Why do you need a website? (part 1)

When the first website went online in 1991 a new era began. The world wide web, and the internet in general, has slowly permeated into every aspect of our lives. Many Americans are tethered to this massive network of information every minute of their waking days utilizing laptops, tablets, and phones. The internet has become the go-to source for accessing even the smallest tidbit of trivia from our global consciousness.

In addition to altering our day-to-day lives, nothing short of the industrial revolution has had a bigger impact on our businesses. Email, e-commerce, collaboration tools of every imaginable type, and video and audio conferencing fill our working hours. Some people no longer even go to the office as they are able to access every resource they need right from the comfort of their home and laptop.

Small businesses may have been a bit slower to get swept into this web of change, but the mom and pop store down the street is no exception. ipads replace cash registers every day and customers rely on online reviews to decide where to eat and which brand to buy. In fact, reports have been released saying that as early at 2010, already 97% of US consumers were doing research online before making purchases locally. 

Despite this overwhelming consumer demand for information about businesses, the US Census Bureau reported in 2012 that over 75% of all businesses in the country still did not have their own website.  How can this be? 

The answers from the same survey may surprise you. The overwhelming reason was not cost (19%), complexity (9%), or lack of time (16%), the number one reason that businesses do not have a website (41%) is that the owners do not think their business needs one!  

So before we dig into the fine details about how to get your business onto the web, let’s spend a little time making sure that everyone understands why they need a website.