A website
today is like a phone - every business needs one. If you don’t have one, now is the
perfect time to Web Up.
Do you know why a
website is so important for your business?
15 years ago before
the internet was known, you would have looked in the yellow pages and telephoned cleaners,
gardeners and property maintenance businesses finding out what they could do and how much it
would cost. Your decision would come down to the price they gave, and what you found out
they could do and even the tone and care in their voice would either persuade you or have
you politely hanging up.
15 years later and the world is different. Like many
people the first step you will do is search the internet and search the yellow pages online.
You may even instant message a friend and ask who they have used. Many will twitter their
feelings or blog how much spring is on their mind and how they plan to get their world in
order. Just as quickly they will write about who do a great job and link to the website. The
internet has become central to our life: one of the first places we seek answers and the
most likely to convince us.
Every small business, and the smallest of small
businesses, will spend lot on their telephone; they’ll spend thousands each year on their
yellow pages and local advertising and thousands more on letterheads and business cards for
staff. Many businesses will even spend even thousands on their office or shop lease to be in
the best position for their customers. Any business that has started in the last 50 years
knows how important all these elements are to having a mere chance of
success.
Today we live in an era of the internet - the most
powerful, most accessible, dynamic communication system ever known to human kind. Most of us
will turn immediately to the internet for answers to the simplest quests to find products
and services or just another person to help us. Even if it is just people to help you
maintain your home, clean up your garden or just simply clean your
carpets.
Many people will still lookup a printed yellow
pages, check out the flyers in their letter boxes or ask their neighbor across the fence to
find who best to call. To finalize the decision, make their final choice and put their plans
into action, they’ll consult what they can on the internet. Most people will be looking and
asking for the website of businesses that are suggested to them.
For people a website best answers who, what, why, how
and when the business can help them. For the business it is the best chance they have to
fully and completely express who they are, how and why they are special and best able to
provide the value people are looking for.
After all the searching, calling, querying and asking
other people that your prospective customers do, the final piece in the buying process is
your website. It’s your website that seals the deal, clinches the sale and reels in the
business.
The worst thing you can do is spend thousands a month
on your telephone, thousands a year on local advertising, more on your office or shop lease
than you may need and not have a web site. Even the most basic web site is as critical to
the success of your business as your telephone, business cards, advertising or even your
office or shop.
If you don’t have a web site, or you’ve held back
spending on your website don’t expect to gain too much new business - you could risk losing
a lot of sales.
Investing in your website to the level that you spend
on your telephone and business cards each year will earn far greater results than both
combined. It’s your website where you get the chance to fully express, sell, persuade and
show prospective customers every facet of your business, skill, ability and talent. You get
to show everyone how alive, capable, knowledgeable, experienced and active your business
is. All you need do is write about your business and the services and products you
provide with all the passion that inspired you to go into business in the first place. And
just as easily, with little effort your web site will have photo’s showing you, your people,
your products and examples of your work. You don’t need to be a web or computer genius or
even be a geek.
Now picture your web site and how it can clear doubt
from your customers’ minds and the fresh opportunities for your business.
It’s your web site that will seal the deal, clinch the sale and reel in the business. Always
keep it alive and fresh like a new spring day, don’t hold back.
