As a business owner, you may have asked whether your business needs a website, considering everything involved in having one built and maintaining it. This question is quite common and I am here to provide you with some useful information that will help you decide what is best for you and your business. Below are some pros & cons of having a website.
Pros
It’s Expected – In today’s society, people expect that all businesses will have a website. Not just any website, but a well designed and consistently maintained website. We live in a very visual world now, and poorly designed or bland template sites are no longer tolerated.
Non-Stop Marketing – A website is open 24/7. On the Internet, interested customers can always access your sales pitch whether or not you are available or your business is open. A well designed website can be a powerful visual tool that acts as a virtual salesperson that will always be there when your clients want more information to make the right buying decision.
A New Networking Tool – You can utilize your blog to start conversations with potential customers. By writing about your business, you can quickly increase the attention of your key demographic. Online sharing has made word of mouth more viral than ever. If people find your business trustworthy, they’ll possibly share it with their friends on Yelp, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or on their personal blogs. The sharing can be go on forever. Without a website, all of these opportunities will be missed. Your business can also be listed in various online directories such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing and other business-specific online directories. For your customers, these are like online phone books that will come in extremely handy.
Cons
Poor Development – If a website is poorly designed it could turn your customers off of your business or product. Don’t skimp on the cost of your website. Do it right the first time. Hiring an amateur might be cheaper in the short term, but you will need to spend more money over time fixing a broken website.
Bad Foundation for SEO – Aside from the design, online marketing efforts can be futile and permanently hinder your search engine performance. Websites that consistently rank highest in search engines such as Google are designed and developed with SEO in mind. SEO should not be an afterthought. While an existing site can be optimized to perform better it will never be as competitive as a website designed, developed, and marketed with SEO in mind from the start.
Cost – You get what you pay for. A well designed website is an investment that will pay for itself many times over. That being said, you should not go cheap on development costs. Seek out reputable web development professionals. Get quotes from several firms and compare what services they offer to how much they charge. An all inclusive design firm like Valentine Media will produce the most cohesive product. Try to find a full-service design company that can offer design, development, and online marketing. Your website can come at a price ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on how complicated the site will be.
If you are looking to have a website designed or even redesigned, fill out this quick survey to see how we can help you with your brand or company’s online presence.
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