5 Reasons why you must have a Website

5 Reasons Why you must have a Website?

1. One
   -A website address is generally easy to remember.
   - A telephone number isn’t.
   - On your Website you display all the contact information in one place.
   - This makes life easy for you, and for your customer.
2. Two
   - Your Website is your advert that is there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
   - It displays your products and services to the world.
   - What other medium allows such access ?
3. Three
   - The Competitor’s in your niche will have websites.
4. Four
   - Much more than ever before, people use Google or search engines to find the products and services that they are looking for.
   - The days of phone books and yellow pages are numbered.
5. Five
   - A Website allows you to display everything the customer needs to know before they contact you.
   - It should detail your products and services clearly and have all the frequently asked questions answered so there is no need to contact you needlessly
   - Ultimately saving you money.

Why you must have a Website

You Cannot Afford Not to have a Website

We live in harsh times and the government is cutting jobs and service left, right and centre. For many starting a business one way out of the benefits trap and often it offers a wonderful opportunity for you to be your own boss, keep what you earn and freedom to manage your time under any circumstances.

One the most important things about running a business is to get people to know that you exist and become aquainted with what you have to offer them, be it products or services. However, traditional ways of doing this is through advertising using local press as well as the printing and distribution of leaflets. These options are very expensive. There is a much better alternative thanks to modern technology and shoppers buying habits. The Internet!

According to a recent report "More than 39 million UK residents use the Internet in 2009, eMarketer estimates. By 2013, nearly 44 million will be online - over 70% of the total population." Most of these are either shopping online or looking for products and services that they can find in their locality. These are your potential customers and you cannot ignore them if you want your business to succeed. If you don't have a website it is like pouring money down the drain because people will not know of our existence and therefore they are not going to do business with you - unless they come upon you by chance. Are you going to allow chance to dictate your business strategy?

Existence is Everything

Without a website, you simply do not exist to the average consumer. Before you shake your head and say to yourself "I am alright Jack and business is fine" and totally disregard what I am saying just hear me out on this.

It is 5:00pm, Friday evening and I need to get my dog groomed this weekend. I type in my favorite search engine at work: "Dog Groomer Barnstaple. The first two links all look great. I look at their hours, their location, read a little about the company and they’ve been in business for over 20 years, experience is great. The website even has a Google map that shows me to see where the business is located. So guess what? I pick up the phone and make an appointment.

What I did not know though is that you run a Pet Groomer business too, and only a few streets away near where I'll be having lunch tomorrow at a local pub. You would have been perfect but I didn't know you existed because your website either didn't come up in the search engine or probably because you do not have one at all. For me and many other consumers, you do not even exist when I was making a decision on whom to do business with. Get the picture?

When I moved to Barnstaple last year where do you think I looked to fit out my new home? Heck! I even brought my home by finding it on the Internet. Nowadays, if you want people to take you seriously then a website is vital for creditability, and besides you can be sure your competitors will have one so you should at least work on a level playing field.

Business Information is available 24/7 when you have a website

With a website you are able to tell prospective clients your address, phone numbers, directions, hours of business and special promotions that you may be offering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - and you have not had to answer those questions on the phone. It is like having an unpaid employee at your command.

With a website you are in effect providing an invaluable service to people. Imagine the time that your website saves people and you will be surprised how much a website will take off your shoulders while simultaneously driving business to your door.

A website can help you generate a professional image

A professionally designed website is one of the best ways to instill confidence in your new customers who are not familiar with your company already or even increase the confidence of your existing customer base. It gives the customer the impression that they are dealing with a firm they can trust and will generate a sense of respectability with your service and/or product. And if your website has testimonials then that adds to the confidence that people will have towards your business and what you have to offer.