With so many online marketplaces, social media platforms, and handy professional messaging APP’s, it is tempting for the modern successful entrepreneur to try to do without a blog or website.
But if you do without one, you will miss out on many opportunities.
We will help you move from “Do I need a website for my business ?” To “I need a website for my business” at the end of this article.
Read the rest to find out why it is essential.
- Here’s why you need a website
Here’s why you need a website
You may need to be convinced of the need for a website for your business, or you already know it is important and you are just checking the facts.
In any case, we have gathered 8 reasons why a website should be part of your projects.
1. You can reach new customers
The days when only neighbors or customers who found your number in the directory could know of your small business are over.
You don’t know what a phone book is ? No big deal: with a website, businesses can be found by anyone, anywhere and anytime.
Thanks to search engines, even small business owners can gain global visibility. Here’s why you need a website to reach new customers:
Your site can be found through organic research
With consistency and intelligent use of keywords, your optimization efforts for search engines (SEOs) can seriously bear fruit.
The SEO allows your website to appear in the results of search engines. The more optimized your site, the more visible your business will be.
It is an effective and cost-effective way to get ahead with potential customers. See our guide on how to get free traffic on your website.
Websites help publicize your location
If your business has an offline presence, such as a store or office, it is important that it appears in search engines. This will allow potential customers to spot you.
In addition to publicizing your business, your website is one of the best places to show what’s going on on your premises.
It is part of your marketing funnel
If you are marketing on social media or paying for advertisements, you will need a website to ensure that potential new customers remain interested in your business.
Think about how you interact with a business before making a purchase or request. Wouldn’t you like to learn more about it first?
2. You will gain credibility
Another important reason why you need a website for your small business is to give it well-deserved credibility.
As a leader, know that you have done a good job, but you must ensure that everyone is convinced. A website will help you.
Besides the fact that you have total control over the appearance of your company’s website, this is why an online presence will make you more credible:
Your competitors will have websites
Small businesses often have to work hard to make themselves known. Whatever the niche, it is likely that you have friendly competitors.
To make sure your products or services are constantly visible, you can create a website that stands out from the crowd and appears in search rankings.
Even if your business has a wonderful store or loyal customer base, without a website, you will only offer new business opportunities to your competitors.
This is an excellent place for magazines
People will talk about your business, whether you have a website or not. But one of the best ways to take advantage of the inevitable criticism is to present it on your site.
By using your website as a place where potential customers can read testimonies, you increase your credibility as a business.
In addition, it will make you responsible. If you integrate customer reviews on your site, chances are you will be trying to provide incredible service on a permanent basis.
3. You can build a brand
If you manage a handful of successful social network profiles, you may be wondering “if I need a website to build my brand”.
It depends on your goals. If social channels can make your brand identifiable, a website will give it sustainability.
Having a website for your small business allows you to control your business’s appearance, feelings and speech to your customers. Here’s why you need a website to build a brand :
It’s a design your way
Whether you use a web designer or build a website yourself, each design element can be adapted to the needs of your business, from the color palette to the typography.
Consistency is essential to creating a brand and a personalized website will help your business become identifiable.
It’s a basis for your products
Thanks to online marketplaces, retailers may wonder, “Do I need a website for my business if I sell products elsewhere ?”
Well, your company’s website is a place where you can really highlight your products. On any other site, you will have to work hard to stand out from other companies.
By using a high-quality web design to sell products, you can create a recognizable brand on your own e-commerce site.
It helps develop a tone of voice
The identity of the brand is based on both visuals and the way you talk to your customers. How to welcome them on your site and describe your products or services?
Contact with people is important for small businesses, and the easiest way to do it online is to create a website whose content you control.
Recommended reading: 14 best examples of corporate websites in 2021
4. It will help with customer assistance
Growth is a good thing and the change of scale is exciting, but let’s face it: being an entrepreneur is an occupation that never stops – wouldn’t it be nice to reduce your workload?
Websites can help you. Rather than spending the day discussing questions and issues, your site may be the first place customers turn to.
Make your website super accessible to people, and you will have more time to meet other professional needs. Here’s what we mean:
You can set up a contact page
It doesn’t even have to be a separate page. If you prefer a single-page website, just provide space for contact information in the layout.
To allow people to ask any type of question, you can create a contact form or simply indicate an email address. This will save them a phone call.
You can also set up a chatbot. AI is the future, and chatbots are very smart these days – even urgent problems can be solved that way.
You can get ahead of the problems
Quality text, smart chatbots, and detailed testimony can all help you avoid problems from the start.
The more information your customers have before making a purchase, the better. Think of everything you can say about your products or services on your own website.
As the owner of a small business, you want to avoid costly mistakes. A useful site should help avoid most problems before they even happen.
5. It will allow you to experiment
Owning a website for a small business has many practical advantages, that’s for sure. But it can also be a very useful source of information.
If you are very interested in your customers’ purchasing habits, you absolutely need a website. There is so much to learn about the people who use your business.
Beyond all the analytical functions that accompany having your own domain name, we can imagine a few other ways of experimenting:
Exclusive online
You have a new unusual product and you are not sure that it is suitable for your collection? You can try it first on your website only. Many e-commerce sites offer online exclusives.
