October 30, 2024 • 8 mins
In this episode, Chrissy Rey addresses the common tendency of small business owners to postpone website creation. She shares compelling statistics about online consumer behavior, addresses common objections to website creation, and provides practical steps for getting started immediately, including a free Website Quickstart Challenge.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome to Website Success.
I'm your host, Chrissy Rey.
Today we are talking aboutsomething I hear all the time
from small business owners.
" I'll get to my website next year."
It's especially common this time of yearwe're in the fourth quarter of the year.
And I totally get it.
Building a website can be completelyoverwhelming, especially when you're
(00:29):
juggling a million other business tasks.
It's hard for a small business owner toreally find the time, and the money, and
everything else to get to your website.
I just had a kickoff call for a newwebsite that I'm doing for a client that's
been putting it off for three years.
And each year she had a different reason.
(00:50):
First, it was that she didn'thave the budget for it.
And then she just didn't have thetime to write the content for it.
And there was a different reasonevery year and she just kept
putting it off and putting it off.
And she would always say, I'll getto it next year and then next year
would come and she put it off again.
But here's the thing while shewaited for those three years, her
(01:10):
competitors built their online presence.
They got their websites up.
And she missed out on countlessopportunities to connect with her
potential customers that those competitorswere able to take advantage of.
So, today we're going to talk aboutwhy waiting until next year could be
costing your business much more than yourealize, and I'll share some practical
(01:31):
ways for you to get started now.
Let's start with some eye opening numbers.
You may not know this, but 73% ofsmall businesses have a website.
That means it's more than likely thatyour competitors already have a website.
And since about 81% of consumers areresearching businesses online before
they work with them, not having thatwebsite means that you are losing
(01:55):
all of those potential customers.
They're not finding yourproducts or services online.
They're finding your competitors instead.
You're also missing out onopportunities to showcase your work.
And your competitors are gettingthose opportunities instead.
And you're losing the chance tobuild credibility and trust with
your audience while your competitorsare doing both of those things.
(02:18):
In 2024, Americans are projected tospend more than $240 billion online from
November 1st through the end of the year.
That's just two months.
And that's 240 billion with a B.
You need a website to getin on some of that spending.
So don't wait.
(02:38):
Start today.
Now, why do businesses keep puttingoff creating their websites?
I hear all kinds of reasons.
Trust me, I've heard everythingover the last 29 years.
And some of the sort of corereasons that I hear are things
like, "my business is too small,I don't need a website just yet."
(02:58):
"I'm already on social media and Ican just use Facebook or Instagram
or whatever social media platforminstead; I don't need a website."
" I don't have the money to hiresomeone to make a website."
That's another big reason.
And one of the biggest ones that I hear,because I work with a lot of DIYers
is, "I have no idea where to start.
I don't have the time to figureit out and I'm just not tech
(03:19):
savvy enough to do it on my own."
But, you know what I've also seen?
The businesses that keep puttingoff their websites are also the
ones who keep finding themselvesscrambling to catch up later.
They waited and waited for theperfect time to launch their website,
and then they found itnearly impossible to compete.
Their competitors were showing up onthe search engine results and they
(03:40):
weren't, but once they finally tookaction, they weren't really able to get
any traction because their competitorsgot in on that space and really took
it over and they couldn't even geta toehold into that online space.
Now, let me address some of those concernsthat I mentioned previously, because
you probably have at least one of them.
(04:03):
So, if you tell me that yourbusiness is too small for a
website, I'll tell you that everybusiness has to start somewhere.
A website helps you look professionaland credible from day one.
And remember a websiteis not a static document.
I get a lot of clients whothey want their websites to be
absolutely perfect from day one.
It doesn't have to be.
(04:23):
Your website can evolveas your business grows.
It can get bigger as yourbusiness gets bigger.
You can start with a landing page thatincludes your contact information,
and then you can grow from there.
And if you think that you can stickwith social media instead of having
a website, which again, that'sone of the common concerns that I
get, I'll tell you what you can't.
(04:43):
How are your customers going to reachyou when Facebook or Instagram goes down?
And what's going to happen when Metachanges their algorithm, yet again,
so your customers no longer seeyour business posts on social media.
And how are you going to handle itif you somehow lose access to your
account or you managed to get banned?
I've seen both of those things happen alot, way more than you might want to hear.
(05:08):
And you really need to have a backup plan.
Social media can be a reallyimportant part of your online
marketing, but it's also kind of likebuilding your house on rented land.
You don't own the platformand you don't make the rules.
So you really need to have that websiteso that your customers are always
going to have a way to find you.
Now another concern.
(05:28):
If you tell me you can't affordit, I'll tell you that there are
affordable options for every budget.
