Many times when speaking with small business owners, the first thing they say to me when they find we are a website design company, often without any solicitation on my part, is "I already have a website" or "I will start a website when I get my business off the ground, or when my sales improve". I belive many of these business owners do themselves an injustice when they give this response without any real thought to what they are saying.
Does this sound like you? "I already have a website." My response is, Are You Getting The Results You want from your website? The answer is most often a resounding No!
What you may have failed to realize is that when you start a website, it should be started with a goal. Is your website your online business card? Do you want to increase sales? Maybe you want to share marketing material online to increase leads. Maybe you need a secure way to share and collaborate with your clients. And although these are often your goals, you may not have created your website with the end result in mind.
When you started your website, you may have started it for a completely different reason; or maybe you started it with no other reason than you figure you needed one. After all, just about everybody has a website these days. What you got as a result is a website that has disappointed you. So you meet someone like me and you blurt out "I already have a website." Websites are effective tools when implemented and used properly.
When you take a step back and look at your business needs, you find the true purpose behind what your website goals should be. If your goal is to create leads for your business, or to increase sales, creating a simple website that says I sell widgets, and I am located in this city USA, doesn't meet that goal. You need to re-design your website with your business goals in mind. Your website is an extension of your business. It shouldn't be an afterthought. Integrate your website into your overall business sales & marketing strategy, and you will find, that you have a website that is more effective and meeting your needs.
The thing I admire about the "I already have a website" crowd is that they at least knew they needed something and they took a step to do something about it. The other group I'd like to address in this blog are the "I'll create a website when I get my business off the ground and increase my sales" group. We all know that starting a business is tough. Money is often tight, and you need to be conservative with every dollar you spend. However, I submit that if you do not allocate some money in your budget for a website, that you are making a mistake. A good basic website doesn't have to be expensive. I submit that it costs you more by not having a website. A website is your business face to the world 24 hours a day. It works when you don't or can't.
With a little planning, your website will be one of the tools that you use to actually increase your sales. A website is not a simple expense. It is an asset to your business when when used properly. If you sell a product, you can add a shopping cart on your website. You open your business to entire new markets that you can't reach locally. You can even use your website to locally target the customer base you desire, and its a lot less expense and more effective than yellow page advertising, and your website can grow and adjust along with your business.
So you say this is fine and good, but realistically your budget can't handle expensive web design services. That is the beauty of technology today. If you invest a little time in planning your website properly, you can build a simple, effective website affordably and you don't need a technical degree to do it. At TheWebsiteDesignStore.Com you will find website builder wizards that you can use to build your website and be online in as little as 5 or 10 minutes, and with the cost as low as $20 per month, the expense is low enough to fit into almost any budget.
I think improving your business is worth the investment, don't you? Take the time to make the change.
After all, "You can't get different results, by doing the same old thing."
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