How would we cope if it wasn’t for the Internet? It’s now used for such a massive variety of things, from reading the news to booking holidays that it is definitely part of life in the 21st Century.
If you’re running a business there’s little doubt that your potential customers unknowingly judge you these days by the quality of your website. In a matter of seconds (or split seconds depending on which research you read) customers will decide if you are the type of business they want to deal with. So, getting the design and content of your website is of paramount importance.
Why, then, do so many businesses not have a website at all? I remember reading a BBC article back in November of 2007 which stated that more than half of the UK’s small and medium sized businesses don’t have a website. Now, it may have changed dramatically in the last 14 months, but I find that quite astounding. If you don’t have any presence at all on the Internet, how will your past, present and future customers consider you?
Yellow Pages useage is rapidly declining
There was a time when your advert in the Yellow Pages was a clue to the credibility of your business. People would judge you on what they saw and it often gave them peace of mind. Sadly, thanks to the Internet the ‘good old Yellow Pages’ days are numbered. It served its purpose for more than 40 years, but times move on and the Internet is the way ahead. Back on to those 50% of businesses that don’t quite understand that…
Maybe it’s because, for many, it’s a relatively unknown quantity. Maybe they don’t put enough importance on the web. Maybe they just don’t want to be bothered with it (I know of an accountancy firm that still uses pencil and paper to keep their records and one or two companies who don’t have a PC, let alone access to the Internet!)
Maybe - and this is the basis on which Brightmix was born - they don’t have the time to even start looking into having either a new website or their current website updated. Well, it’s time to realise that a website is not just necessary; it’s potentially life threatening for your business if you don’t have one!
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The trouble is that most of the key decision makers in established companies are in their 40s + - so the internet is something comparatively new to them. Whereas for younger people, it’s a way of life.
Because the internet is a relatively new medium (compared to press advertising, posters, local radio and TV - which all back up their proposals with inches of statistical data) …. it’s a bit of a voyage into the unknown.
A fact that’s not helped by a host of ‘companies’ promising ridiculous claims of wealth and internet success for $25 a month.
It’s not like the old days, but who do you believe, who do you trust?
The facts are that 1.1 billion people are surfing the web everyday - for the price of a priority listing Yellow Pages, or quarter page for one night in the Yorkshire Evening Post these businesses could have a website that would bring them continued and sustained business … if it is built, written and optimised correctly.
Which brings us back to, who do you trust?