Five reasons not to get a website

As a website development company, we hear a lot of reasons from businesses to explain why they either don't have a website or why they don't see much point in getting a website. Here's a list of some of them, plus a couple that we know people are thinking but don't want to say.....

• It’s a waste of money
• It’s a good idea but it’s too expensive
• Everyone in town knows who we are – who would bother looking at our website?
• We’ve got enough customers and business. We don’t need any more.
• I’m retiring soon and I don’t care.
• I spoke to a web company and they told me I don’t need a website

OK, that last one is a fake - but check the title and count the bullets. But whoever heard of a website development company who told a prospective customer they didn't need a website?

Frankly, these don't sound like reasons to us, they sound like excuses not to bother. Yet by making these excuses, these businesses are doing themselves out of what is possibly the best, and least-expensive, lead generation and sales engine there is.

Here are some counters to these arguments.

• It's only a waste of time if you don't do the job right - just like everything else in life.
• Define too expensive. What is a new customer worth to you? How many customers would it take to pay for the investment in your website?
• You may think everyone in town knows you, but are you sure? They may know who you are. They may know what your business has done in the past. But what about now? Is what you did last year the same as what you do today?
• And even if everyone in town does know you, what about people out of town? Let's say you're an accountant. People build up a relationship with their accountant, and it's notoriously difficult to convince someone to change unless they've had a bad experience. But what about the company in another city that needs a local accountant for the new branch they're setting up? Or the immigrant from another country who doesn't know who's who in town? Can you really afford not to appeal to those people?
• You've got enough customers? In a recession? Yeah, right.
• I'm retiring soon and I don't care. OK - I'll give you that one. Provided you're planning to close your doors on the day you buy yourself that gold watch. Otherwise, a website is a powerful asset that you can include when you sell or pass the business on.
• Your website company won't tell you that you don't need a website. But perhaps there are times when they should. From our point view, there are times where it's hard to see the business results that might come from having a website. If that's the case we'll be honest and tell you so. But the reality is that the web is fast becoming the Yellow Pages for business. If you're not on the web, you're not on the map.

Got any more good excuses for us? Why not add your thoughts below in our comments section.