5 Reasons Your Small Business Needs A Website

There are still significant numbers of small businesses that don’t have their own websites. Perhaps the owners think that websites are only useful for technology-related businesses. Maybe they think that creating and maintaining a website is too expensive or is otherwise a “waste of money.”

Here are 5 reasons that your small business should get a website as soon as possible:

1. Access to worldwide customers. If you’re running a brick and mortar retail store, your customer base is mostly limited to people who live or work nearby. Your advertisements are targeted to people who read the local newspaper or receive the mailing area coupon books. A website opens a portal to customers in a much larger arena. If your products are shippable, you could even build an online store to sell directly to customers that would otherwise never be able to step into your traditional store.
2. Access to customers 24 hours/day. Every small business owner knows that only an open store makes money. We also know that there are only so many hours that you can be awake and functional. A website is online 24 hours a day, constantly advertising your business. Your website offers your customers a way to find and contact you outside of your normal business hours. People do most of their online browsing and shopping for items and services after the dinner hour, peaking around 8pm. Imagine the number of people who could view your website and see the list of services you provide while you are at home enjoying time with your family.
3. Professional presence. It’s not always easy to put your best foot forward with every customer interaction. Occasionally you have an off day, a bad mood, a headache, or an incredibly difficult customer that you just can’t seem to please. A website lets you take the time to commit to writing your most professional and charming self. It lets you ensure that the majority of your customers or potential customers get the message you intend. Also, a professional design inspires customer confidence.
4. Branding. As I mentioned in an earlier article called “The Importance of Building a Brand,” getting your logo and tagline out there as soon and often as possible can give you a competitive edge, even in heavily saturated markets. A website delivers your logo every time a user visits your site. Your tagline gets indexed by search engines and can appear on search results pages, even if a user doesn’t click through to your site.</li>
5. Automated administrative processes. Do you maintain a client or customer database? Do you send out a newsletter or other regular correspondence to people who have shown an interest in your services or products? How much time do you spend administering those lists? Imagine giving your customers the ability to input and update their contact information automatically? Imagine being able to capture the names and email addresses of potential customers? How about instantly responding to catalog requests automatically? You can do all of these things from a web site.

My next article explores “5 More Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website.”