5 Reasons Why Your Business Doesn’t Need a Website
Here are some reasons why your business might not need a website.
1. You’re Not Looking to Grow
One of the primary reasons for having a working, effective website is to increase the number of clients you have and grow your revenues. If you’re not looking to grow your business significantly, there’s probably little reason to try and find more clients or increase your revenues.
2. You Have Enough Leads
Many businesses do a great job of getting referral customers and tapping their existing network for new business. If this is you, then perhaps a website is not that important. This assumes, of course, that your Rolodex will continue to be an effective mechanism for you to get all the new business you need.
3. You’re Not Hiring Any Time Soon
If you are looking to increase staff, the chances are that your prospective hires will likely want to learn more about you. And they’ll probably turn to your website.
With all other things being equal, potential recruits will pick a company with a vibrant website over one with a brochure on the web.
Small businesses would be well served by a website, as they don’t have the resources that can help attract exceptional people outside of their immediate network. A website can help with that.
But if you’re not looking to hire top talent, then you can do without a business website.
4. You’re Operating in a Virtual Monopoly
If you have the luxury of running a business for which there’s very little (if any) competition, and you’ve got an offering that people must have, a website is probably not crucial. Your clients need what you have, and there’s nowhere else to go. Congratulations! Though a shiny new website might impress your spouse and colleagues, you probably don’t need one to improve your business.
5. You Don’t Expect to Sell the Company Any Time Soon
For more and more types of businesses, the website is an important asset that factors into valuation discussions. This is particularly true if you have a startup business, a hi-tech business, or one that “scales” well (i.e., adding new customers does not increase costs proportionately).
The reason is quite simple. If you have an effective website and can demonstrate that it is successful at helping you get new clients, you have a better business than someone who doesn’t. The Internet is an excellent way for many companies to have a low customer acquisition cost.
The other nice thing about the Internet as a vehicle for marketing and sales is that it can be more easily measured. Imagine if you are selling your business and showing the acquirer a chart of your web traffic (and how it’s grown over time) and precise data on how that traffic translates into revenues — you will likely find that the two are highly correlated. If I were on the buying side, I’d sit up and take notice.
Final Thoughts
The decision to either create a website for your business or not is ultimately yours to make. However, if part of your business goals is to improve lead generation, visibility, social proof, and authority, then creating a website is an excellent place to start.