Deleting The Dot Com
Who needs a website anyway?
I was hoping that I could, through my skills as a reporter, discover that contrary to popular wisdom, not every business needs a website.
But, as it turns out, I’m either not a very good reporter (please don’t tell my publisher that) or it is impossible to prove that websites are useless.
And I call myself a Digital Diva…
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My quest began when I noticed during my routine editing duties that a large local law firm in our area does not have a website. That got me thinking. If a top-ranked law firm in a city like Worcester can survive without a website, maybe websites aren’t as necessary as all us geeks claim they are.
I endeavored to speak to some local website-less businesses. I scanned our Book of Lists for companies. I checked online directories for local firms without a web presence. I made phone calls. I sent e-mails. I was quite persistent. And surprise! No one without a website wanted to speak to me.
I even posted an inquiry on the Worcester Business Journal’s Facebook page, emploring people who work at businesses that don’t have websites to contact me. I did get an immediate response to my pitiful plea.
I heard from Heidi Brooks, who, in addition to being a manager at Austin Liquors in Worcester, also owns an organizing business called A Tight Ship that she acquired from a friend about two and a half years ago.
Turns out she has a website. But she resonded to my post on Facebook because she hates her website so much, she was hoping we were raffling off free websites.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a free website to offer her (but if someone out there wants to help Heidi, please send me an e-mail). But I did take the opportunity to pump her for information for this column.
Since Heidi hates her website so much, I asked her what I thought was a pretty obvious question: If your website is that bad, why not just take it down?
Interestingly, that question caught Heidi off guard.
“I guess I never thought of that,” she said. “I just assumed that every business has a website. I also belong to a networking group that’s very into all sorts of social media. It kind of seems like if you don’t have a website you aren’t one of the cools kids.”
And therein lies the rub. Are one-, two-person firms who build their business on referrals wasting thousands of dollars and getting frustrated with poor IT support for nothing? Could Heidi be saving herself the web hosting fees and still have a vibrant business?
I decided to speak to some experts and what I found out was that Heidi is probably more of the exception than the rule.
Peter Allen, a volunteer with the Central Massachusetts chapter of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), said that every entrepreneur that he counsels is advised to have a website, even one-person professional service businesses, such as lawyers.
In Allen’s view, and it’s hard to disagree, a website is a fantastic opportunity to “tell your competitive story.” The only time he might let someone go without a website is if the business is more of a diversion than a paycheck.
“It can make sense if the business is more of a hobby and they just want a small number of customers,” Allen told me. “But any real business that wants to grow and be profitable, needs a website.”
The perspective was much the same from Joe Giacobbe, general manager of Worcester-based Palley Advertising. He acknowledged that he still sees clients that come in without a website. But they do their best to make sure no clients leave without one.
But what of Heidi’s dilemma? What’s worse? A bad website that might be an embarrassment? Or no website at all?
After some contemplation, Giacobbe came down firmly on the side that no website is worse.
“It would be like not having a sign on your Main Street business,” he said.
So, I’ve been talked down from my radical idea that not all websites are useful. They are part of the culture today. And any business that doesn’t have one is automatically go- ing to be suspect in the eyes of a growing pool of potential customers. Even those established businesses without websites that have gotten by thus far, need to be con-cerned. A lack of a web presence makes you vulnerable to competition and is stopping you from accessing a younger clientele. So, if you are one of those businesses without a website, please put down this paper and call a web designer. And don’t try to build the site yourself. You’ll just get frustrated. Call in a professional. Bite the bullet and get it done.
Got news for our Digital Diva column? E-mail Christina H. Davis at cdavis@wbjournal.com.
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