I Don’t Need a Website

It takes a lot of chutzpah to tell people that you don’t need a website. This isn’t for me to say, although from a business perspective, I smell avoidance. Sure, there are legitimate situations where businesses with a loyal following genuinely don’t need a website but those are few and far between. Nevertheless, it’s not my place to insist that someone needs something if they’re bent on not having it. Not my battle. Life is too short.

Stick To Your Guns

However, I can’t leave without calling attention to certain aspects of an online business that can’t be achieved without a website. Granted, if these things aren’t the least bit relevant to the way you do business, you probably don’t need to give websites a second thought. Because if they aren’t already part of your game plan and you don’t see yourself ever using them then you’re likely not willing to alter your business model anyway and you’ll only ever see melioration as a waste of time and money. In which case, we all just might as well go home.

But to be fair to the ethos of online business as a whole, I challenge you to keep an open mind and rank these basic business elements on a scale from 1-3 (1/essential; 2/ideal; 3/unnecessary). And if you find yourself checking off 3s for most of them, consider this unscientific exercise as confirmation that you likely don’t need a website.

• 24/7 access to business info (hours of operation, contact info, pricing info, menus)
• A communication channel (contact form, email, social media)
• A free tool to generate leads and sales (requires a plan)
• A hands-free method of managing and engaging with customers/clients
• Proof of customer satisfaction via reviews and testimonials
• A propaganda source for differentiating your business from your competition

On The Other Hand

All that said, I feel like I would be remiss by ignoring the cry that websites are people too. Er, conceptually speaking.

Websites really do have a purpose. They exist to provide information for the benefit of others. That’s right, over and above their ability to sell things, their #1 modus operandi is to impart information. And if yours doesn’t do that, it probably isn’t worth the expense of its existence. Because it’s not going to unilaterally generate revenue without the strategically built-in purpose of giving people a reason to buy something from you. Which is of course, the #2 reason websites exist.

In other words, your website has to talk to people on your behalf. (Hence the “websites are people too” idiom.)

Apples & Oranges

Compare a website to an online brochure. They both provide information but which one is more efficient? Brochures require the manual effort of hoofing around town until you run out and have to re-print more to distribute all over again. A website lives in one place, doesn’t require printing, doesn’t get thrown in the trash, and requires zero-to-minimal manual intervention to remain functional.

And still, a website is so-o much more than a brochure. It educates, sells things, promotes other people’s things (earning you a passive commission), builds relationships (strictly platonic), and can provide access to useful digital tools (eg. calculators, analytics, design tools, etc.) if that sort of thing is relevant to its being.

It can deliver videos, podcasts, webinars, ebooks, and online courses. It can automatically schedule appointments, accept payments, onboard staff. (I know you know what a website is capable of. Sometimes though, it’s just helpful to see it spelled out.)

Of course, if brochures are more your thing, we’re still barking up the wrong tree and this analogy is just another confirmation that you probably don’t need a website.

Still Agreeing With You

I get it. You’re a die-hard skeptic. No time. Limited budget. Hard sell. So take this next bit with a shaker of salt because I’m agreeing that you don’t need a website if this describes you:

• You don’t want to spend more than $100 on a website. This includes the annual fees of ~$60 for annual domain registration + a lo-level $4/mo shared hosting account. These already put you over your (unrealistic) website budget.
• You couldn’t be bothered to learn how to use your website to market your business
• You know you won’t take the time to add content. Ever.
• You know you won’t hire someone else to add content
• You’re perfectly content using Facebook, Wix, wordpress.com, or any other #freenotfree platform
• Statistics mean absolutely nothing to you
• You believe that word of mouth is the only way to promote your business

If this is you, great. You’re probably still a good person and you know what you want. It’s just not a website. And that’s ok. Own it. Don’t ever let anyone sell you something you don’t want or believe in.

But chew on this before gluing yourself to the floorboards of your brick-n-mortar office…

When asked by Steven Bartlett what makes a really good entrepreneur, Alex Hormozi answered, “I think they have to be able to boil down the success of their business into inputs and outputs. Like, if you don’t know the inputs that are going to get the output that you want, then what are you doing?”

In the context of this conversation, if you don’t know how a website can impact your business for the better, what are you doing? If you see the parallel, and the need to transition your online business with a highly functional website, reach out.