A Practical Guide To Websites For Small Local Businesses

Why You Need a Website

The media likes to talk a lot about the global reach of the internet. Indeed, the internet allows even the smallest company to reach customers from all over the world. But almost no attention is paid to what the internet can offer to a purely local business such as yours.

Why do you need a website? Because:

• A website can reach potential customers at a fraction of the cost of other advertising methods.

• A website can take care of some of your customer service chores for you. Fewer evening phone calls.

• A website can give you a definite advantage over your competition. Especially if you act now.

Ask yourself this: "How much information about my business can I put in a yellow pages ad?" Not much unless you are willing to spend a small fortune for a big display ad. But the information you can post to a website is virtually limitless. And the internet is quickly replacing the yellow pages as the information source of choice for just this reason. More information, available instantly.

Consider a 4-color brochure. If you've had these printed up for your business you know they cost about $400.00 per thousand. That does not include postage. And any last minute changes would cost you more. And there is a considerable time lag from the design stage to the time they reach the customer.

For approximately the same cost as the brochure itself (not including the postage) you can have a website that features everything that your brochure does and much, much more. In fact you can have a 100 page "online brochure" if you want. Your cost doesn't change. And speaking of change: you can change your "online brochure" instantly - whenever you want and as often as you want. And again, for no additional cost. There are no postage charges and no limit to how many people can look your "online brochure."

Any potential customer with a computer can have your "brochure" at their fingertips 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And consider that the majority of middle class and upper-middle class home owners - your target market - have internet access either at home or at work.

But don't get trapped into thinking of your website as just the electronic equivalent of a brochure. Because it can be much more.

If you are a very small operation, you probably can't afford a full time secretary. Think about a typical day during your busy season. You get back to your office after putting in a hard day's work. Now you have to deal with the phone messages. How many customers call with the same questions? How much time do you spend returning these calls?

With a website you can have the answers to the most frequently asked questions online. For example:

• A list of the services you provide with a brief explanation of each.

• The approximate costs for these services.

• Common problems and how to solve them.

• Etc., etc.

Now you can change your answering machine message to: "The answers to many common questions can be found on our website - www.mycompany.com - or leave a message and I will get back to you."

A new customer can get instant gratification. No need to wait for a return call (and less chance of an impatient customer calling someone else). And you save time by having to make fewer phone calls. And if all else fails, your customer can still leave a message.

Or think about someone searching the yellow pages. They read down through the listings and come to yours. It says, "Get answers to your questions and see actual pictures of our quality work at www.mycompany.com." Again, what customer can resist the instant gratification of going online and seeing the kind of results they can expect?

Now here's something that will blow your mind. It blew my mind. Go to Google and pretend you're looking for a landscape contractor in your area. Type in "landscaper in my town, my state" and see what you get.

I typed "landscaper in Philadelphia" into Google thinking it would turn up a whole page of landscape contractors. Imagine how many landscapers there must be in the Philadelphia area. Big, major landscape contractors. How many did my search turn up? One! That's right - one!

Next I tried "landscape contractors in Philadelphia" and got better results - two listings.

Now, if this is the case for a major city like Philadelphia, what is it like in less populated areas? I can tell you in most cases no landscape contractor websites turn up at all!

The same holds true for other locally based service businesses such as roofing contractors, carpenters, siding contractors, etc.

Odds are that your area is wide open! You can gain an unfair advantage over your competition by getting online now. When customers go online, you will turn up as the only game in town!