After all, what is the purpose of a website? To dominate your industry, of course. Along with that comes many great and wonderful benefits like, traffic. We all know that with traffic comes increased business. Well, if everyone thought in terms of what was possible with a website there would be a shortage of web designers and developers. To this day it is still an enigma - why people don’t want a quality website. I know I’m not the first to bring this up and most definitely won’t be the last.
I heard some very disturbing and shocking comments while meeting with a potential client. During the meeting I was told that the company was doing a revenue of over $6.1 million a year. Now, I’m no financial guru, but $6 million a year in revenue is pretty impressive for a small business with only 14 employees. Also during this meeting I was told that a website redesign wouldn’t benefit the company. I almost said what I was thinking, “Are you kidding me? You’re a successful business owner that has come out on top, but can’t see the value a website would bring to your business?”
It was alarming to say the least. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. How could someone so seemingly intelligent ignore one of the most loyal, hardworking, and tireless of employees - the website? A website, when executed properly, can do the job of several employees. It can take orders, process orders, track shipments, inform and educate customers, market and sell products, but do it 24 hours a day without complaint. Never before have business had such an incredible opportunity. A tireless employee that can do much of the dirty work, lower overhead, and increase productivity. To me it’s a brainless decision.
If you have $6 million in revenues what’s wrong with $7 million or $8 million? A website can and most likely will make a big difference in comparison to the cost. For example, one of our sales guys sold a website to a real estate agent. This real estate agent had his hand in too many pies and the man hours he had to pay for was eating into his profit. Gas to drive out and show properties, hours spent on the phone answering questions about properties, money wasted on flyers that got ruined by weather, printing costs for a lot of the paperwork, man hours for clerical work…The list goes on and on, but you get the point. We put together a comprehensive solution for the agent to have all his properties online complete with detailed descriptions, images, virtual tours, forms, etc. Now this agent no longer has to waste gas, time on the phone, or printing. There are no more man hours for clerical work. Again, you get the point. Now, the agent tells us he’s gained an hour or two a day, saved a salary for one full-time employee, no printing costs, no more gas to meet someone at a property last minute. Overall, he figures he saves $2500/mo. in fixed costs with a new website.
It doesn’t matter how big or small the business is. You must have a presence on the web that HELPS you. You shouldn’t put a website up just to say you have one. Careful thought and planning must go into a website so it will actually benefit the owner. There’s really no benefit to having a website if it doesn’t work for you. In some drastic cases a bad web presence will actually hurt you. So, it can no longer be said that, “Any site is better than no site.” Here’s the cold, hard truth: Current and potential customers will judge your business by your website. Fair or not, it will happen. If your site has problems, you are very likely losing customers as a direct result.
It’s unfortunate, but true. Bad websites tend to repel customers and drive away potential clients. A website should never be built if it doesn’t have a purpose to drive traffic and create leads or at least benefit the owner is one way or another. Before you rush headlong into building a website for yourself make sure you have a purpose and that the purpose is one that involves a website that works for you.
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