What is the best option for effective business development? Website or social networks? This question is relevant, especially for novice businessman, who decided to take their business on the Internet. This article is for them.
Yes, the recent popularity of social networks has grown significantly. Their audience consists of millions and billions users. And every day there are hundreds of new bands that put a goal – the development of business. So it may be a need for even eliminated sites? Maybe enough to create a group and take it with cream?
Let us consider the pros and cons of these options in detail:
Groups / Pages on Social Networks
Advantages
- Low entry threshold: You can create quite a decent page with a description of goods / services, with no special skills.
- Good usability: Internet marketers and social networks like FB,G+, Tweeter, etc. have already done everything for you.
- The ability to gather audience quickly: Make friends for newsletter and get the first participants on the first day. True, this audience will be limited to the scope of the social group.
- The effect of the content: Create content for the team members to pitch and a couple of days are sufficient for you to know everything.
Disadvantages
- High competition: It is the effects of a low entry threshold, because everyone can create a page on the social networking sites.
- Template: If your products / services are the same as that of the competitors, your group will be like twins.
- Limited functionality: Limited possibilities of social networks. No baskets, calculator, online payment and other user-friendly services.
- The lack of additional earnings: No matter how popular you or your group is, you will not get anything for the placement of banners and advertisements on it.
- Dependence on social networks: Your group is not your property, and at any time a social network can change the rules of the game.
- Promotion on the social network: A normal search is much more complicated.
- Unavailability of b2b sector: Social networks are designed for the end-user market. And the attempt to sell the machines through group or industrial boilers is a waste of time and effort.
Your Own Website
Advantages
- Complete freedom of action and choice: You create the site as you want, how you want and options you desire. Modern CMS provide ample of opportunities.
- Wide audience: In contrast to the group, which is due to a potential audience of only a social network site, promoting in search engines has no restrictions.
- Monitoring: Set metrics and track the effectiveness of the shares, promotion channels, and behavioral factors. In social networks it is impossible.
- Earnings: Own website makes it possible to make profit from any resource – from a commercial (sales) to information and entertainment (advertising).
- Title: Being the full owner of the site, you can sell service or products, put on advertisement or do whatever you like. In the case of a group of social networks, these opportunities are closed for you.
Disadvantages
- Web design: It is hard to create a website with your own. Here you have to pay the web designer and developer, or enjoy free templates (e.g., WordPress templates or Joomla templates).
- Promotion: To make the website visible in search engines and gain traffic, it takes time and money. Although you can promote the site on your own but what matters is the time.
The table shows that social networks have a number of advantages, but they also have a number of serious limitations that will not allow you to fully deploy online business.
Conclusion: if you have a really long-term intention to be in the online business, then it’s better to get your own high-quality website to support your team. This is ideal because this is exactly what the leading companies of the world and far-sighted businessmen are doing.
Even if you start and you are at the beginning of the road, do not take time (or think about money) and create a good website. It quickly pays for itself.
