand why they need to be “online” or have a very basic website which doesn’t serve them or their clients.

Here are five reasons you need to have a website (that works!):

1.  So  that you can be found (either locally or globally)

Once  you have a website highlighting your products and services you can reach thousands of people. The internet is the standard “search” tool whether people are searching for local or global businesses.  Online searches continue to replace the yellow pages because they are seen as faster and more efficient..

2.  It helps lower business costs – Other than the cost of setting up the website, you will find that once you’re online, it will cost you almost nothing to stay there. Compare this with “hard” marketing  where you are continuously producing marketing materials, making sales calls, buying ads n newspapers and magazines and so on. This doesn’t mean that  a website will replace your other marketing efforts but in many cases it can occupy an important place in your marketing funnel and will eliminate the need for expensive printed materials.

Another place to save money is on delivery costs.  If you are selling a physical product, your clients pay for shipping and all you have to do is Fedex or DHL the product to a given address. If you are selling a “soft” product, all you have to do is e-mail it  to them. It’s convenient and much less expensive than having a truck and driver available for local deliveries.

3. To generate referrals – Imagine someone visits your site and sees a product or service that they like. They buy it and they are very pleased with you and your company. Chances are they will  recommend you  to someone else (a friend, colleague, an internet group). The easiest and least intrusive way to do this is to send them to your website. If you have system to entice them to give you their name and email address you now have a prospective client list that WANTS your information!

4.  A website allows you to constantly keep in touch with your clients at almost no cost – Well built  and managed websites will have a built-in system of contacting customers as frequently as you like.  This contact allows you to talk about your new products, any improvements that you have made, and to offer clients bonuses, coupons and invitations to “client only” events. This type of client outreach would be very expensive if you were to use traditional methods such as direct mail or telephone calls.

5.  For credibility-  A well-written website including testimonials, case studies, and detailed information about you and your team will enhance your reputation and improve your credibility. By including articles on your products, services, and industry you demonstrate your expertise and sets you apart from the competition.

These are just a few reasons why you need to be online.

Freelance MD said,

January 21, 2010 @ 12:21 am

“1. So that you can be found (either locally or globally)
Once you have a website highlighting your products and services you can reach thousands of people. The internet is the standard “search” tool whether people are searching for local or global businesses. Online searches continue to replace the yellow pages because they are seen as faster and more efficient..”

So everyone who’s not running a business has to run some kind of do it yourself SEO and SEM. Great content is a downer if you don’t have anyone coming by to read it.

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

Name (required)

E-mail (required, not be published!)

URI

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail