why should a company have a website

Why every company should have its own website

Written by d Toner

It’s no exaggeration to say that in today’s business world every company needs a website - even if they don’t trade over the internet.

The Internet is a vital and highly effective marketing tool that can be used to promote your product or service, build loyalty with customers, meet their requirements and answer the questions of prospective clients.

It can also help you pre-sell prospective customers before they call on you, provide them with additional information and attract new custom. And all this can be achieved on a low budget, once the initial cost of setting up a website has been met.

Whereas other forms of advertising and marketing, such as TV, radio and the print magazines and newspapers, are often prohibitively expensive for small firms or individuals, anyone can use the web to advertise and market their products or services for a reasonable outlay.

Another bonus as the owner of your own website is that you have complete control over the image and message you put across. You decide exactly what you want to say on your personal billboard, and you can take up as much space as you need to get your message across.

Remember, though, that your website must look professional. There’s nothing worse than one which looks amateurish and cheap. It will turn prospective customers away, rather than tempt them into doing business with you. One of the most irritating and off-putting things is to call up a website which carries a message saying the site is “Still under construction”. It sends the message that you are not organised. A good site should always have work in progress to make it even better - but not advertise this fact to visitors.

Make sure you make your website easy to navigate and user-friendly. Take a close look at websites that you’ve used and decide which you love and those you loathe. Then work out why - and use this experience to ensure that your website makes life easy for the customer.
One of the great things about a website is that you can use it to try things out and assess public reaction to new products or services. By its very nature, it is flexible and changeable, so use it to develop new business ideas.

If you decide to create your own website, rather than get an expert to build it for you, the easiest and most economical way is to go to one of the companies, such as SiteSell, offering simple software for a subscription as low as £167 a year.