We have been saddened this year to see some companies who have been online for years let their subscriptions lapse or actually pull their sites off the web. None of our hosting clients have done this yet, thank goodness, but we’ve seen it all the same. Mostly from smaller companies and some retailers so far. We wondered why this was so so we asked a few of them.
We Can’t Afford It
Yes, this was the common response from those dropping out. We asked if they were dropping all of their advertising. Some said yes, other said no. In either case we couldn’t really understand why their web presence had to go.
But You Must
The Internet has to be by far the least expensive marketing medium available to most businesses. Currently we offer fully managed web hosting starting at $119.00 for a year with normal pricing. Domains are $15.00. Prices in both cases go down from there with respect to the economies of scale.
Do you know how much it costs to advertise in a magazine or newspaper? How about television or radio? If you have a business that relies on customers surely you do know something about the typically high costs associated with all of these common media options.
Advertising a business on the Internet can be pricey, too, depending on where you place you ad. We offer advertising opportunities on this site for a very small sum compared to some sites. Especially considering we have a page rank of 6 at present time and have for two years. We’re a bargain, but not all are.
Value Lives Online
That said, you have an even better option: have your own web presence. And by way of a skilled web developer and his or her sound advice, learn how to make the most of the site. Did you know websites can be made in such a way that their indexability and findability is extremely high? It’s true. By way of proper element use, semantic structure, accessibility — Accessigooglability, if you will — and natural, ethical search engine optimization (SEO).
Mike Cherim currently charges in the area of $1200 for the development of a blog that meets the success criteria defined in the last paragraph. But this is a one-time cost and his sites have staying power. More importantly, the companies we see dropping offline already have websites, the initial cost borne long ago. It sort of defies logic. Being the site is paid for, the hosting charge and domain fee are the only real costs left associated with keeping up with the site. That and a little time writing and posting content.
Stay Online
Again we’re really happy that we haven’t seen this from our hosting clients (knock wood), but we’ll offer this advice to all who read these articles: Don’t give up your online presence if you have a site already. If you don’t have a site and want to wait until better days due to the cost of having a site or blog built, that is perfectly understandable. But to give up altogether. Foregoing regard to the initial investment so as to escape the rather minuscule yearly costs is a false economy. We say: don’t do it. Stay online.
Credit: Entry title inspiration and image courtesy of the Bee Gees.