I agree with OP. If the company I am considering is not present online I will not use them.
I agree with OP. If the company I am considering is not present online I will not use them.
They have those anywhere in the civilized world.
Yeah, I don't get it either.
Even a 1996ish website will suffice.
How much does hosting a low traffic site costs? $20-50 a year, and another whopping $5 for the domain name.
Building a basic website for a small restaurant or something only takes a few hours. You download a free template somewhere. Make a custom banner in the gimp/photoshop and add some pictures and text, upload it to the host and your done. Any neighborhood computer savvy kid can do that, if you slip them $50 bucks or something.
It could be that they haven't got a website - because they don't want one and already have the clientèle that they want and don't want to increase the trade.
All manner of reasons could exist - I certainly wouldn't exclude a business on the existence or non-existence of a website - you could be walking past the one place that does exactly what you want or need.
It's quite amazing how we all managed to cope before there were computers and mobile phones - if it annoys so much - use somewhere else. The whole world does not need to be constantly on tap for everyone else.I want on demand information about your business whenever and however I want it
It might also help to consider many of the people you talk to in these forums are young enough to barely remember a world without the internet.
As to your previous comment, it's rare that businesses don't want to increase sales. It not only increases (apparently an evil thing if I read these forums right) profit, but also provides security when there is a downturn in sales. It is usually not good to be dependent on a single customer (Kind of like 80/20 gone mad). A business will probably not have a website because either it focuses on a very small regional market (like the restaurant down the street that makes yummy omelets) or prefers to look for long term business relationships using personal means, such as word of mouth.
I understand that - all I'm getting at is that if someone hasn't got a site - there's probably a good reason for it.
Yes - there are probably many people here who can't remember a world without instant communication, I've got an 8 year old who thinks that she should have a phone, just think it's a bit sad that it can seem an annoyance when the information isn't instantly on tap.
Not that I would want to be travelling everywhere by horse you understand and I'm certainly no Luddite - or I wouldn't be here
Even bars have pages now.
It is a really easy and cheap way to get known.
Although it is not essential, a website/blog/social network site is a very good idea to have.
Here's an idea - go outside, maybe? I'm sure you can't smell the delicious foods from your monitor...
And of course the restaurant / pizza place / bar etc will want a dynamic e-commerce site with AJAX, Flash and an online marketing project for £300!
I sold my design agency a few years back and because I never focused on that end of the market, the rewards, both financial and in terms of satisfaction at the end of a days work, were much greater.
Even in these days of pennies per megabyte hosting, if a company is serious about having an online presence, they need to look at spending more than £300.
I still consult on occasion and during initial discussions, if the client is not willing to consider spending £2500 minimum, then I don't even make a repeat appointment. I often use sites like http://www.google.com/analytics/ to complete a statistical review of the present site. You would be amazed at how many bad sites are simply not sticky! A good or even great site will hold a viewers attention and encourange them to travel further into the site and thus learn more about the company.
A bad site is like a bad advert!
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That good reason may be that they are incredibly busy and successful, operating at capacity, and don't need to promote themselves anymore.
The local garage that I use is a small family run operation. They do an excellent job for a reasonable price. If I need to put my car in I have to book a week in advance. I started using them on the recommendation of colleague, who in turn started using them on a recommendation of someone else.
I have a freind who has his own landscaping firm. I offered to build him a website and he said thanks but no thanks, on the basis that he was booked solid for the next few months and didn't want to have to turn people away, so figured he'd be better off not promoting his company any more for a few months.
The problem is that a website is only any good if there is someone with the skills, time and interest to maintain it. If I encountered a website that was two years out of date, I would just assume the business had probably ceased trading and just left their site to expire.
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