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"If you don't have a website...they are no longer toys. They are powerful marketing tools and essential in establishing business credibility in today's market."
---- Entrepreneur Magazine, May, 2006, 'Make the Most of Your Small Business Budget.'
If you think your business is too small - read on and I'll prove you wrong. In the hands of professionals, maintaining a web site can be very little work and reap great rewards. Dollar for dollar, a professional-looking site can be the smartest advertising move a small business can make.
1. People Will Look for You Online.
Sooner or later, someone's going to type your name into a search engine. What do you want them to find? Nothing? These are people who want to find you, and if you don't have a website then you're letting them down - they expect you to be online. For many people, you might as well not exist if you can't be found with a search engine. Not having a website is like not bothering to get listed in the phone book. Whether it's getting new customers interested or keeping old ones up to date, very few people are going to find you if you aren't online.
2. Websites Cost Next to Nothing.
Once, it cost a lot to run a website - but those days are long gone. What other media costs as little as $10 per month and delivers trackable responses 24 hours a day, all year long? Really, it's never been cheaper to have a website than it is today. Compare it to a black and white ad in your local paper that runs once a week starting at $60. The return on investment for owning a website is phenomenal.
3. Websites vs. Print Advertising.
Whatever you're advertising - your services, your products, or just yourself - a website is a great way to do it. Every other kind of advertising going costs a premium, especially if you want to target a specific kind of person, and there's no guarantee that they're paying attention. Websites are like brochures that are free to reproduce, interactive, and quickly distributed to people who are already looking for them. No advertising medium even comes close to the ease-of-use and effectiveness of a website. Dollar for dollar, a website wins hands down.
4. A Website is a Worldwide Presence.
On the web, it doesn't matter whether someone is next door to you or on the other side of the world - they can see your website just the same as anyone else can, at no extra cost to you or to them. Phone and postage both cost enormous amounts long-distance, but a website lets you send information anywhere without any extra effort or expense. You can make friends and contacts in places you've never been and will never go - suddenly, working globally is no more effort than working locally.
5. Your Website Can Make You Money.
There's a lot of money on the web, and it's not hard to get some. If you have something to sell, you can sell it worldwide, thanks to credit cards. All you need is your information, products and contact info out there, and the sales are a click away. An important element is to incorporate your website into all of your marketing materials starting with business cards and letterhead, then watch the hits come in.
6. Your Website Will Save You Time.
Giving out information takes time, whether it's on the phone, or in brochures, or even if it's just emailing someone. Websites are designed to save you time. All of your potential clients can read your entire story online and access as much or as little information as you want them to have. Customers can see your whole product catalogue without ever needing to talk to you or visit you. This is the power of the web - a good website runs itself, and keeps being useful to people for much longer than you'd expect.
"Should your business have a website? YES. If you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt."
---- Corey Rudi, author of Secrets To Marketing Your Business, founder of www.marketingtips.com
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