If your business has gotten this far without a website, you might be wondering: do I need a website for my business? You might already be managing well running your business using Facebook, Instagram or other social media. And after all, that’s like having a website for free. Isn’t it?
In this post, we’ll take a look at the top 8 reasons your business needs a professional-looking website and how this will dramatically improve both your new and existing customer base.
1. A website makes you look professional
84% of today’s consumers think a website makes your business more credible than companies that only have social media profiles. You can completely customise your own website to suit your branding, include high-quality images of your work and really show potential customers what your business is all about.
Not to mention you’d have your own domain with a professional-looking email address to go along with it. Nothing looks worse than using your personal email address on business cards.
2. Give your customers 24/7 access
One of the best things about growing your business online is providing eternal access to information about your brand, products and services. Use this opportunity to leave answers to commonly asked questions about your business, show social proof by highlighting your top reviews and allow customers to find you any time, day or night.
Depending on your business, you may also want to offer a customer portal, so they can log into an account and keep track of what they have previously bought from you and easily re-order or manage a subscription.
3. Be searchable on Google
Think about the last time you needed a service, any service. Most users these days will use Google or a similar search engine to find local businesses when they need something. By not being there, you are immediately missing out on hundreds, if not thousands of searches every day.
Ask about our top SEO tips and see how we can get your site noticed on google search.
4. Encourage customers to contact you, or make a purchase
Depending on your goals, there are ways to optimise your site for conversion. Whether your aim is to encourage potential customers to contact you, sign up for a mailing list or subscribe to a service you offer. Having the right copy and call to action on your website can make a huge difference in how profitable your website will be.
There’s a huge amount of information out there on this topic so why spend hours and hours crawling through page after page when you can leave it to the professionals to do all of this for you?
5. Find new local customers that you wouldn’t otherwise have
Social media is a fantastic tool! It’s super easy to set up a business page or group these days and most of its users are using mobile, so you’re only a few taps away. However, unless you are seriously crushing it on social, which takes a huge amount of time and effort. The chances are you’re not making it to the news feeds of friends, or friends of friends at most.
Have a look at how many followers you have on your page just now, now do a quick Google search for the population of your town or city. Wow right?
Being set up with an effective site and listed with services such as Google My Business, Yell.com and Yelp can open up so many connections that you simply cannot do yourself on social media.
6. All of your competitors already have a website
The fact is, almost all of your competitors likely already have a website. And if they don’t, then even more reason why you need one to dominate your local market!
As a web designer and developer, I look at your competitor’s websites and can instantly see where they have gone wrong and can make improvements. In fact, it’s a service I offer to them for free!
Find out how your existing website could be better
Seize the moment and give your business the competitive edge with a custom-built and optimised website built specifically to improve your conversions.
7. Make it easy for your customers to refer you to their friends.
Think about it, what’s easier – “Go and see Andy, He made me a cool website, I’ll give you his phone number” or “Andy made me this amazing website, just google One Web Creations”
Having a good business domain name is essential to your online success. Try not to make things tricky with weird spellings or hyphens between words.
You want your customers to be able to easily refer to your website and pass that information on to their friends.
8. It’s more cost-effective than you think
There are many ways to get your business online these days. You could opt for the DIY method, with services such as WIX, Square Space and Go Daddy. The downfall of these services is once you have your site online, you’re often then stuck with their ecosystem. Whilst there are thousands of plug-ins available these days, you often have to pay more on top to get full functionality from them so it can be hard, and a case of trial and error just to get your site to do what you want it to do.
In comparison, Having a fully custom coded website from One Web Creations can cost as little as £199 upfront cost depending on what you want your site to do.
Think of it as an investment into your business. Your site will pay for itself with all the new customers you gain.
There is a cost to run your website and have this online but with our support plans available you can have this for as little as £20 per month. We’ll also offer to update your site in the future which is often included in the price.
Conclusion
So there we have it, I hope I’ve cleared up a few questions you may have had about why you need to get your business online. In this day and age, you simply can’t afford not to be online. Your website is a powerful digital asset that has the potential to skyrocket your business and make it a huge success!
Still have a question? Drop me a note –
I promise you won’t get any pushy sales tactics from me. I let my work speak for itself and would love to help you and your business thrive online.
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