5 Reasons To Own A Website

There are still some business owners and organizations in Malaysia (and around the world generally) - especially the small ones - who still do not have their own website. Their belief is that a social media account is sufficient to represent their business. Although a social media account is great for marketing and representing your business, it is imperative that every business and organization should have their own website. We will explain briefly here, why.

The reason why so many small business owners prefer to have only social media presence is the fact that they are free to set up. Setting up a website, on the other hand, incur costs. But hey, that's how you do business: you invest. So, here we will explain five (5) important reasons why having your own website is so crucial to your business.

1. Ownership

Your website is yours, you are the owner. A social media site is not yours, you're just one of its members. Think of it like an office: an office that you buy or build, versus an office that you're only renting (and sharing with other tenants). There are serious limitations to what you can do to your rented space. Something you own, on the other hand, you can do practically whatever you want with it. As your business grows, you will soon find that some social media sites would not be able to fulfill your growing needs.

2. Branding

If you're growing your business seriously, you will have most probably learnt about the importance of branding. On social media sites, there's only so much you can do to apply your branding to your page. On your own website, everything can be customized to really showcase your brand. The layout, the fonts, the colours, the general look, the language, the interaction with customers - everything.

3. Freedom

Social media sites do not give you absolute freedom. Your presence on social media sites are bound to the sites' rules and regulations. The things you sell, the way you sell them, the way your market to potential clients, and others - are all bound to the sites' rules and regulations. Social media sites like Facebook, for instance, will freeze certain access to their features when you are deemed to violate their regulations (even though in some cases, you actually don't). On your own website, there are no rules and regulations. Do whatever you want.

4. Stability

Having your own website will give you more stability in terms of online presence. The presence of your social media page is dependent on the social media site setup. Sometimes, your social media page may become slightly weird - especially when the social media site changes their structure, the technology that they use, or just the general rules and regulations. You may have to always be alert to the changes that they make, which sometimes require you to tweak your social media page setup in order to keep up. Also, if the social media site one day decides to stop operation - well, there goes your social media page.

5. Expandability

As we have said in point number 1, your website it yours. Hence, whenever you decide you want to add certain functions or pages to your website, you can. Functions on a social media page, on the other hand, are usually limited to only what the social media site has prepared (and it's usually very limited). On your own website, you have the ability to perform extensive e-commerce operations, live chat, live support, customized surveys, and many others. Your creativity is the limitation.

So, if you're one of the business owners who still doesn't have your own website for you business, get one now.