As a new, small or large business, having a website is one of the best business decisions you will ever make. Allow me to let you in on a little secret, 81% of people research a service, product or business before making a decision. Imagine a prospective customer going online to search for your business and coming up empty, you have already made their decision for them as they will have no choice but to contact another business since there is no proof to trust.
There are several benefits of a website for a small business but many people ignore them because of their social media presence. Social media presence is in fact temporary. Your account could get hacked, taken down and the like. Also, people who make a lot from their social media businesses are those who have mastered how to integrate it with their website.
It is perhaps not surprising that you see Facebook (Meta) and Google to name a few, create and emphasize tracking and conversion technologies. The three that come to mind at the moment are Facebook pixels, Facebook conversion API and Google Tag Manager.
All these are solutions put in place by these Tech giants to help your business reach its potential. And they all require you to have a website. The importance of a website in digital marketing can’t be overstated.
If this isn’t reason enough why your small business needs a website, I don’t know what is.
For those who might still not be convinced, we have curated a list of why having a website for your business is important.
- Credibility
Having a website adds more credibility to your business. It projects to your prospective customer that you are a legitimate business. A lot of people are doubting Thomases, a good website which is like a virtual store is bound to make impression on your prospective customer.
It showcases your expertise and all you have to offer. Tells customers most of what they need to know about your business to help them decide whether or not to patronise you.
- Exposure
Also, a website helps to broaden your business’s online presence in a way social media channels cannot. With the use of algorithms, most of your posts won’t be able to reach the number of people they should. It won’t also reach people outside of those platforms.
A well-optimized website makes sure your business gets across to the people that need it. You also don’t have to be worried about your post getting lost in a myriad of others.
Having a website for your company is bound to improve your sales, and will make your small business contend with the big ones.
Optimizing your business for SEO makes your business pop up in searches, making you easily seen by people who need you. This increases your business growth exponentially.
Another reason to create a website is the personalization that comes with it. A social media page is just a page. A website page can be personalized through visual and written content to reach the right people. In fact, 34% of consumers say they are likely to purchase personalized website content.
- Digital Marketing
Having a website is very important to your digital marketing endeavours. Social media platforms have their in-app SEOs but that’s nothing compared to search engine SEO.
Google alone handles 228 million searches per hour and 5.6 billion searches per day. Depending on your niche, SEO, and the level of digital marketing work you’ve put into your website, you could be one of those searches.
Why we’ve been talking about SEO is because it is very important for organic traffic. Your website’s traffic can help increase your income and ROI.
Also, running social media ads like Facebook and Google ads converts better with a website.
- Branding and Leads
A website puts all your business out there. It helps your customers to find, contact, connect and interact with your business easily. This is without you necessarily being on the other end to cater to all their enquiries.
It is like an online brochure that helps keep customers up to date about your business as it can be easily updated from time to time.
You can build and customise your website in any way you like putting your customers in mind. Building your website in a way that will make it easy for your customers to navigate is key.
A good website layout is like a well-organised store shelf, which makes your business easily accessible to potential customers.
Did you know that 75% of your website’s credibility comes from your design?
- Your Customers Expect It
It doesn’t matter if your business is small, huge, or if you have a large customer base already. If you are looking to enlarge your coast and put your business on the global map, a professionally designed website that will distinctively showcase your brand is the key.
The secret to every successful business is studying consumers’ behaviour to meet their demands. Consumer behaviour changes and at this age we are, modern technology helps in keeping track of this.
People want to have everything at their fingertips, they want to be able to access anything just by tapping on their phones. Having a business website is meeting the demands of a digitalised world.
- Organic Traffic
Why do you keep going to Google to search for your enquiries? Because you know they will direct you to the best possible answer. Search engines will rarely direct a business to social media platforms as an answer to a query. Especially when it comes to business, service and product-related search queries.
With a good SEO-optimized website, you can take advantage of the wonders of search engines. The traffic you get opens up your business to a potential local and international market.
- Saves Time
One of the advantages of having a website for your small business is the time saving it gives you. Most websites come with pages like FAQ, services and about us pages. What this does is give you time to focus on more important things.
Most of the potential questions a customer might have would have already been displayed on the website.
This provides an overall better user experience.
This is how it is better than social media. Most questions on social media will be directed to your DM. Where is the freedom?
- Offers Social Proof
Social proof is a great way to build customer trust. Most consumers are affected by and look out for what other people have to say about your business.
After reading your social proof on review websites like Yelp, foursquare or Google My Business pages, most will want to follow through to your website.
Some people also prefer to host social proofs on their websites. I’m certain you’ll be familiar with phrases like ‘what our clients are saying about us’ and ‘brands we’ve worked with’.
- Compete With Other Industry Businesses
A reason why your small business should have a website is to be able to compete with other industry giants. Having a website with optimized content takes you one step closer to getting a position on the search results page (SRP). The next step would be to have a solid SEO foundation and strategy.
With this, you are bound to rub shoulders with industry giants in time.
As I pointed out earlier, a business website is a business decision you should make to move your business to the next level.
Tips for Getting Started With A Website
If you are convinced that you need a website for your business or company, you should check this list of important things to know before getting started.
- Decide On a Domain Name
Your domain name should be centred around your company name or reflects it. You should also make sure that your domain name is short and catchy.
- Choose a Web Hosting Service
Choosing a website hosting service is not an easy task as there are plenty out there. It is also easy to get confused and get the best deal. Take your time to do some research.
- Choose a CMS platform
One thing to consider when choosing a CMS like WordPress, Shopify and Prestashop is the ease of use for beginners. You will most likely get a website designer so you may think this is none of your business. But the web designer will hand over the website when he’s done. Unless you want to keep paying him to make changes, you should a platform that is beginner friendly.
- Hire a Website Designer
It is easy to build a website but it is difficult to design it. With the right theme on theme marketplaces like Themeforest, anyone can buy and repopulate a theme. But why you need a website designer is the understanding of design, content strategies and optimizations. Also, you surely do not want your website to look the same as your competitor’s.
If you do not want to be bothered about the hassles and research that come with creating a website for your business. You should look to hire a quality website designer. Cr8v Stacks is one of the best website designers out there. You should check them out for your website design, content writing and digital marketing needs.
If you need help or guidance in improving your web design, content writing, digital marketing or branding strategies, simply Contact Us. We are here for you.
