Even if you own a small brick and mortar store, building a website can present you with a myriad of benefits. It is surprising that many new small business owners do not pay particular attention to constructing a website as part of their initial and ongoing marketing plan.
Why do business owners stop themselves from building a website? Here is a look at some of the biggest excuses, and why they are not true:
A website costs too much money.
Certainly you could pay thousands of dollars for a professionally designed website from a graphic artist and advanced programmer. However, the truth is that if you do it yourself, you spend very little money. Domain registrations average about $10 every year, and web hosting is as little as $3.50 per month. Using website software, templates, or even free drop-and-drag tools provided by most web hosts, you can have a suitable website for very little money.
I don’t have time to design my website.
This is certainly a legitimate concern. Small business owners and entrepreneurs are some of the hardest working people in business. Many small business owners will work 7 days a week and often carry 12 to 16 hours a day focusing on their business. That doesn’t leave time to spend on building a website.
There are many solutions to this problem. If you are a do-it-yourself kind of entrepreneur, there are easy software programs that help facilitate a great website in no time. You can always hire someone to design it for you. For a cost-effective approach, you can hire a website designer through freelance communities, such as Guru, where providers bid on your project and help keep costs low.
At the very least, you should buy and register a domain, purchase web hosting space, and “park” the website with a simple one-page ad. This will ensure no one else buys your business’ name as a domain, and you can focus on building a better site later.
I’d rather focus on other forms of advertising.
The truth is that Yellow Pages and other traditional forms of print advertising do not reach the audiences they once did. Now with the abundance of users on the internet, the web is the place to put your business if you want to be found and seen by your potential customers.
More excuses and rebuffs can be found in Part 2 (LINK HERE) of this series.
