Attention: Small Business Owners
In today’s world, unless you have a small business and you are not interested in growing your brand, you are going to need a website.
The great news is that building a website for your small business and or Ecommerce store is now easier than ever.
The cost of building your website will also not cost you much money to get started.
You will not need to have experience in coding and designing your website.
You will also have the advantage of not being restricted to just business hours and you will also have the added bonus of being able to use your website for free advertising.
The importance of having a website for your small business is not just about having an additional platform to sell your products and or services…
It is also about providing more value to your potential customers.
As I mentioned earlier this is the best time to build your online presence and with so many low cost online services. You really don’t have any excuses to keep putting of this amazing opportunity.
So if you are still not sure about creating your own website for your small business and if it will help your small business grow? Then here are more reasons for you to consider.
1. Your Customer Are Going to Expect You to Have a Website
Yes your customers are going to expect you to have a website and this should be reason enough to make sure that you do not disappoint your customers.
Customer buying habits are changing and many are shopping out of business hours.
Also having a website for your small business is a great way to build trust with your customers.
In today’s digital-savvy world people want what they want, when they want it. Many customers are impatient and if they can’t find you online they will most definitely go elsewhere.
2. Builds Trust and Credibility for Your Small Business
Having a website for your small business will help in increasing your credibility and trust with your customers.
You have the online space to engage with your visitors.
3. A Website Will Provide Your Business with Social Proof
Did you know that 87% of shoppers say that social media played a vital role in their online purchases? (AdWeek, 2018)
Did you know that the Top 500 retailers generated nearly $6.5 billion from social shopping in 2017? (AdWeek 2018)
Also over 90% of consumers state that online product and services reviews influenced their buying decisions.
Having your own website you can create your own product reviews.
You could also include customer testimonials on your site, this will really impress your potential customers.
4. Having Your Own Website – You Control Your Storyline.
Whilst you will not have any control over what other people are saying about your business on social media.
But the truth could be said that with you own website you are in control of creating your own storyline about your business.
You can influence your public’s perception by creating your own story with your own website.
Having a blog on your website you can then get your message across to your customers.
You can also show you target audience your goals and aims for your business.
Your mission and your personality.
This can be done a lot quicker that brochures and printed Ads.
You can also learn how you could share your brand, logo on social media such as: Facebook, Instagram, twitter and other social media platforms.
This will also make sharing your content easier for your visitors and others that like what they see on your website.
5. You Can get more Bang for Your Buck
The great thing is that you can get more bang for your buck and by this I mean that you can get started with a free WordPress website building tool.
You can learn how to get started and how to position your company so that you can reach thousands or more potential customers for less that it would cost you to send out a mail shot of tens of thousands brochure the traditional way by postal mail.
6. No Experience in Extensive Coding or Technical Skills Needed
Did you know that you can get your very own website up and running in approximately 30 minutes?
You can get step by step training on how to set-up your very own WordPress Website.
You can also get full step by step training, technical support, community support, and tons of online tutorials on a website-building platform.
I would like to say at this point this is the very same website-building platform that I use and I have written a review that you can take a look at for your own research HERE.
7. Your Competitors All Have Their Own Company Websites
Many consumers will typically start the process of their buying journey by doing their own research and getting recommendations from their peers and social media connections.
Did you know that 87% of shoppers say that social media played a vital role in their online purchases? (AdWeek, 2018)
Did you know that the Top 500 retailers generated nearly $6.5 billion from social shopping in 2017? (AdWeek 2018)
Also over 90% of consumers state that online product and services reviews influenced their buying decisions.
As I have mentioned before many consumers will have a very good idea of what they need or want and they would have done their own research into the product or service they want to buy.
They will go online to find informational, educational, reviews and testimonials before making their final decision to buy.
This is why you need to stay on top of your game and become competitive with your competition, because if you do not stay ahead of your game you will be giving your potential customers a reason to go elsewhere to make their purchases.
8. You Will Never Have to Put Up The “Closed for Business” Sign Again. YAY.
Just imagine that with your own website you will be able to have your small business operating 24/7.
Have your own website and or Ecommerce Store will mean that you will able to sell products all the time and not just business hours of 9 to 5.
You will never have to close your business again.
Having your own Website will also mean that you will have a dramatic boost in your sales, especial when you include customers from other parts of the world.
Your online presence will also include:
- Customer Service
- Brand Recognition
- Marketing Campaigns
- Building Customer Relationships
- Building Credibility
- Building Trust
- Increasing Sales
- Build Email list
- Generate Repeat business
- Building World-Wide Reach
9. You will Show-Up In Search Engine Results
When you start understanding how search engines work, (SEO) you will realise how powerful it will be to your business when you start to show up in them.
Search Engines such as:
- Bing
- Yahoo
To name some of the biggest.
When you consider that many consumers will perform online research before making a purchase online.
Which will mean that they will go to a search engine such as Google and type in a keyword, like “Swimwear for curvy girls” or if they want to learn more about a product they may search for “Curvy Girl Swimwear reviews”
So if you don’t have a website for your small business, then the chances are that you are not going to show up in the search results.
But if you have a website then you can learn more about (SEO) Search engine Optimisation and increase your chances of ranking on page one of Google and getting more visibility with more potential customers.
You can learn more about how to increase your search engine optimisation by using the right platform that will equip you with all the tools that you will need to succeed.
You will learn things like:
- Keyword Research
- Meta Descriptions
- Titles
- Content creation
Just to name a few.
10. You Can Create a Resource Centre for your Staff
Another great thing is that you could do with your website is you can help your staff.
You can learn how to create pages on your website that only your staff will have access to. These pages will only be visible to your staff that you have given a direct link to.
You could add:
- Informational material
- Instructuctional material
- Training Videos
- Internal forms
To name a few.
11. Your Website will Showcase Your Products and Services
You will be able to display your products and or services in detail, design images, short videos and or downloadable PDF instructions.
These extra tools will increase your potential customer’s trust and give them a reason to stay with you and not go elsewhere to buy.
Do you Need Help Setting Up a Website for Your Business?
If you have not created a website for your business and would love to get started, you can learn how to get started right HERE.
Want to Try out a Free Website
You can get started right now with a free website below.
I’m always interested in learning about new content tools because I’m going to go ahead and say that the changes to Google’s algorithms in recent years are trending toward relevancy. This is why keyword stuffing won’t work wonders anymore. I have been working with a new tool called INK, it has built-in SEO functionality. Wanted to share this find with my fellow writers
Thank you Amelia for your comment much appreciated.
Yes Google are always updating and this is part of the online journey. But it is still necessary for small businesses to have an online presence even more so in this current climate.
Many thanks
Jennifer