Why You Might Not Need a Website After All

During the past several weeks, my husband and I have been in the process of selling our house and buying a new one.

Thanks to help from our amazing Realtor, we opted to buy a new construction home from a local builder who primarily focuses on our neighborhood.

When considering working with this builder, we didn’t have a fancy website to review. The Realtor simply sent over the house plans and the builder’s Facebook page.

That’s it.

No website or fancy brochures. Just a Facebook page filled with pictures of the builder’s previous projects.

But, that was enough for us to get a sense of this company’s style and craftsmanship that we wanted to meet with the builder and tour a home.

Facebook Likes = Potential Buyers
 

When we met with the builder, he shared the Facebook has been a tremendous marketing tool for him.

Thanks to Facebook, he’s able to tell when he’s about to hear from a potential buyer.

When he gets a new “like”, he knows that he will typically hear from that person in about four days.

FOUR DAYS.

That’s incredible business intelligence.

And for him, Facebook is doing everything he needs it to — it provides a simple and cost effective way to showcase his work for interested buyers.

Could a website be beneficial for this builder?

Sure.

But, as the builder put it, he can only build so many houses in a year. Because the builder owns small company that works in a narrowly defined market, he doesn’t need to spend a ton of time on marketing.

Between his signs, his Facebook page and word of mouth referrals, the builder has no trouble quickly selling his homes — all without the time and expense of a website.

Do You Need a Website?

The conventional wisdom is that every company needs a website (and yes, I’m a big proponent of this). But, the reality is that’s not always true.

There are definitely times when a website might not make the most sense for your company. Here are just a few examples:

• Other marketing efforts are more cost effective and beneficial to your company.
• Your customers prefer other forms of communication or marketing (social media, email, mobile app, text message, etc.)
• Your business is built entirely on referrals, government contracts, etc.
• Your company is hyper local and relies heavily on foot-traffic.

Marketing gurus are often quick to prescribe things that every company needs to do.

But, here’s the thing — you are not every company. What works for one type of business does not work for everyone.

You have to discover what works best for your business, your brand and your customers.

And, this thinking doesn’t just refer to websites. This same thing goes for social media and plenty of other marketing tactics. Ultimately, that might mean cutting some marketing efforts that don’t fit your needs or your budget.

I’m not suggesting that you throw out the idea of building a website altogether or your abandon your latest marketing effort because of this post.

However, don’t simply assume you need to employ a marketing tactic because every other business is doing it. Build the marketing strategy that makes sense for your business and budget.

On rare occasions, that might mean you don’t need a website after all.

What do you think? Are there ever times when a company doesn’t need a website?