We are living in the digital world, a website is crucial for any business. If you have a business and don’t have a website, you are probably losing out on opportunities for your business. A website can be used to accomplish many different marketing strategies to help your business grow. The web has a far more extensive reach than any other form of advertising. Your website will be the center of your company’s online presence. You can advertise your business around the web on social networking sites, and forums.
If you’re a small business owner or you’re just starting out, like many, you may think there’s no benefit in having a website when you can do everything on social media. Or maybe you think you can’t afford a professional website so you get a freebie and do it yourself instead.
1. Tell Customer Who and Where You Are
Having an active website is important even for small, local businesses. According to a study, 85 percent of consumers use the internet to find a local business. Without a business web design, these customers may not even be able to contact or locate the business. Search engines such as Google are heavily focusing on local results, so a website is even more important if you are a local business.
2. People search for you online
Let’s imagine that two friends are together, having a cup of coffee and talking. The one friend, Marta, tells the other, Louise, about your business, as she visited the other day, and gives a glowing recommendation to visit your company.
When Louise returns home, she decides to look up your organization to learn more. When she searches for your company’s name, she can’t find a website. She trusts her friend Marta, but she’s skeptical because she can’t find your site to learn more about your company.
3. Maximize ROI
In the digital transformation era, creating a website on free tools such as WordPress.com doesn’t cost a lot of money, but provides more bang for your buck. A search engine optimized website lets you be in front of thousands of more potential consumers without spending much. It can help you reach a wider target audience for promoting your services or products. The content on the website also influences buying decisions and commercial transactions, no matter which industry you are in.
4. People want basic answers fast
One of the most important reasons to have a website is that your leads want information fast.
Do you find yourself overwhelmed with phone calls of people asking about your hours of operation, your specials, or how your business works? If so, it’s time to build a website for your brand.
You save your company from answering basic questions when you provide the information on your site. A website stops you from answering questions like, “What time do you close?” or “What specials do you have today?” dozens of times a day.
When you invest in building a website, you create an opportunity to provide all the essential information in one place.
You post information like:
- Hours of operation
- Specials
- Products/services
- Prices
- Location
- Company background
- Contact information
5. Fading Social Media Reach
If you think having a page on social media is enough to attract new customers, think again. It is not enough to have a Facebook page, because every other business has it. Facebook claims that people spent 50 million fewer hours on Facebook than they did the year before. Therefore, many companies are now switching to building websites instead of relying on social media networks only. While social media networks have the potential to increase business, banking just on them can be a huge mistake that can cost in the years to come.
6. Improved Customer Service
Usually, a business web design will include a contact us section that gives your customers instant access to ask a question or notify you about a problem with your goods or services. This gives you the ability to provide instant feedback to the customer and improve your customer service satisfaction rate. There are many creative ways you can improve a customer’s experience including a simple contact form so they may contact you with questions, a blog, or forum they can leave questions in or even a live chat for immediate satisfaction. There are many live chat programs that are simple to install.
7. Know Your Customers
Businesses will have the ability to track who is viewing their site and who is making purchases. The data collected can provide valuable information to the business that will allow them to better target their current and potential customers. Tracking software is becoming very intelligent. At a minimum, install Google Analytics which is completely free.
8. People use your website to engage with your business
If you’re still asking the question, “Do I need a website for my business?” here’s another excellent reason to invest in building a website: Engagement. Engagement plays a critical role in turning leads into life-long customers.
Over 63% of consumers use a company’s website to engage with the brand. In this digitally-run world, you must create a robust online presence to engage prospects and get them to become customers.
Without a website, you’re missing these critical moments where you can turn leads into conversions. An informative and visually-appealing website goes a long way in helping your business attract prospects, delight them, and turn them into clients for your company.
9. IT PROVIDES A MEDIUM TO SHOWCASE YOUR WORK
No matter what type of business you’re in, a website is a great place to showcase your work or demonstrate your skills. By including a portfolio, image gallery, or videos, as well as testimonials about your work, you can demonstrate what makes your company or you unique.
Back when I first wrote my original article, there was no Pinterest or Instagram. Now 9 years later, a lot of people are using these social media channels to showcase their work. But is your target audience on Pinterest or Instagram?
On Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media channels, the quality of your photos or graphics is compromised and the size may be substantially reduced. Not only that but Facebook and other social media channels control how people interact with them and even WHO can see them.
If you have a website, your portfolio can be viewed by everyone anywhere and you are in control of what people see, the quality and size of your photos, and how people interact with those photos.
Not only that, but did you know, in most cases, once you post your work on these social media channels you no longer own the rights to those photos and they could be being sold to use in those sponsored ads you see throughout your timeline?
