Does my small business need a website?

We get this question a lot, and the answer isn’t as simple as you may think. The first question we are going to ask you is, why do you want one? Typically, the answer is easy, you want more customers or leads. Does this sound like your company?

The internet is a very powerful marketing tool, and there are lots of articles online touting the power of the internet (many can be found right here). These articles are very true, and the internet has revolutionized how you should be marketing to consumers. The days of folks opening the Yellow Pages to find a plumber is over (time for another article about Yellow Pages .com royally screwing uneducated small business owners and giving little to no results, email me if you want more info). Google set out to index the web, and that’s what they’ve done. So when you’re looking for a painter, plumber, or mechanic in your area, you’re heading to Google to find them.

Not only are people turning to search engines over traditional marketing materials to find the services you offer, but now they’re doing it from their phones. At an alarming rate mobile searches are eclipsing the number of searches done from PCs. What does this all mean to you? A website built and maintained with proper SEO is VERY important to your company and its growth and success.

If your goal is to gain more customers/leads and to grow or stabilize your business the answer is yes you need a website. But there is a caveat to this. You have to be ready to invest in your online presence. At Build Your Online we’re not going to sell you a $1,000-$2,000 website, we feel like that’s just taking your money and giving you nothing in return. For that price or with the cheap/free website companies (like WIX) you are simply creating you digital billboard for your company. What does a digital billboard do for you? It looks pretty, it has your logo, it has some basic information about your business. That’s nice right? Sure, but what makes a billboard valuable in traditional marketing? They’re placed in high traffic areas, and people see them all day long. That doesn’t happen online. If you’ve got a nice shiny digital billboard for a website, you’re not getting any visitors. No visitors = no new customers/clients/leads. So that $1,000-$2,000 you just spent gave you something nice to brag about for a few weeks. But in a months time it has gotten you zero customers and a ROI of zero. That money you spent was a waste, and you’ll never make it back. Sure, we could sell you a cheap website and take your money. That’s simply just not what we are about.

At Build Your Online we treat websites as a online marketing tool. Websites should be much more then a shiny billboard. They should interact with your potential client and educate them on your services and products. It should be properly SEOed with pages explaining each one of your locations and each one of the services your offer. It should include clear defined calls to action that put them in your sales funnel. A website should make your phone ring and bring the customers to your door. That is what we set out to do when we build a new website.

That’s why at Build Your Online we have an extensive process for build your companies new website. How can we properly market your company to the internet if we don’t understand what you do or what you’re selling? How can we tell someone why they should pick you over the competition if we don’t know? A good webdesign firm will have a process that they follow for each client to deliver a website that is out there working 24/7 to bring you more leads.

We at Build Your Online believe that every company will find value with a properly designed responsive website. However, if you’re not ready to invest however we suggest you hold off. Don’t get a website just because you think you need one. Be prepared to hire a reputable web design firm and get a properly designed marketing tool. Don’t get a website just to say you have one!