If you've only just started your business, or your operation is small, it can feel daunting to commission a production company to build your website.
So instead you attract customers using free blog services such as "Hamazo" or social media like LINE and Facebook.
That's certainly a valid way to attract customers, but if you want to make the process more efficient, you really should create your own company website.

That's because, while social media and blogs are effective for sharing real-time information, the content flows away chronologically, making it hard for new customers to find basic information such as your company profile and services. On top of that, some customers may feel uneasy and think, "They don't even have a website?"

That doesn't mean, however, that you should "spend serious money and have a website built!"
So what should you do? One option is to build a site using a free website service.
Whatever the quality or content, there's value simply in having both of the two major customer-acquisition tools—a website and social media.
Then, once your business has grown to a certain size, it makes sense to commission a production company.

Can't you attract customers with a free website service?

Sometimes people ask me: "Someone from a web production company told me you can't attract customers with a free website service—is that true?"

It's true that hearing it from a web production professional makes it sound plausible, but it also sounds like sales talk designed to sell you something…

So what's the answer?
"There's no such thing as not being able to attract customers *because* a site is free. Free or paid, a good website will attract customers."
That's how I answer.

"Free websites don't show up in search engines."
"Free websites aren't trusted."

Apparently there are sales reps at production companies who say things like this, but it's plainly a sophistry.

So what exactly is a "good website"?

Whether free or paid, it's a fact that "a good website will attract customers."
So what is a "good website"?

※A website with great design?
※A stylish website full of beautiful photos?

Those are certainly valid answers. But to achieve them, you still have to pay a production company.
And in fact, design and good looks have very little impact on how many customers you attract.
This may come as a bit of a surprise, but it's safe to say that at the very least, 'cool-looking ≠ sells'.

A good website is
'a website that clearly conveys the information customers need'.
The stylish design mentioned above is one element of 'conveying things clearly', so in that sense it does have some influence.
That said, most of 'the information customers need' is overwhelmingly expressed as text, in other words, in words.
And who comes up with that text? The answer is obvious... 'you'.

In other words, whether you build it yourself with a free website service or pay a production company to build it,
whether it turns out to be a 'good website' comes down to 'you', the creator.

What are the benefits of hiring a website production company?

That might make you wonder, 'So is there any benefit at all to hiring a website production company?'
Of course there is (laughs).
Roughly speaking, it's that 'you can shorten the time it takes to arrive at a good website'.

Before a website is finished, there are many points to consider and many tasks to complete.

※What should the design be like?
※How should the content you want to convey to users be organized and presented?
※Is there information you'll need to add down the road?
※Does the navigation flow keep users from getting lost?
※Where will you source your materials from?
※What kind of text structure will get through to users?
※What layout will make things easiest for users to understand?

And so on...
Handling all of that on your own takes time. You'll also have to do a fair amount of studying.
What's more, most of that effort isn't directly connected to your business.
So you need to have plenty of time to spare and not be in a hurry to see business results.

When you hire a website production company, they take care of that work and provide those skills on your behalf.
That frees you to concentrate on your own business, which increases the chances of getting results sooner.

That said, as mentioned earlier, simply dumping everything on a production company won't give you a good website.
You should understand that unless you take the lead yourself, no amount of money will get you the result you're hoping for.