Why Even Small Businesses Need A Website
It may sound impractical to some, but the numbers don’t lie: over half of very small businesses don’t have a website.
That’s according to a recent survey commissioned by GoDaddy and conducted by Redshift Research, based on the responses of over 4,000 businesses from the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Turkey, India and Brazil. Per the study, a “very small business” is a business consisting of one to five employees.
The No. 1 reason given by respondents when asked why they don’t have a website: we’re too small for one.
Hearing statistics like this are like nails on a chalkboard to us–maybe worse. Let’s break down some website basics to illustrate the reasons why no business is too small to get the word out about their business online.
- Your business is big enough for a website – Many small business owners mistakenly believe websites come after a company has made it to the big time, not before. This way of thinking is bad news for businesses operating in the Digital Age. According to a 2014 study conducted by Google and featured on businesstocommunity.com, 59 percent of consumers search for local businesses every month using Google search tools. According to the same study, 61 percent of those searches result in purchases. If your business doesn’t have a website to show up in search, then you’re missing out on a lot of business. Today’s company websites are the modern-day equivalent of business cards, and are an integral component of every business no matter how large or small.
- You can afford a website – Running a successful business is all about the bottom line, and many small business owners don’t think a website will keep their businesses in the black. The truth is that if you can afford a cup of coffee everyday, then you should be able to scrounge up enough capital for a modest company website. Hosting services like HostGator start at under $5/month, while all-inclusive packages like Weebly’s starter plan gets you in at $4.96/month. The Weebly plan comes with some pretty sweet extras like $100 in Google advertising credit, Weebly’s user-friendly drag-and-drop webpage builder, and free email and chat support.
- You can manage a website – If you’re worried you don’t have the technical expertise to manage your company’s website, don’t worry–you don’t have to. Many companies like Weebly and Wix offer a one-stop-shop with predesigned templates and hosting for businesses seeking basic site function for an affordable price. Other options include building your own site through WordPress and commissioning a hosting service like bluehost or HostGator to provide hosting and management services for you. Regardless of your online experience level or technical credentials, there are plenty of companies online that can provide website services to cater to your specific needs and budget.
With the resources available to small business owners today, there really is no excuse for not having a website. Going with a predesigned template through a website service provider like Weebly can take as little as 20 minutes. We’ve purchased sites through Weebly before at under $100 per year, or about $8/month.
So for the cost of a fast-food combo meal combined with the time it takes to sit down and enjoy it, you can get off to a great start building the affordable website of your dreams. And when you’re ready to load it up with some killer content that’s sure to attract an audience, you know exactly where to find us.