It may be hard to believe, but "Yes, Virginia - some businesses don't have websites".
Or, if they do, the site is perhaps less than, shall we say, "optimal".
Why is this? How could anyone in business today not realize how critical a website is to their business? The answer is pretty simple: Businesses asking this question - or worse, not even knowing to ask it - are usually small businesses serving a specific, unique local or regional market.
These businesses generally fall into two categories: 1.
They are growing, turning a profit and don't see the need to market via their website.
2.
They feel their target market is so local, so unique that a website will achieve little benefit.
Walk a Mile in My Moccasins It is my position that any local small business that doesn't feel that their website is perhaps the most important component of their marketing efforts - no matter how small, specific, or unique their market - are not putting themselves in their customer's shoes.
Either that - or they don't know their customers as well as they think they do.
Here are Five Good Reasons why your local small business MUST have an effective presence on the web: 1.
People do business with people they like, know, and trust.
2.
When your customer or client is in the research stage (deciding WHO they will do business with) they use the Internet to research why they should buy from YOU.
3.
You have 4 seconds to create a first impression for your business.
4.
Your website lays the "virtual" foundation for your small business to build the "personal" relationships that build business.
5.
Your small business web site can be, and should be, one of your strongest networking tools.
"Ah ha!" you exclaim, if #1 is true then I've just lost my own argument.
After all, if you've got to get people to like, know, and trust you before they do business with you, well, you've got to get in front of them - IN PERSON.
But then you read #2.
Yup.
All that time you spent prospecting for customers, reeled them into an appointment or got them to come into your office or store - guess what they did when they left? They went home and looked you up on the Internet.
Why? Because they want to make sure your business met their criteria.
Do they like what they see? Did they get to find out more about you? Did they come to trust what you told or showed them?Once they got to your website (we'll go so far as to assume you have one), you had 4 seconds to create the impression that your website would give them the information they needed to solve the problem(s) or achieve the goal(s) that brought them to you in the first place.
How do you think you did with those four seconds? If you don't have a website, well the answer is obvious.
If you do have a website, I'll bet you're on your way there (but finish reading this first).
Remember #4 where I claim that your website lays a "virtual" foundation to establish a personal relationship with your customer.
A relationship that gives them something to like about your business (it can solve their problem/achieve their goal).
A relationship where your customer feels getting to know you and your business better is to THEIR benefit.
A relationship that your customer trusts enough to continue to do business with you as well as to refer others that they know, like, and trust to do business with you.
Number 4 being very true, we can see that #5 is the kingpin - local small (even very, very small) businesses will get a return on their investment by using their website as the strong networking tool it is.
Because, what are you trying to do when you network in the "real" world? Yup, you want people to get to like, know, and trust you so they will do business with you.
OK - remember when I divided local businesses that didn't stress the importance of their website into two categories? I forgot one.
The third are small businesses that don't feel they can finance a professional website.
I assure you, this is not the case.
There are affordable resources out there whether you end up designing your own website and writing your own content, or hiring someone to do it for you - I'll bet you're aiming your mouse toward the search box already.