Why your business needs a website
Having a website today is an essential part of doing business. If you haven’t already, it’s time to make your presence felt online.
A website doesn’t have to be expensive, time consuming or high-maintenance. In fact, it shouldn’t be any of those things. It’s the part of your operation that ties everything together – the foundation. Your website should be on your business cards and letterheads, in your email signature, your ads, on your shop window – everywhere. It immediately makes your business open 24/7, and puts your products and services into the homes and offices of your potential customers.
Most importantly, a website helps to generate new business through that priceless marketing tool known as ‘word of mouth’. It’s easy for people to refer other customers if they know you have a website. Ever heard ‘Just Google Paul’s Plumbing Ryde’ or ‘Check out paulsplumbing.com.au’? Yep, that’s the way it’s done these days.
It should be simple, professional and load quickly – which means it should be hosted in Australia, not overseas. It needs to contain the basic info your customers require to contact you promptly – that means four to six pages, typically containing an ‘About’ section, products, services, contact details, plus any other information you think would be helpful. Short and simple is best – just the facts ma’am.
The reality is this: If you don’t have a website, you’re losing business. If you have an old shoddy one, you’re losing business. If you are using a third party email service for your business – like a hotmail or bigpond account – you are deterring people from doing business with you. Would you do business with someone using a dodo account? Don’t think so.
Of course, the major benefit is that you can promote your business online in different forums and directories – wherever you think your customers could be. The good news is that most of these are free.
There’s not much of 2009 left – it’s time to get online.
- Tom Kendall is the founder of The Forge http://forg3.com
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Good sensible advise. I would add, however, that successful websites these days need to be more than static pages. Websites needs to interact with the community – ie, they need to be part of the Web 2.0 world. People want to be able to contribute, comment, ask questions and get responses on your website.
Web 2.0 for the majority of people is a waste of money. The need for this sort of functionality is a myth perpetuated by web developers or people who like being trendy without understanding what they mean. Don\’t believe the hype web 2.0 – and sure as hell don\’t pay for it, unless you understand it and yor business needs it.
I agree that nowadays website is a must-have for any company. But I would also suggest to start a blog as blogs are much more personal, then websites and you can get reader\’s trust which is really helpful in promoting your business.