That is a very good question, and in today's world of iPhones with internet connectivity at potentially every location, it may, in fact, be one of the most important questions that a business can ask. The truth of the matter is that the majority of consumers out there will research a company, or product, online before ever contacting that company for services. So the real question then is, should your business, no matter how small or what it sells, have a website? The answer is Yes. If you own a business, you need to have a website, no question.
Now for a moment of clarification, I'm not saying that you need to put all of your eggs in one basket, and push everything to a website, or that you even need to sell your product or services online. The point is that if you own a business, you need to have a web presence. This allows potential customers to quickly research your company to find out about the services or products that you offer.
Now, not just any old website is going to cut it in today's market. You must have a website that professionally represents your company to be taken seriously. After all, your website is often the first impression that a consumer will have about your company. Do you really want to leave the first impression of your company to your sister's nephew that has a "knack" for these kinds of things? In fact, if your website makes your company look "cheap" it may be better to not have one at all. A professional website says that you take your business seriously, and have thought about your customers, a poorly designed website says that you don't care enough about your business to pay for a professional design.
The great thing about having a professional website is that, your company, no matter how small, can project an image of a much larger company. In the end, if you don't have a website, you've already lost business to someone who does.
Before you go out and spend a lot of money getting your website created, then forking over even more for Search Engine Optimization, so that you appear first in the search engines, you need to understand the purposes that a website can fulfill. In my experience, there are three:
1. A website can be the sole source of revenue for a company, or at very least their main source of income. Take for example Amazon.com. They don't have retail stores, so their company survives by their sales. In this case, being the first to appear on a search engine is absolutely critical, when someone searches for an item that is available at Amazon.com, they need to be the first one that appears, otherwise their consumer purchases it somewhere else.
2. A website can help to subsidize revenue for a company. An example would be Walmart.com. We all know that Walmart's bread and butter are their 16 gazillion stores located in just about every town in the United States, but they still have a website. They even sell products on their website, but it isn't their main source of revenue. In fact, if you search for an item that you know will be sold at a Walmart in any search engine, Walmart won't appear in the first 20 pages. Why? Because they don't need to. If someone wants to buy something from Walmart, they go to Walmart, if the store doesn't have it, they can then go to Walmart.com, and buy it there. They don't search it out on search engines.
3. A website can strictly be a presence online that validates a company's legitimacy. Sportsmanswarehouse.com is my example here. They are again a "brick and mortar" store, but they don't sell anything on their website. The purpose of the website is not to sell products, it's not to subsidize their revenue, it's purely there to validate their company. In fact, if you search camping equipment in a search engine, you won't find Sportsmans Warehouse anywhere, even though that is one of their main products. Why? Because they aren't selling online, their website is strictly for validation.
Your business, and consequently your website, falls into one of these three categories. Whatever its purpose, your website is an extremely important aspect of your business, and it needs to be treated as such. There should be a lot of thought and time put into your website, and it's purpose, and it needs to be professionally created.
That is why you need a website.
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