In my previous article, I wrote about the three things you need to have your own website – a domain name, the website itself and hosting. I also gave approximate costs for each.
For this week, I had a whole article about why a website is useful for a business, but I think some of those are pretty clear: increased visibility, global reach, a professional image, etc. So let me point out two less-obvious benefits of having your own website.
Some time last year, a Kenyan business owner lamented how her employees had scammed her business of lots of money. One of the ways they did this was by inflating the fee for some training that the business was offering or planning to offer. So potential students were given a higher figure. Having a website would have mitigated this. Instead of relying on word of mouth, potential students would only need to visit the website and see the correct fees and any other requirements. Having a website allows you to communicate directly with the public.
The second benefit is control. You may say “I don’t need a website, since I have a Facebook page.” You may indeed have one that is ‘working,’ but such a page is in the hands of someone else and relies on their policies and algorithms. You may not be allowed to implement certain features or even to sell certain things. Your page can also be shut down for real or perceived violations of their policies. Your access to useful customer data may also be limited.
Your own website is in your control. Yes, the hosting companies have policies as well, but these are generally more relaxed than those applied by social media networks and have more to do with the abuse of their servers than policing your content.
In the next post in this series, I intend to look at some considerations about choosing a domain name.
