We are once again at that time of year where we all promise to lose weight, stop smoking and to be more positive. Along with all of these personal New Year’s resolutions often comes a raft of business resolutions, goals or targets.

“I really need a website”.

“I must get that shopping cart so I can sell my products online”.

“I’ll update my website in the New Year”.

Resolutions and thoughts like this are common ones, especially amongst business owners. However, as the New Year starts and all that comes with it means that your current website, or ambitions of finally getting a website, get swept under the carpet.

We’ll make the assumption that you and your business is good at what you do and you have good customer service, after those two things your company’s website is the most important aspect of your business.

A website:

  • Is your primary source of advertising.
  • Can become the number one pathway that your clients take to reach you.
  • Tells potential clients about your services and why they should use you.
  • Can save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours by automating mundane repetitive administration tasks (if you have a good content management system).
  • Can take your client’s payments online and can also create a terrific flow of passive income.
  • Can communicate with you current clients, either by bulk HTML emails, sms text message, blog / news articles or general updates on your site.
  • Can easily manage vast databases of information once again saving you time and money.
  • Showcase your products and services through photo or video galleries.

When you look at these points, as well as extrapolate these ideas based on your business’ specific needs, it would be negligent not make your website your number one New Year’s resolution.

“I can’t afford a new website”.

“Why do websites cost so much?”

Both of these comments are common and nine times out of ten not well thought out. A basic website might take 5 to 15 hours of work to develop. However, most website companies also have their own software or code which they have developed in their own time which they can plug in to new websites, meaning more than just the 5 to 15 hours go into a website.  More complicated database driven websites can often be anywhere from 10 hours work to upwards of 100 hours worth of work.

So if you are a business owner and want a new website and you get a range of quotes, a good thing to do would be to divide the quoted amount by your hourly rate, just to get a perspective on the price you’ve been given. Sure, everybody has different hourly rates, but this at least will start to help you make an informed decision.

The other point to consider is the monetary outlay for your website versus potential revenue generated by your website. If someone were to tell you that if you invested $5,000 and would get $100,000 in return over the next few years I don’t think anyone would turn that offer down. However, you would be surprised how many people baulk at a website quote which is only a fraction of what they would be making if their business becomes successful.

Sounds stupid, right?

“I want to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but I’m only willing to spend a few hundred dollars to achieve it”. For people with attitudes like this I have one piece of advice, buy a Tattslotto ticket. If you want to get the most out of the internet and your website, you have to be willing to invest time, resources and money. Otherwise you are dreaming and will be making the same resolutions next year.

So in short, don’t put off to tomorrow what you could otherwise do today. The sooner you initiate the process of a new website or upgrades to your current site, the sooner you will be reaping the rewards.

Happy New Year!