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Prior to the 1990s, networking required business owners to put on their business attire, shove on dress shoes, drive to a pre-determined location at a pre-determined time, walk into a room full of people who didn’t know each other, go through introductions, explain their business, hand out business cards and hope people remembered to call later. Building relationships required handshakes, eye contact and, at minimum, picking up the phone and having a conversation. While a strong argument can be made that these steps still must be taken in order to build strong relationships with other business owners, a new form of networking has catapulted its way to the top.
Shoving face-to-face interactions and business cards out of the way, websites have taken center stage and become the way for small business owners to gain exposure, explain their business and make sure that products and services are memorable. No longer are there pre-determined locations at pre-determined times. Google has helped take the work out of networking by connecting potential customers to potential business owners twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Related: How Do I Launch a Membership-Based Website?
In the twenty-first century, there is no way a business owner can sustain a profitable business without having some way to advertise and communicate to their customer base through the internet. This means that there are a lot of small business owners who find themselves in a tough situation: They have to create a good without any experience with web design or five figures (or more) to invest in a website.
Yet, for many businesses, their website is the face of the company. First impressions are created and potential customers and clients make decisions in a matter of seconds when scanning a website. For small business owners who must move forward with building their own websites, there are a few key elements they must consider.
Related: 5 Things That Belong on the Front Page of Your Website
What’s the Purpose?
Define the main purpose of the website being built. Is the goal to build an email list? Focus on products? Share more information about the company? No matter what purpose the website serves, it must be clear to the website visitor in just a matter of seconds. Tony Haile, author of Time’s “What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong,” shares his surprising statistic that 55 percent of website visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page. Therefore, with just a few seconds to catch a visitor’s attention, the purpose of the website must be clear.
Web Address and Web Hosting
The most memorable domains, or web addresses, are the most simplistic ones. For instance, Nike.com is simpler than NikeShoes.com or NikeAthleticShoes.com. Small business owners tend to overthink their domain names rather than just focusing on something that is easy to remember for their clients and potential customers.
Websites must be hosted and stored on a server. Small business owners are fortunate enough to have easy access to web host providers. According to Freeservers.com, “There are literally thousands of web hosting services available today, ranging from free services with limited options to expensive, specialized business web hosting services. Which option you choose depends primarily on how you plan to use your website and how much you want to spend.”
Cheap doesn’t mean better, and taking the time to compare signup versus renewal pricing will pay off in the long run. In their article, “Low-Cost Hosting Guide: Find Cheap Web Host That Doesn’t Suck,” Web Hosting Secrets Revealed points out that “Some budget hosting companies now allow customers to lock in at low renewal price upon signup.”
Related: The Difference Between Websites and Apps
Content Management
The last website decision is which content management system to use. Often times the most user-friendly systems are also the most limiting. On the other end of the spectrum the most versatile systems require a larger learning curve.
Joomla, WordPress, and Droopal make up 58.4 percent of the market share of content management systems. Make A Website Hub created an in-depth info graphic to show the pros and cons of each.
CMS Comparison – WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal
Websites are no longer optional for the small business owner. Customers and clients expect to be able to find companies on the web. Although in-depth sites can require a large investment from the budget, most small business owners are able to create a more affordable solution with a website that starts small and is able to grow with the company.
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