- jo + leigh marketing
- 6/28/2022
Do I Really Need a Custom Website for My Small Business?
Do I really need someone to build a website for me? They’re so expensive – don’t they offer free website builders that are easy to use? I swear I saw an ad on Fiverr for a $10 website, what a deal! Why can I not just build one myself, after all it’s just a small business website…
We get it! As a small or medium size business, paying for a website seems irrelevant for your hard earned money – especially since websites can cost anywhere from $5,000-$15,000! Not only that, but talk about an overwhelming amount of choices and decisions to make, between a website builder, website designer, hosting platform… wait what even is hosting?? It’s something you push and push off – but it’s still always lurking on your to-do list. (Trust us, we get it. Don’t ask to see our to-do list)
Being a small business in the digital age is hard – whether you provide products or services or both. You need an online presence – and you know you do – but where to start?
We can tell you this: a free website builder will generally not bring in the growth you are looking for.
While this does make the free website builders easy to use, your site will largely fall flat in a sea of other copy/paste websites floating around on the internet.
You need something that grabs the attention of a potential customer – and that only comes with a custom, goal-specific, built-for-your-business website! From your home page to service pages, landing pages to even custom 404 pages, there’s a need for your visual branding and user experience to be superb.
It’s 2022 and a website can’t just be laptop or desktop friendly. With so many types of screen sizes available, and people gravitating more and more towards mobile searches, you have to ensure your website is mobile-responsive.
There’s nothing worse than a good looking website that doesn’t convert for a phone or tablet.
Did you know?
Okay, so you built your free website. Now what? It will sit on the internet on page 3 or 4 of Google (which we both know nobody goes to) as your potential customers find competitors who are ranked higher.
Basically back to square 1, right? You need to invest in Search Engine Optimization to rank highly and be found. Of course, you can take the time to learn about this and do it on your own, like any skill – or leave it to the professionals who have the right knowledge and tools.
Generally free (a.k.a. cheap) website builders will push a paid plan on you to provide helpful support and extra services going forward. Plus you will have to pay a monthly hosting fee and buy your own domain name for your website regardless. This is a lot to keep track of!
You don’t want to catch yourself in the vicious cycle of paying for a service and receiving an underwhelming product, pushing you to abandon said product and start the search (and payment process) all over again. We know as a small business your most valuable asset is time, and dealing with all of these tasks takes away from it.
We just see that for the modern age, digital presence is everything – even if you don’t have an online store. It starts with a high quality, mobile friendly website, but doesn’t stop there. To really see results for your business, you need to explore Google integration, SEO, social media marketing, and paid advertising.
We know it sounds like a lot to take care of while you have so much else on your plate, so we suggest leaving it to the professionals! At jo + leigh marketing, we provide your one stop shop to take your small or medium size business to the next level. We focus on building out your online presence with everything mentioned above, at a convenient pace and budget for you.
We tell all of our clients – your website is an investment, and can be argued it’s the most important one for your business out of anything else. It is a 24/7 employee working for you! It is quite literally the cornerstone for the rest of your marketing efforts– digital or physical, where you point people to and how you can be consistently found and remembered.
Is your head spinning yet??
Okay enough of us blabbing on about how important a website and digital presence is – we think you get the point. We highly suggest you should spend a little extra to have someone else do it instead of trying to take all of it on by yourself. You are not “just” a small business – you provide top-class service and products to your customers, and we want to provide the same to you.
We hope this article helped – we would love to hear your thoughts! And of course we would love to meet you and have a free 15 minute consultation to hear about your business and how we can help.
Keep creative friends!
Anna Jo + Madison Leigh
2 Responses
Excellent write-up. I certainly appreciate this website. Continue the good work!
Excellent article. I certainly appreciate this website. Stick with it!