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There are endless benefits to having a website to promote your business or organisation.
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Here are the benefits which, I believe, constitute the “Top 10” reasons why you need a website:
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1. A website opens your business to the whole world !
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The internet eliminates boundaries, making your product or service accessible worldwide. A website can therefore expand your business from local, to national or international.
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Remember - if you are running your business properly, an increase in customers brings an increase in profits. Isn’t that what you want for your business?!
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2. Having a website is like having your business open 24/7 !
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Why limit your business’ potential to your office’s opening hours?
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With a website, you can advertise your products and/or services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This helps you to win the business of local customers who are unable to contact you during office hours, and of international customers living in different time-zones.
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Thinking that you can’t take payments from customers if your office isn’t open? Add an online shop to your website and start making money at any time of the day !
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3. A website helps customers to find you, so it’s less important that you find them !
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How much time do you have to spend looking for new customers?
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We all know that it’s notoriously difficult for businesses to find new customers. Therefore, isn’t it sensible to reduce the money you spend on finding customers, and spend more money on making sure potential customers can find you?
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More and more people are using the internet to search for products and/or services which are already of interest to them.
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Once you have an easy-to-find website, people who are already interested in a product or service which you offer can find you... and give you their business !
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4. Websites are a permanent advert for your business !
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Imagine you decide to spend some money on advertising your business or organisation:
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You spend money on a newspaper or magazine advert... but a few days later, your advert has been discarded in the recycling bin. You spend money on a TV or radio advertisement... but what if your potential customers didn’t see or hear it? You spend money on having leaflets distributed door-to-door... but what if the “wrong person” in the household threw it away before another family member - a potential customer - even knew it was there?
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What a huge waste of money... and a loss of income!
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With a website, your business’ or organisation’s advert is permanently available online, just waiting to be found !
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5. With a website, your information can always be up-to-date !
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Imagine having a glossy brochure printed to advertise your business or organisation, then changing your prices and finding the brochure is out-of-date and has to be either clumsily edited, or thrown away entirely.
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With a website, you can make instant changes to reflect changing market conditions, changes to stock levels, seasonal influences (e.g. Christmas), etc. What’s more, changes can be made as often as you like, at little or no cost !
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6. A website helps to inspire confidence in your business !
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Rightly or wrongly, people are increasingly expecting businesses and organisations to have a website. If they can’t find one, they may start to wonder why...
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Is your organisation not interested in the business of internet users? Do you not care enough about your customers to put the effort into creating a website? Are you a “fly-by-night” company who won’t be around for long enough to warrant having a website?!
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Having a website inspires confidence in your business or organisation. This, in turn, persuades customers to spend their money with you !
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7. Websites help you to get over the “telephone fear factor” !
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A lot of customers don’t like telephoning a business / organisation:
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They’re afraid of being given the “hard-sell”. They’re afraid of only getting through to an answerphone, and having to leave a message. They’re afraid of forgetting to ask something important and having to phone back again, two minutes later, with a list of further questions. They’re embarrassed about the possibility of being told the price of your product or service and having to admit to a stranger on the other end of the phone that they can’t afford it. They’re afraid of not being able to get their questions answered by your employees.
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With a website, you can put every bit of important information online, for customers to look through in their own time. What’s more, you can ensure that customers are told the full-story... not just the bits that you or your employees might remember to tell them during a 60-second telephone conversation !
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8. A website can work as a “support network” for your existing customers !
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Most people agree that the best form of advertising for a business is a word-of-mouth recommendation from one of its customers. Similarly, the worst form of advertising for a business is for its previous customers to tell everybody how bad they found your product or service ! It is therefore vitally-important that you keep your existing customers happy.
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By making essential after-sale / support information readily available to your customers, via your website, you’re increasing your chances of keeping your customers happy. That means more repeat-custom, not to mention those all-important recommendations !
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9. Having a website helps you to beat your competitors !
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If a potential customer is looking for your product and/or service online, but you’re nowhere to be found, who are they going to spend their money with? Potentially, your competitors !
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Don’t let your competitors steal your business, simply because they had an online-presence and you didn’t... get a website, now !
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10. Websites are cost effective !
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Websites are remarkably cost-effective, compared to traditional paper-based media.
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Having something printed in full-colour, on traditional paper-based media, is expensive... certainly much more expensive than having it printed in black and white. Yet publishing a full-colour illustration / photograph online costs exactly the same as publishing it online in black and white. To a customer, colour = quality. Colour also grabs attention. With a website, you can use as much or as little colour as you like, without having to worry about it making a hole in your wallet!
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Websites are cheap to frequently update, virtually eliminating those expensive re-printing costs that most businesses are used to.
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Websites can increase automation in your business, reducing the potential for human error and leaving employees to get on with other jobs.
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Finally, having a website created for your business or organisation need not be hugely expensive, providing you choose the correct company to work with.
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Find out why Penwith Web Design is the best company to help you create/develop your organisation’s online-presence by clicking here.
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