Why you need a website

If you don't have one, you are losing clients

By Luis E. Ibarra, admics.com

Let's picture this frequent scenario: your prospective client takes the Yellow Pages to look for a store or company in her area that provides the products and services that you sell. You and your competitor are listed in the Yellow Pages. Your competitor has a website and you don't. So you advertise your phone number and your address. Your competitor, besides, advertises his website.

What do you think your prospective client is going to do? Well, if she has Internet access at hand, she is going to visit your competitor's website to see what he does, how, and at what price. More and more Internet users go online to conveniently research businesses' products and services for their local area.

Once there, your prospective client sees the pictures of the works and services your competitor provides, reads the testimonials of the satisfied clients, and sees the prices he charges for his services and products. Now, if your prospective client is convinced that your competitor will provide her with the products and services she needs, chances are she will never call you. You would have lost a chance for a sell.

Your prospective clients and customers expect you to have a website as they expect you to have a business card and a fax machine. So, if you have a business, you should have a website too.

The main purpose of having a website doesn't necessarily need to be that of selling your products through the Internet. The main purpose is rather to present your business to your prospective clients in a professional way so you can inspire trust.

So, having a website just because your competitor already has one is not justification enough. You must have a professionally created website if you want to be taken seriously. Because if not having a website can harm your business, having one that makes your business look unprofessional can do even more harm. You would lose the chance to make that first good impression.

And once you have a presence on the web, you must take advantage of it by telling your prospective clients what you sell, the way you do business, and why they should buy from you. That is the bottom line of having a website for your business.