As a web designer, I get a surprising amount of people asking me this question. While most people would assume that any answer besides “YES!” would be a foolish answer, I try to be honest with people and look first at their business, industry, and budget, before giving them my honest take.

Let’s look into some questions you might want to ask yourself before you go around and start putting yourself in the market for a brand new site.

1. Establishing Credibility: Can It Be Done Without a Website?

Depending on your business and its industry, you might find that you can establish a fair amount of credibility just through referrals from past customers satisfied with your service. If your industry is not tightly regulated and if your customer base tends to be more relaxed, you might find that a few social media pages might be “good enough” for your current customers.

However, if you want to expand out to new markets, and if these potential customers seem to expect a greater level of professionalism, a website might become a must for you and your business. Likewise, if your business has strict industry standards, a website might be a good way to establish that your business is trustworthy.

2. Competition Analysis: What Are They Doing?

Likewise, consider where you live and how accessible you are. Do you live in a small town or a big city? Are there a lot of other people with the same business in your area? Or can people outside your local area access your services? Do your competitors around you have a website already?

You should ask yourself all these questions before you consider whether a site is necessary or not. To put it simply, if your other competitors around you have a website, you might want to consider one too. There is a chance that they are funneling in customers through online means, and you don’t want to miss out. But on the flip side, if they don’t have a website, or you are the only business in your area, or you happily get most of your clients from word of mouth, you might not need a website.

3. Budget Constraints: Can You Afford a Website?

The truth is that you get what you pay for when it comes to websites. Don’t be fooled into website designs that promise a beautiful site for only a few hundred dollars, as most of these are made by overseas designers who will make a website that looks “just okay” and probably have it filled with errors and bugs (maybe intentionally or maybe not). You want to be ready to pay for a quality site. Depending on your business size and the quality of your web designer, expect to pay $500+ minimum for a basic website. If you are a larger business and want something more complex, you can expect even $1000-2000+ minimum prices for your site.

For some people, that’s nothing. For a startup or a small business. Woah! That’s a lot of dough! Consider if you can afford a website, or if you can’t but still think you would benefit from one, consider breaking down your website plan into phases to see if you can make your web-building process more financially manageable. You may want to consider starting with a one-page website and expanding to more pages when the budget allows.

Have any more questions? I’m happy to help or get you started on your next website for your business. Feel free to shoot me an email at hello@pollydesigns.com, and let’s make something beautiful together.