Why Your Small Business Will Need a Website in 2019
It’s 2019, and more and more people are taking to the internet to find their services, buy products, and read reviews. If you’re interested in growing your brand and don’t yet have a website for your business, you may want to consider one. Businesses with websites tend to perform a lot better than those that don’t. In our article, we will go over seven reasons why it’s essential for your small business to have a website.
Develop Your Brand
When you think of branding, you may think about having a great logo, and while that is a huge part of a business’s image, there is so much more to it than that. A brand is what makes your business stand out among all the others.
One of the great things about bringing your business into the online world is the fact that there are so many ways to show off your brand. When building a website, or having one built for you, you can reflect your brand through content, layout, and designs. You’re also able to tell a story and people generally like that. Moreover, when those people buy a product or service from you, they will also become part of your brand and story.
Boost Credibility
It is more common these days for businesses to have a website rather than not, which is why consumers are typically turned off by companies that don’t have one. Not only does putting a website out there make your business known, but it instantly gives you some credibility as well. This is one of the main reasons a small business should think about investing in a website.
If you are a small business that already has a website, make sure it’s not outdated. Outdated and poorly designed websites can lead to bad impressions. When a website has poor uses of color and font, grammatical and spelling errors, old design, long loading times, and an obsolete layout, it’s probably time for an update. Unfortunately, many small business owners don’t have the skills or time to create a functional website. However, as web developers here at AnoLogix, we can help you build a beautiful website that showcases your brand, looks professional, and gets results.
Stand up to Competition
Competition between businesses is tough, which is another reason small businesses need to invest in websites. Most small businesses have some sort of online presence, whether it be social media accounts, a website, or both. However, companies without a website can’t compete very well with the ones that do.
Consumers also tend to take businesses more seriously if they have a web presence. If a company is choosing not to invest in that, people start to think that they don’t care about their performance, which translates into poor business.
In 2019, customers expect brands to be part of the online world. More than half of consumers head straight to a business’s website for information, and if you don’t have one, they may start looking elsewhere.
Marketing
People are on the move now more than ever and have turned to online searches for quick results. Whenever those people search for something online, they are getting pages upon pages of websites to click on. While this is great news for the companies that rank at the top of the list, it’s not so great for the ones that rank lower. Small businesses are usually the ones that have a harder time getting better rankings, and with lower visibility, it makes it hard to compete with other brands to generate more web traffic. However, with digital marketing and SEO, it is possible for small businesses to rank higher.
SEO is such a crucial part of getting a higher ranking and more results. When a website has a ton of errors or is slow to load, people are more likely to move on to something better. Search engines, such as Google, not only favor websites that get more traffic, but they also favor the ones that are able to maintain their web traffic. To rank higher, websites can implement keywords, titles, and meta descriptions into their content as well.
The internet is full of information and content is another reason why small businesses need to invest in their own websites. Websites provide a great space not only to show off your products but also provides space for information. When a consumer is able to view information about your business easily, they’re also likely to buy your products and services.
Showcase Your Products
Speaking of content, having a website is a great way to show off your products and services. Take this opportunity to use beautiful product images, downloadable instructions, video tutorials, reviews, and blogs about your products or services.
Boost Sales
Having an e-commerce store can be great for your sales. Nobody wants to work in the middle of the night, but that’s when some people take the opportunity to shop. Having an e-commerce website means that you can be making sales 24 hours a day. Not only does having a website allow people to shop for your products whenever, but it also opens up the opportunity to sell to people in other cities, states, and even countries. If you combine your website with marketing tools, like promotions and email marketing, you can reach and maintain more customers.
Gain Insight to Customers
When your business has a website, you’re in control. You can get a lot of data about your customers through your website, such as what your audience searched to bring them there and where they are logging in from. You can also look at how long customers are spending on pages and what keywords they are searching for.
Google Analytics is a great web tool to view data about your audience. This, along with social media and forums, can help you understand who your consumers are, what they are looking for, and where they’re searching from, ultimately helping you to better cater to them, thus making more sales.
Takeaway
By acting now and investing in a website for your small business, you are building your success for the future. Websites are fundamental to reaching a wider audience, making more sales, being seen as credible, and outshining your competition. Websites are becoming anything but obsolete, so if you’re in need of a web developer to help you build one and increase the reach of your brand, please reach out to us!