It’s simple for us to declare that every business (and some individuals who do not run businesses, such as bloggers) requires a website. However, with costs seemingly needing to be cut at every turn and prices seemingly rising at every minute, it might be something that is overlooked during the startup process. Business owners may put off developing their website because it appears to be an unnecessary investment, but a website is critical to the success of any business in the twenty-first century. Here are our reasons.
It’s Your Marketing Anchor
Good marketing is the one thing that all businesses need just as much as a website. Putting the two together will save you money because you can do a lot of your marketing on your website, which is a great place to start. All of your advertising can be filtered through your website, which gives your potential customers a consistent message that does what it says it will do. Once your website looks the way you want it to, you can make the rest of your marketing materials, like brochures, business cards, and more. If they all look like the first design of the website, they will look great.
Additional Sales
Your website is like a storefront, so you should use it to make more sales (or the majority of your sales if you are solely based online). Your website is like a digital catalog or brochure, so you can describe everything you sell in detail and let people buy it right away. No one wants to see something they want to buy, only to have to wait until the office opens at 9 a.m. If they want it, they want it now, and if they can’t get it from you when they want it, they will go somewhere else. This extra source of income lets you earn money even when you’re sleeping or on vacation, so it’s very important.
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Find New Customers
If you have a website, it will be a lot easier for people to find you and do business with you. That’s because people who don’t know what you do or sell will be able to learn as much as possible about you and your products from your website, as long as it’s set up right and has the right information. This makes them feel like they can trust you even if they’ve never bought from you before. If you work on SEO and get your website to the top of Google, you will get even more customers and can really make a big difference in your bottom line.
Online Shopping Is The Norm
Over 70% of households in the US do most of their shopping on the internet. That includes everything from food to clothes. Why would you possibly want to miss out on such a big and profitable piece of the market? Getting a share of this market starts with having a website that is easy to use, interesting, and looks good. As a bonus, Google can also rank businesses based on where they are. That means that if someone near you searches for your product or service, your website is much more likely to show up in the results (and ideally as close to the top as possible).
Better Credibility
Having a good reputation is also a very important part of running a business, especially an online one. Because there are so many new online businesses, it can be hard for customers to know who they can really trust with their money. After all, starting a business is easy, but keeping it going is harder. So, if you want to get more customers and be more successful, you need to show that you’ve been around for a long time and can be trusted. People are much more likely to use you if your website shows up in search engine results. If you don’t show up in the first few pages, it can put people off.
You Have Control
Some businesses only have an online presence on Facebook, which is a free tool, but you have very little, if any, control over how your online presence looks. If you use a third-party platform, you are really at the mercy of the people who made it and the rules they set. At any time, things can change. Because of algorithms, your “site” might not show up for the people you want to see it. When you run your own website, you have full control over what goes on it and how many people see it. Using tools like Google Ads, you can choose who sees the site and what they see when they get there. You have the most control over how the site looks and works, using the quality stock photos you choose and not what someone else puts in place. In other words, you need your own website if you want to run your own business the way you want.
Image by Coffee Bean