The Importance of a Website in the Modern age

Trust and Quality are two of the most important aspects of business. How do you gain and maintain these two vital aspects? With Communication and Connection.

Now, back in the day, when you were searching for where to go or where to buy, there wasn’t much of a choice… It was:

1. The Yellow Pages: Where you’d look through all the names until you found something that sounded nice, or painstakingly phone hundreds of numbers until you got a trustworthy sounding voice on the other end. Not much of a quality guarantee in that respect I’m afraid.
2. Newspaper Adverts & flyers in you post pox.
3. The countless continuous TV, Radio or Billboard Ads.
4. Word of mouth: “a friend of a friend of mine”.
5. Or finally just tiresomely window-shopping at your local shopping center for hours and hours trying to find what you want.

All these forms of connection were, and still are, very valid and have their great points. But could/can all be rather tedious and very hit and miss in the quality department.

The Solution…The Internet!

In August 1962 the “Galactic Network” concept arose: A vision of a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from anywhere. It’s as if it was created to fulfill the needs of any sized business without breaking the bank.

Now over the years we’ve had many interactions with business owners. Here is a very common conversation we’ve had.

Why Does my Spa Need a Website?

Exposure, Exposure, Exposure!!

There are, to date 28 million, out of a population of 54 million South Africans using the Internet, and 46.1% of the world population using the Internet.
It was less than 1% in 1995.

Just those staggering stats should be cause enough for anyone to want to have a business website.

“Mmmm… Honey! Where should we go for dinner tonight?”
“I feel like Italian, why don’t you just Google good Italian restaurants near us please.”

The plain truth is everyone Google’s everything these days. So if you want your business to be found, having a website increases your chances of anyone in the world finding you and employing your services. That is a lot of missed possible revenue for you without one.

Doesn’t that mean Websites are just for show, but don’t really bring in the bucks?

Actually exposure is the first step toward the success of any business. So anything that gets your business’s name out there will bring in the bucks, it’s just a matter of time.

I’ve got Facebook, isn’t that Good Enough?

In this modern day and age, with the complete reliance on the Internet for everything, clients assume that every reputable business has a website. So if you don’t then they assume you aren’t a “proper” business and that there is something fishy going on.

Facebook is an amazing start point as it is great for sharing, communication and exposure. But ultimately for client Trust and business reputability you need a Website. Together your Website and Social platforms are super powerful marketing tools.

Ok, so I’ll just do a website myself, or get a really cheap one and it’ll be fine… right?

Yes and No.

Yes there are companies that offer free content managing systems, where you can make and manage your own websites such as Wix or WordPress.

or

There are many companies out there that will “build” a basic website for you for a “cheap” fee.

But we must warn you; both options are fraught with possible hazards.
There is a lot more to it then just registering, uploading pictures and writing pretty words to make a successful website. It is even more complicated to get your business ranking high on Google search. You have to consider the secret art of SEO (search engine optimization) and due to the ever secret and changing Google ranking criteria not even worldly experts have a true handle on how Google ranks websites.
These are but a few good practices that you have to be on top of if you want to have a chance of ranking:

• Title tags, meta descriptions, non-spammy content
• Lots of good quality unique content
• Link building
• Low bounce rates
• Time spent on a page
• Low bounce rates
• Number of pages a visitors goes to in one session/li>
• Active social media pages with links back to the website
• Image alt tags
• Meta (focus) keywords – not that important
• Email marketing

So if you, as a business owner, have the time to do the countless hours of research and tutorials to learn basic coding and management skills required to manage any site, and get it to a level where it will rank on Google, then we say go for it!

It might save you a little bit of money.

If you decide to employ the services of a web design and development company, we advise you to NOT go the cheap route.

In the long run it will cost you more on fixing all the bugs that the unknowledgeable will cause. Not to mention what a security risk it is. Hackers are a real problem in this day and age.

Look for quality developers and see what deals they offer. They often have packages that accommodate starter companies or have specials that will give you the best quality at a reasonable cost.

Do your research. Visit their Websites & Social sites and see what people are saying about them.

“You make very valid points but, I don’t want to spend my hard earned money on something that might or might not bring income. I don’t want to throw my money away for nothing”.

The great thing about websites these days is they have Ecommerce functionality, where people can book and purchase anything from their laptops or phones and pay straight away. That’s a huge slice of the market you are tapping into and means that money is coming straight into your account.

So that means you can upload all your products, offers, treatments and packages and start making money straight away. You’ll get your initial investment back and get profits in quickly.

Wow! Ok. I’ll start doing my research straight away. Thanks!”