Why do you need a website?

- 8 reasons you must consider if you still don’t have a web presence

People. The world runs because of people. People buy and people sell. People are responsible for your failures and your success. And the fact remains that a single person or a single business can never maximize its reach to people without leveraging the power of the internet. It doesn’t matter if you’re a one-man operation or if you’re a 50,000+ employee strong MNC, if you don’t have a website, you’re losing business to competitors that do. Let’s examine this statement properly –

1. The internet is convenient – Why have e-mails replaced hand written letters? Why has Facebook re-defined our social lives? How did Google, a company started by 2 college kids, become the indispensable verb of our time? The answer is simple, convenience. The internet is a portal to the entire world, regardless of your geographical location. The internet simplifies so much of our work and hence creates time for us to do the things that truly interest us. The internet has enhanced our tangible world and we will always use it to navigate our lives. It’s a matter of time before somebody Googles you or your company. Can you afford to give a bad impression or not be found at all?
2. A Website never sleeps – Give your audience a way to connect with you regardless of time or place. Most people surf online after regular work-hours and your website is like an employee who works 24X7 even on weekends!
3. Global Reach – The world’s population recently crossed 7 billion. At the end of 2011, there were 2.2 billion internet users as opposed to 2010’s registered mark of 0.3 Billion (Source). That’s more than a 500% growth rate in one year! I’m not saying 2 billion people will visit your website just because you have one, but through your website’s reach you can connect with people in places you’ve never been and may never go.
4. Websites save you time and money – Think about how much time it takes to inform someone about your business and compare it to the time it would take to simply refer them to your website. Your website can convenience you as much as (or even more than) your customers. You can take your website up a notch and integrate business automation solutions within the portal. Integrate ecommerce and eliminate the need for a brick-and-mortar shop (avoiding paying maintenance and hiring shop staff), upload your product specification sheets or service processes and replace or cut down on the need to maintain phone representatives, build a portal for your B2B partners to share digital assets and manage tangible ones, the ways in which your website can do your work for you are truly limitless!
5. Websites are great for advertising – All traditional advertising methods cost a business an arm and a leg and even then, there is no guarantee that your audience will be paying attention when it is annoyingly bombarded with tv, radio, magazine ads etc. Instead, cost effectively ensure that when someone deliberately tries to seek you out, s/he finds a welcoming website waiting to serve up all the information you want to give about your business and yourself. A clean and professional message is more likely to register with a seeking audience. It’s much more effective than a repetitive and redundant ad, intrusively frustrating the majority of people it overloads with even more noise than we all already have to bear.
6. Level the playing field – The internet has changed the way we think about business. A start-up can launch a website and develop an online presence that looks and sounds more professional than even the leader in their industry! Without investing heavily in a brick-and-mortar shop, even the little guy can establish a booming business by selling products and services online.
7. Your competitor has a website – If you don’t have a website, or worse, a bad one, all your competitor needs to do is offer a good website to guarantee his/her lead over your business. People no longer need businesses to make their decisions for them and don’t care if you claim you’re “the best”. People trust their own judgments and research. You could genuinely be a better business than your competitor but if the competitor’s website is better and more user friendly, it will be difficult for you to acquire a new customer base.
8. Business Evolution – If brick-and-mortar shops were phase 1 and online business is phase 2, rest assured the world will progress onto future phases. Technology growth is exponential in nature and the next phases aren’t far away. Can you really afford to be struggling with phase 2 when phase 3 is already upon us? Adapt your business with the changing times or risk being left behind.

Convinced yet? If you are, check out how easily and cost effectively you can get online with WebAware’s Basic Pack.