How important is your website?

In my line of work (website design) and in the current economic climate I find that more and more people are trying to avoid spending any money on website development and creating a genuine web presence because they deem it more of a luxury than a necessity, but often they don’t realise that not having a great website actually loses them money!

A website is a much more important part of your business than you may realise right now, the value you get compared to the initial outlay you invest can be so enormous that it is the difference between a flourishing company, or one which doesn’t make it through the recession.

Below I am going to give you the top 10 reasons for which your business needs a top quality website:

1. With a professionally developed website you can turn your business from a locally run small business, into a global business which generates interest from customers worldwide.
2. Your website is used as a shop window for your business, products and services and allows you to be open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
3. A website is one of the most popular ways for customers to get in contact with a business they would like to deal with and is essential if you don’t want to miss out on potential customers.
4. A website delivers a much higher return on investment than hiring a salesperson if you compare the costs of advertising/wages compared to the setup of a website.
5. It is much easier for satisfied customers to tell their contacts and friends about you, they can easily forward a website address but it is much more difficult to fax or email a leaflet, this makes for easy referrals.
6. Your potential customers who use the WWW will often investigate your business before making contact, because this is anonymous they can visit your website (or look for it and come up empty) and make a buying decision based on the quality of your website without you even knowing.
7. Make your business cards more effective with a website address, this will make you look more professional and give your potential customer an opportunity to find out more about your services before making a buying decision.
8. You can collect email addresses and therefore potential new customers through your website, with these email addresses then create a mailing list and now you have a quick and easy way to contact all the people who once showed an interest in your product or service, thus giving you a chance to sell to them in the future.
9. Your website should be very customer focused and give a very professional view of your company, you manage the content of your website so it is easy to regulate the information you give to the customer.
10. The first place anybody looks for a business in this era is online, gone are the days of looking through the yellow pages to find what you want, the internet is the place you want to be.

If you are interested in having a website designed or simply wish to find out more information related to this article, please email me and I’d be happy to answer any enquiries.