As many as half of small businesses currently don’t have a website. HALF!?! It’s 2017 - that number is way too high. Each business without a website believes, for one reason or another, that they don’t need one, and has probably given one of the common “reasons” listed below. However, I’m about to debunk all of them.

I have a Facebook/social media page

Social media is not your website. Let me say that again - SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT YOUR WEBSITE! Don’t get me wrong, social media is a spectacular tool. It’s great for interacting with customers and drawing new ones in. It’s a wonderful platform for sharing updates with your customer base. But you can only customize it so much - so you need to point your customers towards your website to make the sale. They’ll get a better feel for what type of company you are and if you’d be a good fit. Depending on your industry, you may be able to have an automated ordering system on your website, something you can’t have on social media. All in all, you need both - and keep them linked.

social media

I can't afford a website

In a roundabout way, this could sort of be true. But not really. Many companies will charge a high rate because having a website is a huge asset to any business. However, there are companies that will produce a high-quality product at prices that small businesses can afford - Amanda Elizabeth Design is one of those companies. Typically, you will find these prices with freelance developers or small web development businesses - you may just have to look around. So if you get an outrageous quote from one company, keep looking. You’ll find a good developer for a price at can afford.

too much money

My customers are local

Usually the reason behind this thought is customers are local enough that word-of-mouth advertising in a small city has seemed to be enough. The issue with this thought process is that people move, and younger generations will move in. These generations are used to being able to locate businesses online. A large percentage of consumers will look on the web for information, and many even start the shopping process online. So although current customers may be local and not require a website to find you, it’s always a good idea to be planning for the future.

local customers

A website isn't relevant to my industry

This is just a flat out lie. I don't care what your industry is. A website is relevant to every single industry - whether it be an eCommerce website where you can sell actual products or a simple informational website. It’s 2017, a website is always relevant.

A website takes too much work to maintain

The amount of work a website takes to maintain depends on the type of website and the development team behind it. Some developers will offer to do the upkeep for you entirely. I’ve worked in this type of situation before, and a lot of information that may be wanted on the site can get lost between people - especially since email will likely be the way to transfer the content. On the other hand, some companies won’t do anything in regards to upkeep and won’t provide you with a way to do it yourself. These are probably going to be really cheap websites, since very little, if any, support is included. At Amanda Elizabeth Design, we will handle the technical maintenance, and we give you access to our easy-to-use content management system so you can keep the information that the users see as accurate as possible. This is all included in our low monthly fee - whereas other companies may charge high prices for content changes.

too much work

I don't know where to find a reasonable website developer

This one is easy! If you’re reading this article, you’ve already found Amanda Elizabeth Design. We would love to create your small business website at a small business cost. Problem solved! Click here to get started today!