You’re a small business owner and you’ve been meaning to get around to learning about websites and online business for a while, but you’ve been busy, er, running your business.
People have been telling you for years that you ‘need’ a website. Back in 2003 it was only your kid brother who bugged you about it, though. Oh, and your buddy. And your wife’s sister’s cousin…
But now your customers are starting to ask, “Do you have a website?” and you’re finding it increasingly embarrassing to mutter “Uh, we need to get to that.”
But where are you going to find the time? Or the money?
You’re a small business owner and every penny counts. Every brain cell is spoken for too. (Believe me, I know.)
Now people want you to learn about blogs and FAQs and Paypal and widgets and Facebook Integreation and Web 2.0 and HTML and CSS and R2D2 and who knows what else, too?
You’re not sure you can invest the time in learning to build a website, or maintaining one. You’re pretty sure you don’t want to hire one of those big full-service agencies where people talk in code (“we’ll leverage the SEO benefits for your integrated solution!”) and refer to themselves as “Creatives”.
On the other hand, you are spending more time than you can afford fielding phone calls about your opening hours or what services you offer, or what’s your zip code: questions you could happily live without answering again. (Hint: they call them Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for a reason!)
Did You Know Your Business Is Probably Already Online?
There are a lot of directories online that will have a listing for your business, culled from print directories, or
submissions by their users.
You may even have paid to be listed by one of the big directories, and they’ve promised you a certain level of
exposure.
That’s good right?
We-ell…
Did you also know that all these places tend to have a feedback option where customers can post reviews about you?
Have you “Googled” yourself? If your business doesn’t have a website, you’re going to see a listing anyway, with a map, and your address, and a place where customers can post reviews.
There is all kinds of information about your business online today. And you control none of it.
Now, having a website doesn’t give you magical powers that let you erase all any innacurate or negative information that’s out there. And it won’t stop people being wrong about you in future either.
But having a website does mean you own the authorized version, and people can come to you: get the information from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
You need someone who understands how to build the kind of website that a small business needs. (And that doesn’t mean a small website. That’s one of the beauties of the online world. But more about that later!)
You need someone who isn’t going to try to sell you on a global ‘solution’ when all your customers live within 20 miles, or exist within a particular niche.
You don’t need someone to tell you who your customer is. You know your customer better than any web guru.
You need someone who is going to listen to what you need, what your customers like, and help you find an extra way to communicate with them.
[ready to get started?]
A Website Can Buy You Time And Grow Your Business
Finding new ways to talk to your existing customers is great. But it’s