Social media has made it easier than ever for businesses to establish an online presence. For those business owners selling products/services on the internet, this may seem like the perfect situation.
Admittedly, this is both cost and time effective. With social media, you use a third party provider to create a page and storefront for your business, then, can happily go on without the need for a costly and time consuming website… Except in reality, there are many ways this scenario can go wrong and end up being critically harmful to your business in the long run.
Today I’m going to run through some of the reasons why you should invest in a website for your business, as well as some resources and options to help you with getting started.
Worst-case Scenario
Let’s get the worst out of the way first. If you don’t have a business website, then all of your online business presence, communication, storefront, information, everything – is at the whim of a third party. This means if their website goes down, you’ve lost everything that was on the website. This is especially devastating if you have only one primary social media site for your business. But even if you diversify, you will have a lot of customers who only interact or view your business on the one platform. So if anything happens to that platform, it may be goodbye to those customers.
If you’re selling services or goods online through a third party platform, then you risk all of your online income coming to a halt; just like that with no way for you to control it.
Competition & Control
A big issue with listing your products and services on third party sites, is that your competition also exists on these websites. And worst of all, your competition is likely being directly advertised to people viewing your page! It may sound obvious, but on your own website there is no competition. If someone visits your website, the only things they see and interact with, is content that you personally intend for them to see.
The primary goal of most social media sites is to show the user things they will find interesting. The only time they are going to give your business a leg up is if you pay them for it. Even then, there’s nothing you can do to stop them from showing ads for your direct competition, directly to your customers! Your goal should be to funnel customers from social media onto your own website.
Freedom of Expression
Unlike the glory days of MySpace, in which users had a terrifyingly great number of ways to customise their profile page (including full backgrounds, fancy animations, and even custom soundtracks), social media has now taken multiple steps backwards. These days social media sites enforce a very sanitary and uniform look for every page, making it hard to be unique. Everything has to fit within the specific boxes that you are given.
With your own website, there’s none of that restriction. A website is a place where you can perfectly capture the essence and vibe of your business, so that any potential customers visiting know exactly what you’re about.
Easier & Cheaper Than Ever
It’s impossible to pin down exactly how much a website costs, as everyone needs something different, however, creating a website for your business currently is far less of an investment than it was in years past. These days, you can get a simple website up and running with a blog or storefront for your business, without spending the thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars that previously came with it. The main reason of course being the arrival of relatively easy to use web-builders such as WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix.
These platforms allow someone with no design or development experience to quickly create a website that can get the job done just fine. Though, if you’re wanting something that does more than just “get the job done”, it’s probably still best to leave it to the professionals. However professional web development services have also become a lot more affordable in recent years, bringing it well within range of the budgets of many small business owners.
Where To Begin
If you’re ready to take the next step after reading this, then here are a few different places to get started. I’ll go from most simple, to most complex.
- Squarespace is in my experience the simplest and easiest to use web builder for a beginner. Even with no experience you should be able to put something together here using the themes and templates available. Of course, that also means it is the least customisable, so it’s hard to create something truly unique.
- WordPress is the big name most people would have heard of. WordPress itself is still quite limiting, but because of the massive popularity, there is always a theme or plugin that will fit with what you want to do. This can get pricey though as each different plugin is going to have its own costs associated.
- Webflow is the wonderchild of web designers. It sticks with the drag-and-drop style of web building that other platforms use, but allows for full control and customisation over everything. Although this also means it’s trickier to master, and it won’t hold your hand and do any of the work for you. There are however plenty of templates created by other users to give you a starting off point.
Luckily for you, Creative Little Soul is experienced in all of the above, plus everything else that comes with getting your business on the web. If you need a hand getting a website up and running for your business, then we would be happy to help. Get in touch and we can have a chat about your needs. Email michael@creativelittlesoul.com.au