Should my business have a website

It does not matter what type of business you are in, you need to communicate what you do.  About 10 years ago the Yellow Pages (or similar directories), were absolutely essential. I remember that one year new business placements deadline was shifted a month earlier and I missed it. It was devastating to my business, that was a bad year. In those days you had to wait for the next publication to come out.

So what about now. I think you cannot afford not to have a website. I have heard the excuse that my sector is too competitive and I will never land on the first page of Google, Bing or Yahoo.  We'll, just a wakeup call, Google has changed their algorithm and user experience, content quality comes first. The new algorithm even hit big companies such as ask.com because of their weak user experience and shallow information.  That is great for small businesses that want to rank a little higher because they have unique content that is useful to the consumer.

So the argument of not being able to rank on the first pages is moot.  But that is not the most important issue.  It does not matter if you are on the tenth page, you need to communicate to potential customers what you do.  Even in the insurance sector that is extremely competitive, you might have a unique approach or offering that other companies just lack. That will give you the edge and make you unique. Once you have seen a customer, they can over time browse your site and see what you have to offer.

In highly competitive markets it is good to create a niche market for yourself.  In the days of the Yellow Pages there were no real options to do that due to limited space on a page. Now you can devote a whole page on your website explaining what you do.  The key concepts will be picked up by search engines and you will rank high if you are unique. People don't search for general things anymore, there is too much of it around, they search specific things and here is the crucial bit; when users search on the web for products they are in buying mode. For any salesman, that is what you are looking for, you don't have to sell, just close the deal.

When people search for products on your website, they are already in buying mode

The great news is a website is cheap.  If you have basic knowledge of the internet, Word, Excel and email, you can setup a website of your own. All you need is a domain name and register it.  The registration process is not done by you, your internet service provider (ISP) will do it for you. Your site, the way it looks, can already be installed. The only thing you have to do is add the content.

So stop making excuses, write down what you do or what you can offer that is unique and create a simple website and see the magic happen.

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