You don’t need to be a big multi-national enterprise to profit from having a website. A company website can be beneficial to any business, no matter how small. Even a business that doesn’t sell online can find that an internet presence can boost their business.
Let’s take the hypothetical example of a small picket fence manufacturer who does business within a limited range. Our business owner, Stan, manufactures picket fences in a small factory and delivers and installs them only in suburbs that lie within a fifty mile radius of his factory. Stan was on the road almost every day chasing leads and was becoming increasingly frustrated because only about a quarter of his leads turned into sales.
He and his handful of employees got together for a brainstorming session one day and one of them offered to make a website for him. Stan agreed to give it a try, so the employee went around and took photos of some of the fences they had built, of the factory and of the manufacturing process. The website he made was just a simple one, kind of an online scrapbook album. It was simple, but it was very effective.
Within a couple of months, Stan found that he was getting far more sales from his initial visits to people’s homes because they already knew what he had to offer before he went to their homes. The first time they called, Stan told them they could see his portfolio online and if that was the sort of work they wanted, he would come out and see them. His website was already a huge timesaver for him.
Impressed with what the little website his employee made for him could do, Stan asked him what else they could do to make the site work even better. The employee suggested that they contact other local businesses who had websites and do link exchanges with them.
The first one to agree was a small home decor accents business that was located in their suburb. Stan made a prominent link to their site on his and they reciprocated. This simple link exchange resulted in a significant number of leads. Stan’s website had cost him only the hours that it took for his employee to make the site and a few dollars a month for a hosting service, but it was now increasing his profits by more than ten percent.
As is that wasn’t enough, Stan’s business soared as a result of a link exchange he did with a local property developer who was just starting an online campaign for a new property launch. Everyone who was interested in buying one of the more than a hundred homes in the development saw Stan’s link. All of those who wanted a picket fence around their new home called Stan’s Picket Fences first.
Stan never made any big changes to his website, but it continued to pay off for him. His business doubled in size and profitability. That’s how the internet can help even small businesses!
Related posts: