Stay Away from the “F” Word of Digital Development

Yes, there are free website builders online. Truth be told, the “f” word of digital development is told all over when it comes to building your digital profile online. Just about any host, service or digital development component is offered in some “free version”.

In fact, we confess: back in the 1990s we started on a free web host called GeoCities. Of course, in those days less than half a million people were on the Internet. Today nearly every person on the planet is online.

Our website we found back then is still running. It’s not called what it once was, and we’re not doing business with it in the same way any more, and there’s certainly nothing free about running it to be found. We couldn’t stay on the free stuff and survive. And thank goodness we can’t.

Isn’t your business better than “free”?

If there is one thing we’ve learned in working with auto shops, insurance brokers, retailers and other local business professionals its that there are many really wrong assumptions about getting business online.

One of the most persistent assumptions is that if you just put it online, people will flock to it and buy. If you’re there on Facebook,  the buyers line up, right? If you get mentioned on a big channel or via some popular podcast, you’re on your way, right?

Is that what happened when you opened your shop? Does just hanging your shingle do it anymore? Did it ever?

It is Not Free

Nothing about doing business online is free. Nothing. We can let this devolve into a discussion on politics but there’s no need to go there. You know that already if you run any kind of business. It just doesn’t get there without investment and expense.

But for every nickel you spend in permits, fees and taxes there seems to be a never ending stream of other expenses just to get ready to sell.

We hate to be brutally honest but the digital landscape is no different. It’s not free.

It’s not Cheap

What’s the cost of digital development? That question is like any other part of your business. Do you invest in the bigger location or the smaller one? Do you park it on Main street or on a side street? Do you advertise to get business or build a customer base and then advertise?

There are endless decisions – consequential decisions – when it comes to establishing and running a business.

And there are traps everywhere. I recently helped a guy who spent $10,000 getting a website designed. He felt he had done enough by having a beautiful site that did everything he felt his customers needed.

But he called me because he couldn’t figure out why none of his customers were using it.

Five minutes after checking it out I had to break the news to him. There were two very simple reasons why his website wasn’t working and both of those reasons were tied to him doing things cheap.

First, nobody could find his website because he invested zero in marketing it. That just wasn’t in his budget. He figured he could just tell people about his website and they would come. After all, when he first launched his business that is what he did. He told family, neighbors and friends and they all showed up to support him.

Of course, his website came later, after he had established himself. Why shift from the proven formula, eh?

He is in the car restoration business. What good is a website his customers don’t need when he’s already got them as customers? His website should be about acquiring new customers and he was doing nothing to attract him.

But that wasn’t even the hardest part of the conversation.

His website was with a host that charged him $5.99 a month. There’s a billion of those out there and he bought the hype about paying a year in advance for cheap hosting. Yeah, he put his entire online business in the hands of a host that cost less than lunch.

I’ll never understand the mentality of doing this. Especially if I invest $10k in developing a website. Cheap hosting is never going to deliver your best. Ever. You need a host that is lightning quick and able to handle the demands of what you hope will come: customers.

Of course, all this should have been made clear to him up front by whoever was guiding his digital development.

The Online World is Still the Real World

Whatever fantasies you have about selling online, check ’em at the door. The online world is still the real world. Whatever issues in the real world exist that prevent you from connecting with customers exist online – and more.

So forget what you think you know. Avoid the “free” and the “cheap” when it comes to building your business online. If it sounds too good to be true, guess what? It’s too good to be true.

We tell you this not to avoid building your business online. It can be done.

As long as you keep your feet on the ground.

It costs money. It takes time. It requires a lot of expertise as well as all the business savvy you have acquired in getting your business off the ground in the first place.