Why do I need a website?

Good Question!

Having a good website will give you credibility as a legitimate business, that’s a very obvious win-win. In today’s incredibly uber-competitive market, you have to be thinking about mobile, social media, and a strong online presence. Did you know most people won’t give your business a second look if you don’t have a website? You need a website.

 A professional website is worth the initial investment, especially if built using WordPress. With this amazing platform, you can add and change your own content regularly, saving you money in updates. WordPress powers over 30% of the world’s websites, by the way.

Another bonus to having a website is, you OWN it. You can never own any social media platforms. With your very own website, you can add to it, delete things, update it and grow it as your business grows, etc, etc. It really is like having an employee. And like any good employee, you want your site to work hard, show up on time, and NEVER take sickies, right? RIGHT!

Communication Break Down

That being said, you also need to make sure you choose the right designer and that you have a very clear picture of what they will do for you. A good web designer will always take the time to understand your goals and what your needs are. Communication is key here. Your designer should be clear about how they like to communicate with you. A lot of digital agencies today, will not meet you in person, they will only take booked phone calls and may even not want you to email them. They often set up software that will allow you to communicate with them via their own methods. This can work fine, you just need to know this from the outset. I have had some very upset people, telling me they were unable to communicate with the person that built their website. This was a source of great pain for them.

Research, Research, Research

Sometimes you just need to do a little bit of research yourself. YUK.

Building a website is no small task. I know there are so many people out there saying, build your own website for next to nothing….sure, give it a go and I sincerely hope you can do it. Problem is, websites aren’t just pretty pictures and a bit of copywriting. There are checks and balances and a lot of detail goes into the back of a website. Have a look at what Forbes is saying about launching a new website. You can also look at my article on building your own website and some of the pitfalls.

There is great merit in understanding when you have the time to do something really well, or when it’s time to call in someone who does this for a living. I LOVE building websites, I LOVE all the detail and the time-consuming things that most people tear their hair out at. However, I could never give my dog a decent haircut, no matter how hard I tried. I call the Groomer. When my car won’t start, I call the Mechanic…..yep, that’s what I do. Why? Simple. I don’t have the time to learn how to do these things. Time is money. I build websites.

Recap

You need a website because, as Bill Gates famously said, “If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” — Bill Gates.