Why Every Business Needs an Online Presence

Something funny happened the other night and it completely changed my thoughts on the need for an online presence in business; it made me believe that absolutely all businesses need, not only a presence online, but an online presence. People are starting their search for knowledge on more and more things online, so to not be there to find is an opportunity missed.

In the past, I was the first person to say that not all businesses need a website. That a small tradesman who goes self-employed in his local area should not spend heavily on a website, when his target market would be flicking through the yellow pages and hiring the competition.

That is before my partners searched online to see if the local bakery had a website with cake prices, as a precursor to paying them a visit. Obviously this is not the first birthday cake that she or I have sourced, nor is it the first from that very bakery, but I know it is the first time either of us had looked for them online.

Don't ask me what is causing it, but we are making online the first port-of-call for more and more things as time progresses.

Anyway, what is causing it is irrelevant, the important thing is that it is happening; people are using the internet for things they would have previously done face to face in the shop. Therefore, if you do not have an online presence then you are missing out on trade.

In our case, we knew the name of the bakery as we use it for all cakes etc, but imagine we had just moved into the area. When you search bakery Stranraer in Google you get nothing but Google map listings and faceless directory listings, none of which show the family-run personality or customer service that the bakery in question is known for. Now, being top of the results might not bring a lot of business, but the level of business would be growing every month.

The reason why I said a website is not enough, you need a presence is because, even more popular than searching to find a tradesman, baker or gardener, is searching to find out about companies that you might hire or do business with. In this case it matters not only what you are saying, but what others are saying about you.

Now, in most cases, on a local basis these searches bring no relevant results and the person is forced to use other methods for their research. However, with the growing use of social media and blogging this will not always be the case.

With that in mind now is the time to start building your online presence. You don't need to splash out on a costly website, you could start with a blogger or Wordpress hosted blog to fuel a social media foray, and a listing in Google Local Business Center.

However, with the latter it is a good idea to have a professional domain of your own, but even the most moderately tech savvy person should be able to install a Wordpress engine, or most hosting companies will set it all up for you, a domain is about £10 depending on what you go for, and decent hosting about a fiver a month. Then just look up how to use a static homepage and it is perfect as a website Content management system with a powerful blog to boot.

Alternatively my web design company does Wordpress powered sites, on custom designs and with a full tutorial for £250.

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