A website can provide your business with many advantages, more so when everybody is going online as their first point of reference to finding anything from a new pair of trainers to the latest news, to tonight’s dinner.
As a business, this makes having your own website crucial to not only get new business but maintains the business you already have and make it stand out!
A website allows you to reach a far wider audience than the physical foot traffic that might pass through your shop or office. More than that, however, having a website is like having a salesperson working for you 24/7 selling your products and services, who is always positioned right where your customers are looking!
6 Reasons To Get The Ball Rolling
Increases visibility
As the saying goes; out of sight, out of mind. Visibility is important, more so in the business world where competition can be fierce!
Having your own website can help you make sure you maintain visibility with your audience but it doesn’t stop there; you also need to make sure you rank well.
In order to increase sales, you need to be exactly where your potential customers are.
Increases credibility
Having a website with no content is like having a car with no gas. Content can not only help you rank but it can also help you sound authoritative on your subject matter with your audience. Content needs to be uploaded somewhere and this is why websites are important!.
Visibility also creates credibility; if people never heard of you it is going to be very difficult for them to trust you with their business. On the other hand, if you position yourself in the right places, offering the right information you’re going to sound more credible with the right audience; the audience you need to grow your business.
Increases profitability
Everyone likes making money right?
There are numerous ways a website can help you increase your business’ profitability. A website and all of the marketing opportunities a website opens the door to creates what is called a sales funnel.
At the wider end of the funnel are all of those people that somehow interact with you online. At the thinner end are those people you manage to convert into actual sales.
Amazing.
Unlike in shops, where unless you make a sale from each visitor you lose them forever, a website presents other monetization strategies you can use to help you be more profitable.
( Monetization is used to refer to the ability to generate an income through a website or blog.)
Create trust
When you add visibility and credibility together, you create trust with your audiences. Regardless of the business you are in, at the end of the day business is all about people. People buy from brands and places they trust.
Having a website shows people that you care about your business and are willing to invest in growing it.
Although having a website is by no means a huge investment, it still goes on to show that you’re serious about growing your business and want to make it easy for your customers to be able to reach you, learn more about what you offer, and get support should this be required.
Show what you can do
If seeing is believing, websites can truly turn people into believers.
With virtually unlimited potential, websites can easily be used to showcase what you can do for customers including using written or video testimonials or even hosting a portfolio.
Remember, customers don’t necessarily care about your products or services; they care about their problems and having a website makes it that much easier to show them how you can solve their problems.
(Blog posts are one way you can easily achieve this where you can share information with your audience to help them learn, like this one that you’re reading right now.)
And Finally…
Create a brand that sells
When it comes to selecting a service provider or a product, people look at more than just price. People buy into the brand; what does the brand stand for and how it makes them feel? This is why brands such as Apple are so effective at what they do; because they understand the power of branding.
Now because websites are highly customizable you can easily curate the user experience in whichever way you like; gently pushing users to buy or even teasing them with services you offer; the options are quite endless.
Things to remember…
- Remember, having a website is only the first step. Like any other tool, websites need to be maintained and updated from time to time to make sure they remain as effective as the day they were launched.
- Social media websites, whilst having a purpose, are not within your control. Companies operating these websites can (and do) change the rules and regulations surrounding such accounts which could wipe out your entire business from the internet in a day unless you have a website you can drive customers to.
