To have a website or not to have a website. This has always been a great debate.
Do you really need a website or not for your business? Many people run their businesses successfully without a website and use the power of social media or 3rd party sites to promote their business.
This is perfectly okay, but in my opinion you should always have your own website if you have your own business.
But why you may ask
Quite simply it’s the difference between owning and renting a property. When you rely solely on social media or a 3rd party site to promote your business you do not own the space where all your information sits. Think of it as the social media platform being your landlord. And as we all know landlords can give you notice on your property, change the terms and conditions, increase the rental, or if they decide to, they can sell up or shut up completely. You have no control over what they do
If you have a website this is property that you own. You own the domain and no one can take it from you. No one can increase the rental for you, sell the site or anything else without your permission. Yes, you have the costs of a hosting company but if they increase their charges significantly, you can simply change to another provider, in the same as you can do with utility bills.
You have control!
I will never forget many years ago when I was asked by someone whether they needed a website or not as they were doing very well through their Facebook page. I gave them my opinion as above but they chose to ignore it. And I can understand why as at that time they were making approximately £5,000 per month on selling bespoke handbags. And then one morning they woke up and with no explanation whatsoever their Facebook page had gone. Disappeared. Vanished. Gone!!
And with their page had gone all of their contacts. They had 10s of thousands of followers who had vanished along with the page. They spent weeks upon weeks trying to get sense out of Facebook as to what had happened to no avail. Their business had gone overnight.
This may be a rare occurrence but I promise you it happens. I have seen it happen to business after business after business. Even social media examiner who had hundreds of thousands of followers suddenly had their page removed for absolutely no reason. Facebook and other social media platforms are a law unto themselves. You can argue as much as you like and request why your page or group may have been deleted. You will be very lucky if you ever get a straight answer or any answer at all to that matter.
So that is my reason for having a website and just as importantly on that website having an opt-in form to get people onto your mailing list. You want to take all those followers on your social media channels, direct them to your website and get them on your mailing list. If the worst-case happens of your online presence being removed from a by a third party you still have a way of getting in contact with those people and to continue selling to them.
If you would like help getting your website set up get in contact with us here at seahorse. We’re happy to have a chat and go through the various options with you as to what will suit your business best.
