I don't need one of those.....

Submitted by Cariad on Tue, 08/09/2009 - 14:13

There is general consensus among a lot of the people I meet that everyone needs a website. So I was shocked when, a while ago, I came across the statistics that 45%-55% (depending on which survey you read) of businesses do not have a website. Surely with the rapid growth of the internet and broadband, this percentage would be so much lower.

Since then a common objection from my sales calls, regardless of industry, is ‘I don’t need a website, most of my business comes from referrals’ so maybe these figures are more believable after all. Now I would be one of the first to agree that a referral is the best kind of sales lead you can have. But what about the vast number of people who have not got someone to refer their business onto or who want to obtain a comparative quote? Chances are they are scouring the internet to search for the goods and services you have to offer. This is a vast source of untapped potential for any business. The underlying objection may be more fundamental than that. Have these people previously had a website, or know of people who have had a website, that just don’t work or come up to expectation?

Bearing in mind how much a advertisement in the paper can cost just for a run of a few weeks, the low cost of a simple website which is search engine friendly and fully marketed, (and of course I am thinking of Cariad Business Web here!!) will make any business stand out from it’s competitors and the 45%-55% who don’t have a website. It can, and indeed does, in many instances provide a much higher return on investment.