Website as a Business
“We understand that not everyone wants to build a small empire, but it’s safe to say that everyone would like more out of their website.”
A WaaB is an acronym for a term we've coined Website as a Business. There are millions of published sites on the Interwebs, a fair percentage of which offer great content, but few are positioned to sell anything at all. In this post, we discuss some of the reasons why the overwhelming majority of websites are used as digital flyers as opposed to tools for business development.
Lack of Awareness
Most companies don't know that a website can be used to carry out several processes associated with business actions. But the end-user isn't to blame if their webmaster or digital marketing agency isn't open about the fact that a site can literally pull in traffic, respond to inquiries, book consultations, perform sales transactions, follow up with customers, and automate a number of other administrative tasks.
Fear of Growth
Individuals have the potential to launch successful initiatives based on existing Web applications, and have already. It's actually quite common for a regular blogger to drive more unique visitors to their site than a large enterprise can to the brochure-ware version of theirs. That said, few are willing to build a business around their website. Why? Fear usually plays a part.
Not wanting to get out of their comfort zone, that being hiding behind their computer (something that most of us could be deemed guilty of at times), is a subsidiary of this. Product creation beyond digital (i.e. involving a third-party manufacturer), answering direct support emails, eventually calling a client (and/or receiving phone calls), rendering a service in a professional and timely fashion (while being accountable for mishaps, etc)... These are required for business growth. We understand that not everyone wants to build a small empire, but it's safe to say that everyone would like more out of their website.
Stuck in the Old Ways
Brick & Mortar businesses are especially guilty of this. Interestingly enough, they have more capacity to accomplish fantastic feats online than young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs because they already have products (whether produced in-house or not) ready to be distributed to an audience in need of what they have to offer. This is not to mention the present cash flow that can be used for investments into their new digital hub.
Plenty of organizations have a website up and running, but who knows about it? Probably no one. Word-of-mouth advertising does work, but it's useless if without a defined purpose. Simply referring someone to your site as though it's a cool thing in itself without offering anything of value - could be more of a hinderence than lead to a positive outcome. The issue for why many people don't move ahead is clear; they don't want to accept change.