If you are considering building a website for your business, ask yourself why do you need one? We think the most pertinent reasons for why are as follows:
- I want my businesses running costs to be as little as possible
Using the Internet and a website as an operating platform can leave you with truly tiny running costs compared to your competition. It is now possible for some businesses to be entirely virtual or extremely close to it. All you really need is a PC and a place to run it from. Even for what are considered smoke stack or old industries it is now possible to be almost 100% virtual. Take estate agencies as a case in point, do they need high street offices? Absolutely not, it is possible to conduct these kind of businesses, and many many more who don’t even realise it yet, entirely online. In the process massive cost savings can be achieved, making your business truly competitive
- I want my business to reach it’s maximum potential audience?
The audience you can reach with a website is truly enormous, it really is the world. The only limitation is how can you use your business to supply that market. The Internet and a website will enable your reach. If you already know how you can supply that market, you really are well on your way to exploiting the most the Internet can provide.
- I want my business to be ready for now and the future
Staying ahead is critical for any business and without a website as a platform to access the latest technology, this could prove truly fatal. Just consider the evolution in technology over say the last two years. Communication is changing radically, virtually all mobiles can now access the Internet. There is now not a single piece of modern communication technology that does not interact with the net or need it as an essential to function. Now consider how people and businesses communicate with each other across the net.
Heard of LinkedIn, Alibaba, Twitter, Facebook, Mixx, Redd it? If you haven’t I suggest you do some research now. The list goes on and on. Now run them through a search engine, see how many businesses have Twitter pages, Facebook pages, LinkedIn pages, and Alibaba pages. Still think you can afford not be there with your web presence? A website connecting to these social hubs is the only way to extract the most from them. If you need more evidence on how these social networking platforms are for right now and tomorrow, consider how they are affecting the recruitment industry. Look at all those employees marketing themselves on LinkedIn. Now think how many businesses really need a recruitment consultant if they know how to use LinkedIn and are properly connected to it through their website.
OK still not convinced? Think about this then? Look at how other businesses communicate with their customers across those platforms, telling them about new offers, products and savings they can make. Now factor in the ingredient that all that advertising and exposure was free and went global at the click of a button. Still not convinced?
Ok, let’s take the most stoic, technologically resistant business in the UK, no offence intended here, but let’s say it’s a small engineering business making fasteners and struggling to access global markets. Now lets build them a website with a store and install a payment engine, hook it in to every associated online social network, and give it exposure to 4 billion customers letting them know that UK quality is the best quality. You know that business it going to start taking orders. That’s a fact. If you don’t believe us, log onto Alibaba and have a look at all those other companies doing just that. Even with a tiny budget, you can be there with them and in places on the Internet that they haven’t heard of yet. It’s possible.
There is absolutely a social hub out there for your business and market niche, and they are holding your customers in a pool ready for you to access them. Now try and access them without a website.
- I want my business to be paid immediately
Tired of hearing, “the cheques in the post”, with a website you can collect all your payments online and know their there, safe and secure. You can do this without a merchant account and any credit checks. With a website it’s possible to take payments from anywhere in the world, instantly.
In conclusion having a web presence these days is truly an essential part of any businesses trading and marketing strategy. The way it’s used is the key ingredient for success. A web presence can make you competitive, punch above you weight and deliver a hoard of customers battering down your door for more.