In one word, yes! The internet is the most effective marketing tools nowadays, it can reach far more people than any flyer or advertisement in the local paper ever will. Should you do your own website?
It all depends on your skills if you have the ability to make a website that looks good, just go ahead, it will save you money and will work wonders as a marketing tool. However, if your skills are limited or non-existent then we’d say no. Why? No, not because we want your money (although we don’t mind if you want to give it to us…), because if your site doesn’t have a professional look to it, then it is going to reflect badly on your company’s image.
Do you need to spend lots of money?
It really depends on the size of your website, if you’re looking simply get a presence on the internet, then you can easily get something for around U$200 if you take the time to look, if you’re really getting into the idea of being online and effectively having your shop exist in cyberspace you’re going to be looking at more money, however, even then, there are self-build options.
What content do you need?
This all depends on what you want from being online, if you want to sell online, have your products online is going to be very useful! If you’re just looking to get your company online, then there are TWO elements that we believe are imperative:
- Information about your company
- How to contact you
Without these two, no-one is going to know who or what you are, with the former being your chance to sell yourself. Remember when people look at websites if its well designed they won’t know if they’re dealing with a multi-national company or a one-person organization, this is your chance to play alongside the big boys!!
What to do now?
So you’re convinced a website is a way to go? Excellent, this can only be of benefit to you! Now you’ve got to find a designer or build your own (there’s one right here!!!), things to keep in mind when looking what kind of style are you looking for, find some websites that you like, then find some free templates and see if you can produce something along that line! If you can, you’re on the way to bringing into being what can be one of your best money machines!
