Why "I'll Do It Later" Is Costing Your Business Money
As a small business owner, you have orders to fill, employees to manage, payroll to run, inventory to record, and a bunch of calls to return. Somehow you're also supposed to find time to learn Wix and build a website too.
I get it. When you're running around trying to stay afloat just keeping daily operations going, a website feels like something that can be pushed to next month. Next quarter. You know you need one and it's on the list, but...so is everything else.
Here comes the part that you don't want to hear though (sorry!). While you're juggling all this, you're losing money. Not in a huge obvious hit that you can directly see, but in all the quiet opportunities you're missing each day.
The Invisible Cost
Around lunchtime in Philly, someone is likely searching for "best hoagie Fishtown" or whatever it is that you do. And they're finding your competitors.
Where does your business show up in those searches? Nowhere. You're invisible to everyone who doesn't already know about you. The worst part of this is you won't even see it happening. It's all behind the scenes. It's not as though someone walked past your shop and chose to not enter. It's the person who went to the sandwich shop down the street because they can view the menu online. The couple that ordered a group lunch for visiting parents who are hungry and were able to see photos of popular menu items.
What Waiting Actually Costs
Let's do the math. If just 2-3 customers each week can't find you online, they'll go somewhere else. If your average sale is $100, that's $200 a week you're missing out on.
Over a month? That's $800. Over a year? That's $9,600.
In a time where every single cost has increased and inflation has gone rogue, that's money we could all use.
And that's being conservative. If you're a contractor where an average job is $2,000, even a single missed customer each month is $24,000 that you don't see.
The website you've been procrastinating? It costs less than what you've lost.
Street Cred
Think about your behavior when first hearing about a new restaurant. What's the first thing you do? You Google 'em. You want to see their reputation. You want to see pictures of food, to read reviews, and check the hours.
What happens when they search and find nothing? Or even worse, an outdated site from 2014 that says "coming soon"? You've immediately created doubt. "Surely this can't be the correct business" or "Should I play it safe and go with someone else?"
You're going to end up needlessly working harder to build trust in every interaction because you're starting from behind.
"I'll Do It Myself" Turns into "I'll Do It Later"
I've seen this before. You've created a Squarespace or Wix account months ago. Bookmarked a few design templates that you liked. And that's pretty much it. The "I need to work on the website" has lingered in the back of your mind since then. That's taking up space - just like all the open tabs on your computer that explain how to create a website. This is all mental energy that you could be using for everything else.
Think about all the items you could check off your to-do list. Doing work you're actually good at.
The Solution is Not Finding Time - It's Getting Help
You don't need to become a web designer or learn how to code on the weekends using tutorials. You just need to be realistic and stop trying to do everything yourself. When your plumbing breaks, you don't teach yourself plumbing. You call a plumber. Legal issue? Hire a lawyer. So why are you trying to add "web developer" to your job description?
All you need to do is provide the basic info about your business: a few photos, what makes you different, and that's it. A web developer deals with hosting, design, making it look great on phones, and getting your site to show up in searches.
Your site can be live within a few weeks instead of "someday".
Start Getting Found
Every day you wait is another day customers are finding your competitors. Another day you're losing money. You're good at what you do. That's why you started your business. Let's make sure people can actually find you.
Let's talk about getting you online.
P.S. And in case you didn't know, the best hoagies in Fishtown come from Castellino's.
