Most medium to large companies, charities and societies have recognised the need for, and benefits of, a professionally designed and regularly updated website, yet amongst smaller organisations the message seems to be taking longer to get through.
Fifty-four small businesses advertised in our village magazine this month, of which only twelve appear to have websites. Why is this? Do they have enough repeat business to feel they don’t need one? If so, good for them. Do they think it’s too expensive to have a site professionally designed, and are they too scared of the technology to design a site themselves? Many small organisations do have a web presence, but it looks like it was hastily knocked together by an employee or member and hasn’t been updated since 2005 – this can often be worse than having no website at all.
This article spells out the many advantages of having a professionally designed, and regularly updated, website, and why no small business, charity or community organisation can afford to be without one.
1. Increase competitiveness. Your customers, or potential customers, are almost certainly looking for companies like yours on the internet. If you don’t have a website, or have a poorly designed or out-dated website, then you shouldn’t be surprised if they go to the competitor who has bothered having a web presence and keeping it updated
2. Size doesn’t matter. The beauty of a website is that your customers and competitors don’t need to know how big your organisation is. You can have a professional-looking site that gives the look of a large company, when in fact you are a sole trader working from the spare bedroom. This means the playing field is levelled and that opportunities can arise in areas where they may not always have done so
3. Always open. Unlike a traditional business your website never closes, so can be providing information or selling products at any time of day or night
4. Increase target audience. A community or regional magazine inevitably has a limited target audience, whereas the internet is global – anyone, anywhere in the world, could find your website and buy your services
5. Cost-effective and quantifiable marketing. Contrary to popular belief, setting up a website does not need to cost a huge amount – we can build a website for you for a similar amount to what it might cost to advertise once in a monthly regional magazine. In print magazines you would usually have to advertise several times before you began see a return on your investment, whereas with a website, once it’s up, it’s up. This, together with how easy it is to monitor the number of visitors a website receives, the potentially global audience and the fact that your website will probably still be going strong long after a magazine has been consigned to the recycling bin, means that having a well-designed website is one of the most cost-effective marketing mediums there is
6. Business branding. Another disadvantage of traditional advertising methods is that the space (or time) available is often very limited - you may need to fit your message into an 8cm by 8cm space or twenty second radio advert. On a website you can have as much space as you need to develop your brand and get your message across, and if either change you can quickly amend them
7. Money saving. As well as saving you money on advertising, a good website can also reduce the costs in almost any other area of your business. One example would be that you no longer necessarily need to spend a fortune on stamps and envelopes for mail shots when you can now simply send your customers an email directing them to your website
8. Improved customer service. If your customers often ask the same questions, you can add a “Frequently Asked Questions” section to your website. The advantages of having this include saving your customers money (they don’t need to phone you any more to ask their questions), allowing your customers to get the answers they need whenever they want and allowing you more time to concentrate on your business
With these points in mind, can a small business reasonably argue that they don’t need a website?
If you run a small business that needs a website, or you know one that does, we would love to work with you to develop a professional and effective online presence. To get things moving, please visit the Coates Designs website, drop us a line and we will get back to you as quickly as possible!
