Even if you're not planning on selling online, a well-crafted site is essential for any business.
Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?
A: That's a
good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most
frequently asked questions of the digital business age. Before I answer,
however, let's flash back to the very first time I was asked this
question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the internet.
I was giving a speech on the impact of the internet on small business
at an association luncheon in Montgomery, Alabama. Back in 1998, which
was decades ago in internet years, the future of e-commerce was
anybody's guess, but even the most negative futurists agreed that all
the signs indicated that a large portion of future business revenues
would be derived from online transactions or from offline transactions
that were the result of online marketing efforts.
So should your business have a website, even if your business is
small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online?
My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a
business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a
doubt.
Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be
sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the
internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing
everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet
airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone
will figure out how to sell it online.
Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your
efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your
product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be
considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very
least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential
employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and
easily find out more about your business and the products or services
you have to offer.
That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must
have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously.
Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a
purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance
you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site
looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your
chance at making a good first impression will be lost.
One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the
playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As
mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a
well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and
professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've
seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to
navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility.
Good for you, too bad for them.
You also mention that yours is a small operation, but when it comes
to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if
you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't
have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do.
Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no
website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your
site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we
take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site
for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old
nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"
Your website is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.
Source: Entrepreneur
