Over the years there’s been a debate about the importance of websites particularly for smaller businesses but with the rise of the internet and more people using it to make purchases now it is essential for businesses to have their own website.
There are lots of key reasons why you should have a business website and I will be going over 7 key benefits that surely make having a website worthwhile.
Here are three (5) benefits of a website for small businesses:
1. Improves Business Credibility
.A business website is your online business address. This is where your associates, clients and customers will go to find you on the internet. Having a website with your brand values, information about your products or services and having contact details legitimises your business making people take it more seriously.
A company page on Facebook or Twitter is no longer enough. In fact research shows that over 70% of internet users shopped online in 2020.
2. Efficient way to promote your business
Using traditional forms of marketing such as print ads or flyers is becoming less popular especially for smaller businesses. This is because its more expensive, time consuming and unsustainable. Flyers, leaflets and newspaper can easily end up in the bin.
Online marketing is faster, inexpensive and more efficient. Having your own website gives you an online presence which can be easily advertised online for people to see from anywhere in the world. Whether that’s through email marketing, social media, blogging or videos.
Finally having your own website is more sustainable you can easily update your website content and reuse it as well after a few months.
3. Showcase your work
You can have a webpage show casing your body of work. If your competitors are not doing the same your already ahead of them. If people can see your work, portfolio and testimonials they are much more likely to either buy off you or sign up.
As I said before an online presence is key and comparing a business with a website showcasing their work to one simply just existing without a website the vast majority will go to the one with more easily accessible information available.
4. Learn more about customers
Having a website allows you to gain customer insights, allowing you to match and eclipse customer satisfaction while also earning loyalty from customers. In order to offer your clients specific needs, you need to know who they are and what they need. You can even track your websites analytics to see how users generally behave on it.
With a website this can easily be done by tracking how users interact with it. This can be done by monitoring the most and least popular products and services you offer, where your users geographically locate from and what devices they use to access your website. You can even set up polls on your website for feedback or to see what they’re most interested in. There are also several online tools that can help you further optimise your website.
5. You can provide personalised email addresses for employees
This is a big one!
Using customised email addresses can make a big difference to how your business is viewed by others. Having a website allows yourself and any other employers to use customised email addresses.
This brings a professional tone to your business and shows potential customers you are serious. Think about it, imagine seeing an email from Tescoenquiries@yahoo.com. Would you trust it? I certainly would not and a lot of people would not assume it was fake or even worse a scam. Now seeing customer.services@tesco.co.uk looks a lot better and seems much safer to contact.
You are now more educated. What’s next?
We recommend launching your own website today to take your business to the next level.