Doing business with people has changed immensely since 1995.

Years ago we could put our business in the Yellow Pages of the phone book, do a little newspaper advertising and radio or television and get more business into your door, as long as your reputation was in order.

Flash forward to today. Newspapers are going out of business, there are too many radio and television stations to even consider advertising on with small business budgets, and most people don’t even own a phone book much less search for business needs in it. No more Yellow Pages, no more radio or television and no more newspapers. Those are things of the past for nearly all small businesses except locals with the biggest budgets – usually used car dealers and lawyers.

Sure if you have a brick and mortar business, a street sign still helps considerably – at least it tells people driving or walking by that you are there. But people have been burned so many times by fly-by-night businesses that few people will patronize even a brick and mortar business without doing one additional thing. Do you know what that is?

The answer to that one thing is this (and you probably knew it!): most people will not consider buying anything from an unfamiliar business these days without searching for that business’s reputation online. People look at ratings. People read reviews, If your business doesn’t have at least as good a rating as your close-by competitors, you’ll potentially lose a portion of that new business.

The lower your rating is compared to local or even national competitors, the more business you lose. The more recent negative reviews you have, the more business you’ll lose. Instantly. As in gone – the thing is, you will NEVER know how much you are losing. It’s not like you will hear from any of them, right?

Now let’s talk about if you are not a brick and mortar business. Say you’re a local service business. You haven’t been in business for decades and aren’t well-known in your area so you are not getting many referrals, if any at all. How do you get more business?

Here is the answer to the one thing you need to get more business: if you don’t have a business website, you need one. Yesterday. And not a one-page website, either. You need a full-fledged website. Oh, you have a Google Business listing you say or other one-pager? That helps. A little. But did you know that there’s a significant portion of the population that won’t do business with you if you don’t have a regular good ‘old-fashioned’ website? That’s right – your business NEEDS a website.

A website legitimizes your business, if nothing else. It describes what you offer, how you offer, why you offer, how much it is (in many cases) and most importantly, what IT CAN DO TO SOLVE YOUR CUSTOMER’S PROBLEMS. Without a website, you are LOSING BUSINESS. Guaranteed.

Why does a website legitimize a business? It’s kind of like that sign out front for a brick and mortar business. Without a sign, people don’t know you are there, right? Without that sign even if people do know you are there, it looks kinda fishy – right? People don’t do business with fishy. They do business with solid, reputable businesses. The website make you appear more solid, more reputable, more legitimate. It is not an end-all. Instead, it’s a big piece of the required Internet marketing puzzle.

Are you looking to get more people to call, email, or visit your business? A website is the one thing you need to get more business – more people coming in your door, calling you, and emailing you.

If you don’t have a website and you have decided it is time, give us a call now at 602-899-5223 – we can discuss with you the advantages that you will get with a website and how to go about getting one for your business.

Seriously – this is it. Without a website, who knows how many thousands (possibly tens of thousands or more) of dollars you are losing every year because people don’t consider you to be legitimate. I cannot stress this enough. Get your website going today.