You can make a website withany budget that you've got.
You might have to put in moresweat equity into a website
if you have a smaller budget.
But keep in mind that the cost of allof those lost opportunities that are
going to your competitors, when yourpotential customers are looking for you.
(05:50):
Those lost opportunities should,once you capture them, exceed
the cost of your website.
So you do need to have a budgetfor creating a website that's
going to reach those customers.
And then another thing, if youhave no idea where to start.
Don't have the time to figureit out and think you aren't tech
savvy enough to do it on your own.
I'll tell you, I have your back.
(06:11):
First, many website buildersare very, very user-friendly.
It's not like when I started makingwebsites back in the day that you had
to figure everything out from scratch.
You had to write all kinds of code.
It's not like that anymore.
It's a lot easier for non-techiesto create your own website.
Plus you have people like me whoare more than happy to help you
(06:32):
create your successful website.
All right.
So now that I've convinced you thatyou don't need to wait until next
year to create your website, right?
Cause I've met all of your concerns.
What can you do about it?
Well, I've got a fewthings that you can try.
Number one, start making a plan.
Think about your offer, yourgoals and your target audience.
And just start writing that down.
(06:53):
Number two, research, somewebsite builders to figure out
which one might work for you.
So you can try Squarespace,WordPress, Wix.
There's a whole bunch of them out there.
Number three, set aside a budget.
You need money to pay for at leastyour domain name and your web hosting.
And you might need even more money.
If you're going to hire someoneto help you with your website.
And then number four, I want you tosign up for my website Quickstart
(07:17):
challenge that starts on December 4th.
It's totally free.
And I'll walk you throughthose first three things.
Plus I'll help you get startedwith your content and your branding
so actually creating your websiteis going to be a no brainer.
I'll put a link for the WebsiteQuickstart Challenge in the show notes.
So, if you are listening to this onyour favorite platform, you can go to
(07:38):
websitesuccessacademy.com and then go intothe podcast section and find this episode.
Now do you remember that clientthat I talked about earlier?
The one that I had the kickoff call with.
At the end of our call, she said,"I wish I'd done this sooner."
So don't be like her.
Don't let another year slip by withoutgetting your website up and running.
The best time to startyour website was last year.
(08:00):
The second best time is right now.
So sign up for that quick start challengeand get started with your website.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sureyou subscribe, leave a review, and
come back for the next episode wherewe'll talk about more things that you
can do to make a successful website.
In the meantime, Thanks for tuning in,and I hope to chat with you again soon.
Welcome to Website Success.
I'm your host, Chrissy Rey.
Today we are talking aboutsomething I hear all the time
from small business owners.
" I'll get to my website next year."
It's especially common this time of yearwe're in the fourth quarter of the year.
And I totally get it.
Building a website can be completelyoverwhelming, especially when you're
(00:29):
juggling a million other business tasks.
It's hard for a small business owner toreally find the time, and the money, and
everything else to get to your website.
I just had a kickoff call for a newwebsite that I'm doing for a client that's
been putting it off for three years.
And each year she had a different reason.
(00:50):
First, it was that she didn'thave the budget for it.
And then she just didn't have thetime to write the content for it.
And there was a different reasonevery year and she just kept
putting it off and putting it off.
And she would always say, I'll getto it next year and then next year
would come and she put it off again.
But here's the thing while shewaited for those three years, her
(01:10):
competitors built their online presence.
They got their websites up.
And she missed out on countlessopportunities to connect with her
potential customers that those competitorswere able to take advantage of.
So, today we're going to talk aboutwhy waiting until next year could be
costing your business much more than yourealize, and I'll share some practical
(01:31):
ways for you to get started now.
Let's start with some eye opening numbers.
You may not know this, but 73% ofsmall businesses have a website.
That means it's more than likely thatyour competitors already have a website.
And since about 81% of consumers areresearching businesses online before
they work with them, not having thatwebsite means that you are losing
(01:55):
all of those potential customers.
They're not finding yourproducts or services online.
They're finding your competitors instead.
You're also missing out onopportunities to showcase your work.
And your competitors are gettingthose opportunities instead.
And you're losing the chance tobuild credibility and trust with
your audience while your competitorsare doing both of those things.
(02:18):
In 2024, Americans are projected tospend more than $240 billion online from
November 1st through the end of the year.
That's just two months.
And that's 240 billion with a B.
You need a website to getin on some of that spending.
So don't wait.
(02:38):
Start today.
Now, why do businesses keep puttingoff creating their websites?
I hear all kinds of reasons.
Trust me, I've heard everythingover the last 29 years.
And some of the sort of corereasons that I hear are things
like, "my business is too small,I don't need a website just yet."
