The Top 10 Reasons You Need a REAL Website by Tinu Abayomi-PaulBy now, most entrepreneurs know that they need a website of some sort. Many don't realize that they need a REAL website, one with its own domain name. You need a real website ....
1. ...because it's professional.
Upgrading from a free sub-site at geocities to a full fledged site gives your company a professional appearance. Whenever I go to a website about a product and don't see a domain name, I think to myself, if they can't even afford to have their own site, how can they afford to have a quality product? Your total start-up cost for your website can be below $100, and
monthly hosting fee for a professional site can be as low as $25. Some sites, like Host4Profit, even give you chance to have your site hosted for free. See http://www.host4profit.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi?13217 for details.
2. ...because you can get indexed by major search engines.
Where do you go when you're looking for a service, product or information online? Google? Yahoo? A bookmark? To end up in any of these three place yourself, first thing you need to do is get a domain name and build a basic site. The search engines can give you lots of referrals who are looking for you specifically, if you set it up correctly.
3. ...because you can install programs and run scripts that will save you time.
Many small business owners I know don't have their own sites because they don't know how, or think it is too expensive. All these issues can be overcome by outsourcing, or a few minutes of your time. There is software that you can have installed that will build your site for you. And it's free. All you'll have to do then is type in content and you'll be ready to go. The software I have in mind is called PHP-Nuke. There are other content management systems out there that are free but this is my favorite. Go to http://www.phpnuke.org for details.
4. ...because it can reach non-local customers
This point doesn't necessarily help every entrepreneur at first. For example, if you run a mom-and-pop store, being able to reach non-local customers might seem like it's unnecessary to you. But consider this... if you sell or have access to a product that is hard to find outside your area, you could end up taking orders from home-sick college kids, from traveling people, from folks who'd like their groceries ready when they come back from vacation- possibilities are out there. Not always obvious at first, but certainly no reason not to have a website.
5. ...because it can eliminate "nuisance" calls
Of course, our customers are Never a real nuisance- they're ones who put food on our table and we love them to death. However, if you're constantly getting calls from people asking for directions, wanting to know when a promotion started or stopped, needing your fax number or other such repeated common questions, posting this information to a simple, small website can solve all of this for you. And if you pay for an 800 number or a service to take these kinds of calls for you, it may save you some money too.
