If you own a business, you most likely have several matters on your mind. Staffing, keeping plenty of supplies on hand, reducing business expenses, staying on top of payroll, and keeping taxes in check is probably among the most prominent. On the other end of the spectrum, you have to constantly meet consumers’ demands and remain a step ahead of their changing expectations. Those are only a few of the responsibilities that fall on your shoulders. On top of all that, you need to be as visible as possible to your target audience and convince them to come to you instead of the competition.
Covering All Your Bases
While it may seem a bit too simple to be realistic, a website can help cover all those bases in the latter category and many more. Surveys show that about 45 percent of small businesses still don’t have a website, like those designed by NatalieCoyne.com, despite the constant growth of the digital age. If you’re among them, you could be missing out on a number of benefits.
Reasons Your Business Needs a Website
Today’s businesses should have a website for numerous reasons. For one, the public expects it. At least 85 percent of purchasing decisions begin with an online search. If you don’t have a website, the majority of prospects won’t know who you are and what you have to offer. There’s a chance that, even if consumers know your company exists, they’ll overlook it in favor of those that have a website to explore. That’s only the beginning.
Stay Competitive
According to a recent write-up, more than 600,000 new businesses open their doors each year. Chances are many of them operate in the same market niche as yours. In all likelihood, they have a website. You can differentiate your business from all the rest and give yourself a competitive edge through your own website. Make it more interesting and simpler to navigate than the competition so people will want to turn to your company rather than the rest. Of course, in terms of the competitors that don’t have a website, you’ll have an even bigger lead.
Boost Your Credibility
More than 80 percent of consumers feel that having a website makes a company seem more credible. While some people look to social media to find businesses and learn more about them, most are hesitant to do business with a company that only has a social media profile. Consumers want to be able to dig deeper before spending their money, and a business website gives them that opportunity.
Increase Your Reach and Visibility
Traditional advertising, such as direct mail, television, and radio commercials, and magazine ads, still has its place in the world of marketing. All those measures are still effective for reaching prospects and bringing in new customers. Still, they can only go so far at this point. Having a website gives you almost limitless ways to reach prospects in various target audiences. It also gives you a wide range of new marketing and advertising opportunities. In turn, you’ll be more visible to those who prefer the online route over pamphlets, flyers, and ads on television or radio.
From another perspective, a website can expand your reach well beyond the traditional advertising approaches. You can create separate web pages to target prospects in your immediate area as well as surrounding cities. It’s also possible to take your products and services national or global with the right website design and SEO strategies. There’s no limit to your reach via a website.
Highlight Your Products and Services
No matter what type of business you own, showing off the products and services you have to offer is bound to attract new customers. A website is a perfect place to do so. You can place pictures of your products, descriptions, and other information on your website to let prospects know why your products are better than the rest. You could also provide information about your staff and their strong suits to let viewers know why your team is the one to turn to.
Outshine the Competition
If you browse the websites of your closest competitors, you’ll get a good idea of why consumers choose them. That gives you a chance to piggyback off of their ideas on your own website. Incorporate some of the same website features as the competition and expand upon them. Provide more in-depth information in your blog posts. Highlight aspects of your products or services that competitors aren’t focusing on. Again, the possibilities are endless.
Implement Calls to Action
All forms of advertising allow you to use certain calls to action to entice prospects. That being said, a website provides plenty of room for numerous calls to action. You can modify them for different products and services while also tailoring them to prospects in various portions of your sales funnel. You can also place them in strategic places throughout your website content to make sure more people see and heed them.
Analytics and Reporting
In addition to all those benefits, websites give you new ways to measure the effectiveness of your marketing and advertising strategies. You can have a variety of analytics and reporting features built into the website to measure which web pages, products, services, calls to action, and other elements are working most effectively for your business. Those features can also help determine which measures are ineffective, so you can change and improve them.
Making a Website Work for You
Several benefits can come from having a website for your business. You’ll be more noticeable online, appear more credible in the eyes of consumers, and have ample opportunities to prove you’re better than the competition. Websites are efficient, cost-effective, and incredibly versatile solutions for promoting products and services, ramping up your customer service efforts, advertising upcoming sales and events, and many other elements. They also give you effective ways of measuring just how well your current approach to marketing and advertising is working along with ongoing chances to show prospects all the ways you can meet their needs and exceed their expectations.