(02:58):
"I'm already on social media and Ican just use Facebook or Instagram
or whatever social media platforminstead; I don't need a website."
" I don't have the money to hiresomeone to make a website."
That's another big reason.
And one of the biggest ones that I hear,because I work with a lot of DIYers
is, "I have no idea where to start.
I don't have the time to figureit out and I'm just not tech
(03:19):
savvy enough to do it on my own."
But, you know what I've also seen?
The businesses that keep puttingoff their websites are also the
ones who keep finding themselvesscrambling to catch up later.
They waited and waited for theperfect time to launch their website,
and then they found itnearly impossible to compete.
Their competitors were showing up onthe search engine results and they
(03:40):
weren't, but once they finally tookaction, they weren't really able to get
any traction because their competitorsgot in on that space and really took
it over and they couldn't even geta toehold into that online space.
Now, let me address some of those concernsthat I mentioned previously, because
you probably have at least one of them.
(04:03):
So, if you tell me that yourbusiness is too small for a
website, I'll tell you that everybusiness has to start somewhere.
A website helps you look professionaland credible from day one.
And remember a websiteis not a static document.
I get a lot of clients whothey want their websites to be
absolutely perfect from day one.
It doesn't have to be.
(04:23):
Your website can evolveas your business grows.
It can get bigger as yourbusiness gets bigger.
You can start with a landing page thatincludes your contact information,
and then you can grow from there.
And if you think that you can stickwith social media instead of having
a website, which again, that'sone of the common concerns that I
get, I'll tell you what you can't.
(04:43):
How are your customers going to reachyou when Facebook or Instagram goes down?
And what's going to happen when Metachanges their algorithm, yet again,
so your customers no longer seeyour business posts on social media.
And how are you going to handle itif you somehow lose access to your
account or you managed to get banned?
I've seen both of those things happen alot, way more than you might want to hear.
(05:08):
And you really need to have a backup plan.
Social media can be a reallyimportant part of your online
marketing, but it's also kind of likebuilding your house on rented land.
You don't own the platformand you don't make the rules.
So you really need to have that websiteso that your customers are always
going to have a way to find you.
Now another concern.
(05:28):
If you tell me you can't affordit, I'll tell you that there are
affordable options for every budget.
You can make a website withany budget that you've got.
You might have to put in moresweat equity into a website
if you have a smaller budget.
But keep in mind that the cost of allof those lost opportunities that are
going to your competitors, when yourpotential customers are looking for you.
(05:50):
Those lost opportunities should,once you capture them, exceed
the cost of your website.
So you do need to have a budgetfor creating a website that's
going to reach those customers.
And then another thing, if youhave no idea where to start.
Don't have the time to figureit out and think you aren't tech
savvy enough to do it on your own.
I'll tell you, I have your back.
(06:11):
First, many website buildersare very, very user-friendly.
It's not like when I started makingwebsites back in the day that you had
to figure everything out from scratch.
You had to write all kinds of code.
It's not like that anymore.
It's a lot easier for non-techiesto create your own website.
Plus you have people like me whoare more than happy to help you
(06:32):
create your successful website.
All right.
So now that I've convinced you thatyou don't need to wait until next
year to create your website, right?
Cause I've met all of your concerns.
What can you do about it?
Well, I've got a fewthings that you can try.
Number one, start making a plan.
Think about your offer, yourgoals and your target audience.
And just start writing that down.
(06:53):
Number two, research, somewebsite builders to figure out
which one might work for you.
So you can try Squarespace,WordPress, Wix.
There's a whole bunch of them out there.
Number three, set aside a budget.
You need money to pay for at leastyour domain name and your web hosting.
And you might need even more money.
If you're going to hire someoneto help you with your website.
And then number four, I want you tosign up for my website Quickstart
(07:17):
challenge that starts on December 4th.
It's totally free.
And I'll walk you throughthose first three things.
Plus I'll help you get startedwith your content and your branding
so actually creating your websiteis going to be a no brainer.
I'll put a link for the WebsiteQuickstart Challenge in the show notes.
So, if you are listening to this onyour favorite platform, you can go to
(07:38):
websitesuccessacademy.com and then go intothe podcast section and find this episode.
Now do you remember that clientthat I talked about earlier?
The one that I had the kickoff call with.
At the end of our call, she said,"I wish I'd done this sooner."
So don't be like her.
Don't let another year slip by withoutgetting your website up and running.
The best time to startyour website was last year.
(08:00):
The second best time is right now.
So sign up for that quick start challengeand get started with your website.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sureyou subscribe, leave a review, and
come back for the next episode wherewe'll talk about more things that you
can do to make a successful website.
In the meantime, Thanks for tuning in,and I hope to chat with you again soon.
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