Getting a small business up and running is not an easy task, and anyone who tells you it is, is either lying or felt the repercussions of a failed small business. Your to-do list as a small business owner is a never-ending one and your time is limited. However, this is never a reason to try and cut corners to find success. Small businesses need to carve out a place for themselves in their industry, and a good place to start is a business website. We live in a world where digital technology rules over all things, and if you are not up to date on the latest and greatest technology available to your business, you could fall behind. Your website being built correctly is going to give you a starting off point in your success and a well-built website gives customers the impression that you mean it when you say you are going to be a good support to them.
A strong business website is going to help you to engage more with people and give them a chance to engage more with you. The simpler your website is to understand, the better off you will be and if you haven’t got a clue how to maximise your website for the masses, then outsourcing that piece of the puzzle to an SEO agency is the best thing to do. Those who can, should and those who can’t should ask for help! There are hundreds of reasons that your small business should have a website, and while it can be a costly thing to set up and run, you have to ask yourself whether you can afford not to do it. A lot of small, local businesses have no idea of how to run themselves online, and this is especially true of brick and mortar businesses that never made it into the digital space. There are some things, though, that you need to consider and before you go ahead and try to go it alone with your website, you should think about them.
The first is that people now use the internet in the same way that they used to use a phone book. If they want to search for information on a product or service, they go online. You see it wherever you go – and you probably do it yourself – but people use their smartphones everywhere they go to look for the local information and the global information that they need. You could be visible and attracting more customers than you’ve ever known, simply by being online and being visible to others. If you choose to ignore that fact, you are possibly handing your business over to local competitors, purely because they are online, and you are not. People trust a business that they can reach at the click of a button; you can’t afford not to be that business.
A well-run business website gives your company a legitimacy that you wouldn’t find elsewhere. In these days, people will go online and search for a company. If it doesn’t come up, there’s an instant scepticism surrounding what they do. Not having a website that they can contact you on raises eyebrows, because we no longer live in a time where having a website was unusual. It doesn’t matter what your budget is or whether you know how to run the site yourself, educate yourself. Find budget ways to set up a website of your own and hire someone to run it for you. There’s no need to ignorance about the digital world when the whole world is open to teaching you about itself. If you simply haven’t gotten around to setting one up, this should be your top priority going forward. You want to progress, so make it happen.
Lastly, a business website is so much more than just a page people can learn about you on. It’s another way to market yourself. It gives you an angle into social media and it gives you an automatic presence online so that you can be open to everyone. It’s an online billboard screaming out what you do and how you do it. The way you attract people will depend on the effort you put in; social media, blogging and online advertising but to name a few.
If you want to be a force of nature in your industry, you need to put your money where your mouth is and invest in going online. Otherwise, you’ll blow away into the ether.
