5 Reasons for Having a Business Website

A website should be a "must" for all business today. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Shows That You Mean Business

A professionally designed website that is laid out well and visually appealing will add credibility to your business. Nowadays the question, "Do you have a business card?" is likely to be followed by or even substituted with, "Do you have a website?" Having a website should not be an afterthought. Just as you may have business cards, stationary, signage, etc even before you meet your first customer, having a website should be on the list of essential business tools.

2. It's Always Open

Everybody has to sleep sometime, right? Well your website doesn't. One of the biggest advantages to owning a website is that your goods are available to potential customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And even if you don't sell retail products, your website is still available when you're not. For example, my business phone line is set up not to take after hours calls. Before asking callers to leave a message, they are prompted to visit my website for more information.

3. Easy to Keep Updated

In the last decade urban sprawl has made the creation of new telephone codes necessary in the United States. If your company has been affected by an area code change, what did you do with all the print media that had the old local phone number? What about all the brochures, cards, etc. that was already distributed. They now had bad information on them.

When you make a change to your hours of operation, service offerings, or contact information a website can be updated quite easily. The same cannot be said for your other media.

4. Add Value

In addition to offering your services and products, a website allows for value added content. Your site can be used to announce specials, offer directions and a map to your location, and list company policies. It can also include client testimonials, how-to's, or helpful tips for your customers.

5. Get More Customers

In one of my other articles, I mention that every business needs a website. And one of the biggest reasons I cite is that more and more people have abandoned the traditional telephone directories when looking for service or product providers. If they're looking for a local flower shop, they'll now go to a search engine and type in "florists in [THEIR TOWN NAME]". If you have no website you'll never have a shot at these prospective customers, but many of your competitors will.