Depending on your business model, you can avoid committing to placing orders or store goods by testing items only online.
Marketing strategies
Marketing is about experimenting. You can do A / B tests with different web pages, alternate action call buttons in your emails, try banners and context windows, and the list is long.
Your website is an excellent resource for testing new marketing strategies. It can be relatively inexpensive and easy to modify.
Site design features
You can easily work with designers or website creators to change the presentation of your site. There are so many things you can do.
You want to add a cursor function to your reference page? Do it. Do you think people would like to see animations? Add them.
We don’t suggest you change your website every week, but web design is a tricky thing. If you want to try new features, you can do it.
6. It’s a marketing tool
There is nothing more exciting than the traffic you earn on a website. When your site is part of your marketing plan, you will start attracting more visitors to your business.
Don’t be taken aback – we know we just talked about traffic. But for a minute, think of your client as being on a trip.
To help it go from start to finish, your marketing plan must effort it effortlessly from channel to channel. Without a website, there is a roadblock and the trip cannot continue.
You will become omnichannel
Before you think your client can take a shortcut on their trip, we will tell you what will be missing.
You may think that the term “omnichannel” is too serious for a small business website. But it’s actually a simple concept.
American companies offer their customers a smooth and effortless journey at each stage. Whether shopping in stores or on mobile devices is easy and pleasant.
You will increase loyalty rates
Websites are perfect for making people stay. There are many features that you can add to the design of your website to achieve this.
We suggest a wish list page, a newsletter registration form, and maybe even a blog connected to your site.
As long as you offer user-friendly services, these website options will maximize customer engagement and loyalty.
Recommended reading: Marketing of social networks for small businesses
7. You are in activity 24/7
We all need to take a day off. But not the Internet – the Internet never takes a day off. This is the main reason why any business owner needs a website.
If we have not convinced you with all of our practical advice, then perhaps you will be convinced that you can be in business all day, every day, for minimal effort.
You still have 8 hours of sleep, and your website does all the work. Here’s why there are a lot of benefits to having your own online presence:
Your clientele is global
Or at least, it could be. As long as you can provide your products or services across different time zones, you’re able to do so when you have a website.
Imagine you’re in Europe, and someone in a Sydney boardroom wants your training course, or a shopper in New York wants your product. It’s easy and exciting to go global.
Contact point all day and night
Or at least it could be. As long as you can provide your products or services in different time zones, you can do so with a website.
Imagine that you are in Europe and that someone in a meeting room in Sydney wishes to take your training course, or that a buyer in New York wishes to obtain your product. It’s easy and exciting to get started in the world.
It will serve as a point of contact at all times of the day and night
If someone wakes up at 3 a.m. with a question for your team, what can they do? Wait until morning, or make a phone call and fall on your voicemail?
It’s simpler than that. Instead of using your phone number, it can go to your website and search for the answer, use the contact form or take the email address of your contact page.
You can focus on something else
As we said, you are probably very busy. You often have to take on many different roles as a business manager, which sometimes means not serving customers for a day.
This is where a website really proves its value. On days when you cannot go to the office or the store, your site can take over.
8. Why not? It’s easy
It is almost ridiculously easy to have a website. Not just any website: a beautiful website, optimized for SEO and memorable. If you plan to do it, go ahead, create one.
If you have big plans and a big budget, there are many options for you. If your projects are more modest and your budget is tiny, there are also many options for you.
It turns out that I need a website. How can I get one?
Good news, you’re ready to have a website. We will help you start your site creation project.
First, you will need a number of things to create your small business website:
- A site host
- Security
- An interface – the design of your website
- E-commerce functionality, if you are a retailer.
To get them all, there are three main options:
- Use a web designer and/or developer
- Use WordPress
- Use website creators
A website designer and a website developer
You can hire talented people to create a website from scratch. This option is reserved for companies with good purchasing power, as the cost can reach thousands of dollars.
If you work with designers and web developers, they will write the code, design the interface and maintain your website.
They will usually configure your site with a hosting company or make recommendations to you if you choose to do it yourself.
Make sure you are ready for such a project: calling on a designer or a web developer to build a custom website can take several weeks.
WordPress
This content management system (CMS) is the source of the vast majority of websites worldwide. It is not as personalized as using a web designer, but WordPress allows you to control the content.
You will first need to find a way to host your site. We have written a guide on how to start with hosting websites, so check it out and explore your options.
WordPress offers tens of thousands of plugins, which will allow you to equip your site with many functionalities. But it will cost you dearly, as will your domain name.
You can end up spending a lot of time and money on a WordPress website, depending on how much functionality you want to add to it.
Website creator
If your budget is tight and you want to know the costs from the start, this option will suit you. Website creation platforms offer monthly or annual packages that usually start at less than $ 10.
All coding is done for you and your site will be hosted and secure. You will have a large number of models designed by professionals, which you can customize for your brand.
Look for website creators who prepare you for professional life: Zyro offers all site owners SSL certificates and websites suitable for standard SEO.
If you have the idea of using another company, remember that you can use your own domain name. And above all? You can create and launch your website in one day.
Recommended reading;
https://www.income.tube/sales-funnel-affiliate-marketing/
