If you own a small business you need a website. It’s as simple as that. Even if you have a service where you don’t think you get any online business you’re wrong. Do you know when the last time I looked at a phone book was? Never. Why would I flip through a phone book when I can know every plumber in town in three seconds on Google?
If you’re business didn’t come up within the first ten results then I probably didn’t call you. Every business needs a web presence to be competitive these days. Business web hosting is painfully cheap and you don’t even need a complicated website. You just need to be found. If you’re a local business it will probably be pretty easy to optimize for the keywords that matter to you. (ie. “plumbers in San Antonio” or “real estate agents Palmetto”)
You could get a hosting account with web hosting pad for as little as $1.99 a month. If you can’t afford less than $30 a year to grow your business you’d better go back to your day job right now. If you don’t know how to build or seo a website yourself those services can be equally cheap for the keywords you need to target.
If you don’t have time to learn these trades yourself you can most likely get them done for even a couple hundred dollars. This includes a decent one page website design, and somebody to get you a little keyword ranking. Make sure to update your google places location, because this is usually the first thing to come up when somebody searches! You could have your business on page one without even really doing anything!
If you’re not sure which hosting company to use or what you need try looking for some reviews like this one for lunarpages who are also pretty cheap. Many places offer unlimited hosting for shared accounts. Depending on your type of business a basic plan is most likely all you need.
You may want to think about adding more features though. A facebook page, a blog, a contact form. All of these things can be totally free additions to your web page and really up your community effect. Schedule appointments online, list your contact information, talk to customers, market to people on Facebook. There are a lot of possibilities for a small business to get ahead on the internet!
