11 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a Website

Online Business Website

 
Don’t have a website? There are 11 reasons why your small business needs one now.

You need to have a website unless you are a small business owner not interested in expanding your brand. Building a business website or e-commerce store these days is easy that it really doesn’t make sense for your business to not have a website. There are 11 reasons why your small business needs one now.

You need to have a website unless you are a small business owner not interested in expanding your brand. Building a business website or e-commerce store these days is easier than ever. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, you don’t need to learn how to code or design, your online store is not limited to business hours, and it’s one of the best free advertising methods.

 

1. Business narrative

Social media can be challenging when it comes to influencing what people say, but you can affect public perception by developing your own narrative through your business’ website. A company blog enables business owners to get their message, mission, and story to their desired demographic quicker than you can with traditional print advertisements or brochures sent via letters.

 

2. Websites are online 24/7

Due to the high wages of workers, it doesn’t make sense to have consumer-facing staff working 24/7. A website doesn’t meet someone manning it at all hours of the morning but will still provide your business with the ability to explain to your customers your products or services at 4 am. The only cost? The upfront cost of setting it up and ongoing maintenance/hosting fees. Compare that with the minimum wage of keeping an employee on for 24 hours and it is a no brainer! Not sure how to build your own website? Sitelabs has an Australian team of website designers to help get your business up and running.

 

3. Customers expect it

It would be enough if this were the only reason on the list. Imagine the scenario, imagine trying to make a large purchase and the company you are interested in buying it from doesn’t have an online presence but their competitor does with plenty of positive reviews, which would you choose? Would you trust the website-free company? If you don’t have a business website, today’s digital-savvy consumer will look elsewhere for a company that does and has plenty of online social proof.

 

4. Social proof

Nearly 90% of customers argue that their purchasing choices are influenced by online reviews. You can depend on your Facebook page and other review sites for brand awareness and host reviews for your product, but having your own website does both. Prospective customers will try to find you online and look for testimonials on your business, having a website is just another way to tie it all together so you can impress prospective buyers without even trying.

 

5. Value for month advertising

A website is actually an extremely cost-effective way to put your business out there (you’ll need to perform search engine optimisation) but even taking that into account, it provides more value than using traditional media where you cannot even track the performance of your advertisement despite it easily costing hundreds if not thousands per local newspaper drop. We have affordable SEO solutions and Google Ad marketing packages that could provide long term value whilst being cost-effective.

 

6. Competitors have websites

Consumers typically begin their purchase by scraping the internet for reviews, recommendations and information. Once they know what they want, they’ll look for reviews on the business they’re purchasing the product or service from to make an informed decision. Your competitors will have it and if you don’t show up, you won’t be part of the race to win the consumer’s business. We use Google Analytics and Ahrefs to monitor our clients’ performance to track how well they are performing.

 

7. Websites are cheap

There are many cost-effective content management systems and platforms to build a website. It has never been easier nor cheaper to build a website, that said you don’t want a bad website just like you don’t want an ugly store. It is your virtual shop front and you want it to reflect the quality of your business. Some try to do it themselves and others are happy to pay others.

 

8. Appearing in Google results

Google is your friend and to be on Google you need a website. Most people including yourself will Google anything and everything especially when you’re looking for something. If a potential customer or client of yours is looking for your product and don’t find it online, there is a good chance they won’t find their way to you. Google SEO is extremely important and it starts with having a good website.

 

9. Portfolio & proof of abilities

For many service-based businesses, a portfolio is extremely vital to showing prospective clients your existing work and ultimately your abilities. When you give your business card, they can refer to your website to view your previous work history. Without it, they will never know how good your work is and has been.

 

10. Resource centre for clients

Having a resource centre is great for businesses with many clients or customers who need answers to frequently asked questions. Having that page could reduce staffing costs or allow your staff to focus on acquiring more business rather than spend every minute answering the same question over a million times.

 

11. Newsletter leads

Some businesses focus heavily on getting subscribers to their website newsletter. These subscribers can become unwitting leads that become future sales further down the track. They almost cost nothing to send out an email to after they’ve signed up too. It is an extremely cost-effective method of gaining warm leads. Mailchimp is commonly used to send newsletters.

It doesn’t cost a lot of money, you don’t need to learn how to code or design, your online store is not limited to business hours, and it’s one of the best free advertising methods.