If you’re still wondering whether or not your business needs a website then this is for you. While many business owners are skeptical at first, they often end up running into some form of crisis which makes them realize that indeed, they do need a website for their business. In this article, we’ll outline some major advantages of having a website for your business. but before we delve in, let’s take a look at what some of our favorite world-leading companies have to say about this topic.
“A business’s online presence, regardless of industry, can have a massive impact on its success. In this day and age, some businesses still don’t realize that a majority of their customers will visit their website before making a purchase.” – Forbes
“Back in the day, a business card was an indicator of being in business. It told the world what you were about and where you were heading. Today, the same can be said for your website. If you run a business, do freelance work, or even work as an employee, a website has become indispensable.” – HostGator
“Having a website boosts your credibility, increases your visibility, and improves lead generation. It’s your property; therefore, you have absolute freedom about how you want it to look and what you want to promote. It’s an excellent place to highlight positive reviews and answer any questions potential customers might have about your business.” – HubSpot
Not convinced yet? You might want to take a look at the 8 major reasons why your business needs a website. We’ve outlined below.
1. Showcase your product and services
A website lets you outline in great detail, the different products or services your business offers. A good website lets potential customers experience what it is like to purchase a product from you. Most websites achieve this by outlining the steps involved on their homepage, while some go as far as creating a flow that walks site visitors through the process. This makes it easy for them to understand how a product or service works even before purchasing and without having to read a complicated document.
Having such a system in place has proven to increase the conversion rates of most businesses. I mean, who wouldn’t prefer to go through a two-minute walkthrough that requires several clicks of the mouse over reading a 10 page document explaining the same exact thing.
2. Automation
Having a website takes a lot a lot of routine tasks off your hands, especially if your staff size is small. It offers the option of automating repeated activities/communications between you and your customers. Payments, job applications, event signups, customer inquiries/complaints, and a lot more can be carried out automatically by plugins on your site, allowing you more time to focus on other tasks.
If you have a FAQ section on your site or a chatbot which responds to visitors’ inquiries, this means that your customers can get support at any time of the day, regardless of their location or time zone.
3. Look more professional
In an age when everyone has a standard online presence, it could be considered unprofessional to run a business without a website. As Forbes said, the majority of your customers will visit (or at least try to visit) your website before making a purchase. This is because a website increases your business’ credibility.
4. Reach more people around the world
Owning a website infinitely widens your pool of potential customers as you are able to reach internet users from all around the world through google searches. It also makes it easier for people to recommend/reference your business, as all they have to do is mention your website name (YourWebsite.com) in their articles, posts, or DMs.
5. Build a community of your own
If your website has an active blog, this further increases your chances of reaching and connecting with total strangers who later turn into loyal customers.
A Facebook page is great, but you do not own Facebook. The importance of owning a space on the internet that you have unlimited control over cannot be overestimated.
While social media is an excellent tool for sustaining an online community, it isn’t highly limited. For example, managing a sales funnel on a social media platform is nowhere near as effective s managing one on your own website.
The same goes for collecting, storing, and managing client data. most websites these days provide you with all the necessary tools you need to develop and maintain your own community.
6. Earn passive income
There are numerous ways in which you can generate passive income for your business through a website. The most common are advertising and affiliate marketing, both of which require a community or a reasonable number of monthly site visits. There are other methods of generating passive income through a website that do not necessarily require a large audience. One of these is selling a downloadable digital resource like an e-book or video guide or information kit on the site.
Many businesses make enough in passive income o their sites that the site is able to pay for itself and also provide support to the business when things get a bit rough.
7. A website helps to establish social proof
while it is great to get verbal feedback from satisfied customers and even email reviews, visible reviews are what get more people interested in patronizing your business.
Showcasing your best reviews on the landing page of your website is an effective way to establish trust and social proof. This also ensures that third [arty review sites do not minimize the good things people have to say about your business.
Do you still need convincing about getting your business a website? Then consider this. Research results show that 99% of successful businesses around the world adopted a website at an early stage. It is no doubt that having an online presence at a startup played a big role in the success of these businesses.
WorkHiver is a virtual service that helps businesses and individuals establish an online presence through web design, digital marketing, and social media management. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to build your dream website within a matter of days.
