Why Should A Small or Home Business Have a Website or Blog?
Does your business have a website or are you considering to have one soon?
The objective of any business is to be known by, and accessible to, lots of customers so that it can generate massive sales and profit thereof.
Sales are made through marketing and advertising – offline or offline, therefore every business markets in one way or another. While marketing types, mediums and effectiveness differ, results of these efforts are measured by sales volumes.
The difference between a successful business and one that is not successful is that a successful business has lots more customers (and sales) and their customer base increases by the day.
More often than not, the secret of large customer base by successful businesses are due to:
- Their large networks – they know many people who they invite to their shops, and those tell others (via word of mouth)
- Their premium location
- They have cash for promotion and advertising on print and/ or electronic media
Small startups usually are not able to make large sales because they are disadvantaged on the factors where the successful businesses lay their strengths – reason is because they lack enough cash to fund advertising.
Even with this kind of limitation, some small startups manage to survive, get by and grow their customer-base, and sales. However, majority become frustrated after burning out their limited funds and seeing little or no results in number of customers and sales. And they quit .
Top Reasons Why Many Small and Home Businesses Need Websites or Blogs
The Internet has democratized starting a business and removed majority of the barriers of entry into successful business league.
As you can see below, the reasons why any small business (yours included) needs a website or blog is too much to ignore, such that not doing it soon may force any existing offline business out of business, soon. Read on for the reasons to have a website for business:
- The internet is the “new market place”. Online shopping is now becoming a lifestyle among more and more people especially because of its convenience and that it saves time. Available research suggests that over 1 billion people use the internet (globally), and over 50% of them shop online with 19% shopping online once per week;
- Websites are the “new premium shop location”: Anyone can grab a share of the vast internet market, if they know understand how the online shoppers buy;
- Requires little or no startup cost: Anyone can start a website for free or for less than $100 annual domain name and self-hosting fees;
- Zero advertising cost: Online shopping is information and education-led. Buyers only buy from websites that provided more than the generic product manufacturers’ information – they buy only when they find enough information on product benefits and more. Many online marketers have built their businesses from zero to full time incomes, just by providing educational information to their target customers, without spending a dime on advertising;
- Having a website allows you to run on 24 Hours daily, all year round open business: Unlike the offline businesses, your website contents would never be shut to target customers, even while you sleep, so that you can still make sales on autopilot. How many offline shops run 24 hours daily?
- Having a business website does not require staffing or overhead costs: The only costs you incur would be your domain name and hosting costs both of which add up to about $15 monthly.
- Increased output with minimal input: In an online business, with your efforts alone, a single entrepreneur can produce the same output as ten men put together, in an offline business. This is made possible by the set-it-once-and-forget-it systems online such as:Your contents which continue to pre-sell for you long after you have set themYour autoresponder which sends out pre-scheduled email messages on your behalf.
If you’ve been delaying the idea of having a website to take your business online because you thought it was a very technical affair, you are not alone. I used to think so too, and when I gave it a shot I almost kicked myself for not doing it earlier.
Now Is The Best Time To Start Creating Your Own Business Website
Do you know that even one man online businesses run from homes are gradually forcing big offline, brick and mortar businesses out of business? It’s no longer a fact that the number of online buyers are seriously increasing, more so with internet going aggressively mobile. It’s almost as if there’s a silent warning for serious businesses to go online or face a slow death.
But why not? What will you do when, say 60% to 80% of your customers transition to buying from online shops (business websites and blogs)? Would you still be able to make enough sales to cover your overheads? Think about it – doing business online with a website will put you in front of new and more customers, everyday.
It’s not too late to start your business website today…
It’s not too late to start a business website now, only if you START. If you’ve been putting off the idea of have a website or blog for your business just because you thought it may require a full time equivalent. You are wrong because all you need is 2 to 3 hours a day to make nearly the same amount of sales, and income, that full time offline business owners generate monthly.
However, you there are now very affordable micro-job sites where you can outsource the setup, technical and routine website services for dirt cheap (as low as $5 per task), so that all you need to do is interact with your prospective customers through your business website. That is how smart small and home businesses are staying on top of their offline businesses while having a solid presence online. Click to read: more about small business outsourcing trends and best practice in this post.
I have made sure not to leave you hanging and so the following posts will help you through creating your brand new business website easily, without spending a dime:
- Top 5 Benefits of Taking Your Small or Home Business Online
- Simple Do-It-Yourself (DIY) step-by-step process to create your brand new business website or blog (includes links to video tutorials to watch and do)
Feel free to contact me any time if you need additional guidance. I will be glad to answer your and guide you to setting up your business website or blog in the next ten days.
Before You Go…
Comment: I enjoyed writing this post just for you, and if you liked what you read, please leave your footprint (comment) behind – how else will I know you were here:) So go ahead and tell me what you loved (or not) about the information in this post, when and how you plan to start your own business website or blog.
Share this post: One last thing, help a friend read what you just read – tweet it, Facebook it, Digg it, Stumble it… Use the easy click-to-share buttons below.
Thanks for reading and I’ll meet you at the comments side.
Stella
7 replies on “Top 5 Reasons Why Having a Website is No Longer an Option for Any Serious Business”
Too True Stella. When I first started affiliate marketing, I found training that said you didn’t need a website. I tried that model, using hubpages and others, with little success. Having your own piece of real estate on the web is critical.
Thanks Bill for coming by, and for commenting.
I am glad you quickly got out of that un-profitable business model run on borrowed property.
Not having your own website is like ‘squatting in someone else’s house, where you do not have free-hand to expand your business, and income generating activities. Although one can make income from using free sites like Hubpages, Blogger and WordPress.Com, but what happens if one day the ‘Landlord” sends you packing? You would have to start all over again, and wish you had done so from the beginning.
This also applies to network marketers who are relying on the websites their companies gave to them.
Hi Stella, Great encouragement for all who may have been thinking about it but feels it to difficult to take a step of doing business online and create a website.I will be sharing this.
Hey Wendell, thanks once again for your comments, and a huge thanks for assisting me to share it.
I hope that post can be a huge encouragement to some people who have procrastinated to start their own business websites – to tell them that it’s not as difficult as they thought. Apart from that, they can even get free help from blogs that are beginner-friendly (like this one). I am working on an eCourse focused on Beginners and Intermediate Online businesses – I’m keep you posted just in case your people may want to partake.
Once again, thanks for coming by, and for the comments. Cheers!
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Wow – Jackie! Those were lovely comments and I really appreciate them.
And you are right – “focus” and persistence is the key once you take the first step in the right direction.
I need to borrow a leaf from you on the postadaychallenge – soon
Cheers and thanks for stopping by once again.
Stella
Thanks for the tips “If you’ve been delaying the idea of starting or taking your business online because you thought it was a very technical affair, you are not alone. I used to think so too, and when I gave it a shot I almost kicked myself for not doing it earlier.” It is never too late to start, it’s just getting “focused” and putting your goals ahead of all else!