More than 95% of the US population is connected to the internet, and the vast majority of them think they should have a website.
More than 70% of large companies have them, but fewer than 50% of small businesses do.
But, should businesses have them at all? Here are three reasons why you don't need one.
1.
You want visitors to learn more about you.
This is the most common reason that business people give for having a website.
The thinking is that a website is a means to create an elaborate color brochure without having to get a mortgage to do so.
Some have only a page or two; others have thousands.
It depends on how much you have to say about yourself.
The better sites have free things for you to download: a pdf about something they're doing, or an app for you to play with on your smartphone.
The best sites, however, have a "call to action.
" They offer visitors something that is of value to them in exchange for their contact details, and that information forms the basis of an online mailing list to whom various offers and additional, but very useful content that's not available on the website can be given.
While it's true that most people drop-in just to browse, that's not the same thing as designing your website for that purpose.
Your purpose is to give them what they want so that they will do what you want.
And that means that if you're goal is simply to help people learn more about you, then you don't need a website.
2.
You want visitors to buy something from you.
This is a giant leap from just browsing.
Imagine how you'd feel if this happened: You walked into your favorite department store.
The person on the door said, "Good morning," but not two feet away was another employee that asked, "Would you like to buy this?" Would you keep on walking into the store, or make a sharp u-turn and get out of there as fast as you could? That's what it feels like to land on a website as someone who is there to browse, but is faced with a window that tells them that if they don't buy right now, then some great, not-to-be-missed deal will be lost forever if they don't buy it right now.
The Back button is easy to reach, and the most feared among webmasters.
3.
You don't know what to put on it.
Let's face it.
The vast majority of people who arrive at your website got there via a search engine.
They had a problem, and they came to you in search of an answer.
But, because you didn't know what to put on it, you included everything.
That meant that visitors had to spend a lot of time looking for what they wanted.
All too often, sites like this have other problems, too.
They're buggy, the links don't work, and it has so much animation that it's impossible to get your eyes to focus on any one thing.
That's what the Back button is for.
More than 70% of large companies have them, but fewer than 50% of small businesses do.
But, should businesses have them at all? Here are three reasons why you don't need one.
1.
You want visitors to learn more about you.
This is the most common reason that business people give for having a website.
The thinking is that a website is a means to create an elaborate color brochure without having to get a mortgage to do so.
Some have only a page or two; others have thousands.
It depends on how much you have to say about yourself.
The better sites have free things for you to download: a pdf about something they're doing, or an app for you to play with on your smartphone.
The best sites, however, have a "call to action.
" They offer visitors something that is of value to them in exchange for their contact details, and that information forms the basis of an online mailing list to whom various offers and additional, but very useful content that's not available on the website can be given.
While it's true that most people drop-in just to browse, that's not the same thing as designing your website for that purpose.
Your purpose is to give them what they want so that they will do what you want.
And that means that if you're goal is simply to help people learn more about you, then you don't need a website.
2.
You want visitors to buy something from you.
This is a giant leap from just browsing.
Imagine how you'd feel if this happened: You walked into your favorite department store.
The person on the door said, "Good morning," but not two feet away was another employee that asked, "Would you like to buy this?" Would you keep on walking into the store, or make a sharp u-turn and get out of there as fast as you could? That's what it feels like to land on a website as someone who is there to browse, but is faced with a window that tells them that if they don't buy right now, then some great, not-to-be-missed deal will be lost forever if they don't buy it right now.
The Back button is easy to reach, and the most feared among webmasters.
3.
You don't know what to put on it.
Let's face it.
The vast majority of people who arrive at your website got there via a search engine.
They had a problem, and they came to you in search of an answer.
But, because you didn't know what to put on it, you included everything.
That meant that visitors had to spend a lot of time looking for what they wanted.
All too often, sites like this have other problems, too.
They're buggy, the links don't work, and it has so much animation that it's impossible to get your eyes to focus on any one thing.
That's what the Back button is for.