A lot of business owners wonder, “Why should I have a website? I use Facebook (or Instagram or Twitter).” It’s great that you have a social media presence and that you’re comfortable with your audience there, but if you’re relying on social media to reach customers, you’re missing out on a lot of folks.
Remember, not everyone uses Facebook or Instagram.
Or perhaps you’re a business owner who thinks they’re not getting business from online at all.
If so, you’re partially right. If you don’t have a website, you can’t expect to get many new customers who find you online, and if they do, it’ll just be happenstance.
Don’t let cost scare you off
A website doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Sometimes, all you need is one basic page that has information about your business, your hours (if applicable) and links to your social media accounts, if you have them.
If you have a restaurant, a good, legible menu is a must. In other words, putting up a picture of your menu or using a PDF is not a good idea. Those are fine for folks browsing on their computers at home, but for folks who are out and about and want a bite to eat, do you think they’re going to want to have to pinch-stretch your menu to read it on their iPhone or Android?
Get in the game
If you want a demonstration of why you need a website to get in the game, do a search for some kind of business on Google, not by name, but by type. (Also, if you’re interested, learn about SEO in 2020.)
The first thing you’ll likely see in the results is a map with the top three businesses of that type in your area. They are shown in order of proximity to your location.
If you click on More places, you’ll get the full map with a longer list of local restaurants.
If you want information about one of the restaurants, you click on it. Here is the listing for Rucker Johns (a Seaport Webworks client):
Notice how Rucker Johns has three buttons under their restaurant name: Website, Directions, and Save. That’s perfect! That way if someone wants to check their menu, they can click on that website link and go right to their site.
But what happens when a business doesn’t have a website? Look below. I’ve blurred out the restaurant name and logo, but you can see there is no website link. If they have no website, how can people check out their menu or find anything out about them? Sure, they could do a further search, but how likely is someone to do that when almost every other business has a website link?
So as you can see, this business is missing out by not having a website.
Don’t miss out on potential business
If you don’t have a website, but cost is holding you back, get in touch. We can help steer you towards a budget-friendly solution that will make sure you’re controlling your online presence while not breaking the bank.
