It’s 2016 Do I Even Need a Website?

It’s 2016 Do I  Even Need a Website?   Many small businesses believe a Facebook page or other online profile is sufficient and there for no real reason exists to invest in an individual website. With all the misinformation and scam artist in the “Web” industry, it is easy to see how one would arrive at this conclusion. The reality is, that it is more important than ever for organizations, especially small business, to have their own website. Did you know that recent case studies have revealed a 20% reduction in the average adult attention span since the year 2000? Bear with me, in order to explain we need to create a little back story so the explanation makes since. Imagine that Sunshine Furniture is a local furniture store. Sunshine Furniture does not have a website instead they have a Facebook Business Page. The owner has reasoned that since they did not waste the money on a website they can in turn invest in regular updates/posts to their Facebook profile. Now that you understand Sunshine Furniture’s marketing tactics, let’s imagine that you happen to be in the market for a comfortable new rocking chair. While on Facebook looking at new photos recently posted by someone in the family you happen to notice a recent post announcing a, what looks to be, huge sale at Sunshine Furniture on their rocking chairs. We all know how quickly the Facebook feed updates so at that moment you have to make a choice, make a note to visit Sunshine Furniture or click on the post to find more information. Since how Sunshine Furniture does not have a website when you click on the post you are taken to a page within their Facebook profile. Now you are looking at the event page for the sale and receive a new notification “You are now eligible to move to the next level of Candy Crush”, remember the thing I mentioned earlier about reduced attention span… that’s right boom you’re off working hard to stay ahead of your friends on Candy Crush. At some point in the future you are going to remember you had seen an ad somewhere regarding rocking chairs on sale, even if you remember it was on Facebook the post is now long gone. If Sunshine Furniture had invested in a website the sale, would likely have been posted on the website. Then upon clicking on the Facebook post you would have been directed to their website allowing you to focus for just a few short minutes on exactly what was on sale and whether or not you needed to check out the sale in person. Since Sunshine Furniture controls the website they can in turn control the environment and rest assured that there will be no popup notifications within that few minutes and you will be able to receive the full message they are wanting to communicate.   Conclusion: there is no “silver bullet” when it comes to maximizing your online presence, instead there are many puzzle pieces that need to play together in order to maximize the desired result. A website is most definitely an important puzzle piece as it is the ONLY online asset where an organization can insure that there are as few distractions as possible while trying to communicate a message to their audience.