A website is not an essential purchase!

I have made over three hundred websites in the last ten years, I have worked on many more and looked at thousands. I suppose this makes me somewhat of an 'expert' in the field of websites. With this in mind, I always find it fascinating how no one ever asks me the simplest of questions; Do I need a website?

The normal questions I am asked consist of "How many pages can my website have?", "Can you make my website look snazzy?" or "Will my website be found on Google?". Well, these are all very valid questions if you have already answered the simple question above, first. If the answer to "Do I need a website?" is yes, then of course you should ask these questions. But what if the answer is NO? Have you ever thought that perhaps you don't actually 'need' a website, have you pondered why you think you 'need' a website.

In my experience, people think they need a website because someone once told them they had to have one. Well, I am here to tell you that you do not have to have one, you do not need a website, a website is most certainly not an essential purchase.

If the past two years has taught us anything in business it should be that we need to think hard about what an essential purchase is, what are we risking to get it and is it really worth it.

Here are some cold hard facts about websites:

A website will only make you money if it actually gets looked at.
Websites that are listed at the top of Google are there because someone paid lots of money to get it there.
A contact page can never replace a friendly face to buy from.
No-one ever waits for a rotating banner to change picture, apart from the person who made it of course.
The only information people really want to read is who you are, what you do, why you do it and how to speak to you about it. On occasion they might like to know how much too, but they are more likely to ask that question if they know you have what they want or need in the first place.

So let's address the situation further, if you are happy to pay for a marketing company to specialise in sending valuable traffic to your website, the kind of traffic that will actually then turn into sales, then sure, a website is definitely something you should buy. If you are going to pay google to list you at the top, pay someone to manage that listing so that your money is well spent, not wasted on visitors who would never buy from you in a million years (for various reasons) then sure, get a website.

If you are confident that you will have a chat with people, they already know you can provide what they want or need, and you want them to take a look at your stuff in their own time, definitely purchase as website. However, please make sure you love your own website and you are proud of your website, so you are proud to let your new friends look at it.

I can make similar arguments for social media too, but perhaps I should leave that to another rant another day. For now, please stay safe and please use your hard earned cash for essential items only!

P.S I can help if you want a website you'll be proud of 😉